A man whose name is on every single piece of cash printed in recent years assured a high school class that the government always makes good on its debts and obligations.

U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow said that promise includes Social Security.

"If the United States makes a commitment, it always lives up to it," Snow said.

Snow's presentation to a class of 25 students Thursday at Bismarck High School started as a history lesson, but turned into a lecture about Social Security. Snow also appeared at the University of Mary on Thursday morning.

Snow said privatizing a portion of Social Security - up to 4 percent - will help save the system without taking away from people now getting benefits.

"It's the only way we've been able to find to fix Social Security while being fair to younger people," Snow said.

Snow touted President Bush's plan to take up to 4 percent of the Social Security taxes to be set aside in private accounts, which can be invested in stocks and bonds.

Shivani Seth, 17, said she is concerned about the future benefits that will be paid out and how the private accounts will be managed.

"Government and business needs to be so far apart that so there's no conflicting interests," Seth said.

Seth asked Snow why the government can't raise the taxes for millionaires. Snow said that wouldn't solve the problem because people making more than $90,000 - the current cap on Social Security taxes - represent a very small percentage of the population. Also, he said people making large amounts of money can simply restructure their businesses to shield them from paying the additional taxes.

Philip Axt, 17, said that, in general, privatizing a portion of the system is a good idea. Axt didn't seem as worried about the oversight of personal accounts as Seth.

"It will have government oversight," Axt said. "It won't be something controlled by private corporations."

Snow's presentation began with a short history of Alexander Hamilton, the first treasury secretary. Snow explained that Hamilton started the country on a path of being fiscally responsible by setting goals to pay off debts incurred from the Revolutionary War.

North Dakota's congressional delegation said that the president's plan is not fiscally responsible because it will take on more debt. Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said the president's plan would add $700 billion worth of new debt in 10 years and $4.4 trillion in 20 years to the nation's current $7.3 trillion debt.

Conrad also said that under the plan, the government would consider the portion put into the private accounts as borrowing from Social Security. Conrad said money put into personal accounts, plus 5.8 percent interest, would have to be repaid by charging the portion of the program that doesn't go into private accounts.

"You could very well owe more back than you have in your private account," Conrad said.

Snow said the plan is fiscally responsible because the money taken out of the system is being saved and repaid in the end. Snow told the Tribune there would be a reduction in benefits to repay what is taken out for private accounts.

"Their reduction in long-term benefits includes the money they are taking out plus the interest on it," Snow said.

However, hopes are that the private accounts will provide more than what has to be paid back into the nonprivate portion. Snow said a person making $35,000 annually would have $250,000 from their private accounts when they retire.

Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., said the proposal is a big change to Social Security because the 4 percent proposed for private accounts is about a third of what employees pay in Social Security taxes now.

Dorgan said Social Security is not in a crisis.

"It doesn't take major surgery to fix it for the next 100 years," Dorgan said.

Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., said North Dakota is important in the Social Security debate because of its aging population and politics.

Pomeroy said that although Bush is popular in North Dakota, his Social Security plan isn't because people understand well how the program directly affects them.

"North Dakota could be exhibit A in why the plan is not selling," Pomeroy said.

(Reach Tom Rafferty at 223-8482 or tom.rafferty@bismarcktribune.com.)