Now being a good Republican and all, I tend to think that the market can have a role in promoting the general welfare as the Constitution states. So, in theory, I find the idea of private accounts for Social Security appealing. However, the more I learn about the President's plan, the more I think privatization, at least Bush's idea, may not be such a good idea.
It was bad enough the he is not going to raise taxes to plug the $2 trillion hole that will be a result of the transition costs, which means future generations will have to pay for his idea, now he proposes cutting promised benefits by up to a third in coming decades.
The Bush plan would use a different formula to determine benefits. Instead of using wages, the Bushies would use inflation, which grows at a slower rate.
And how would people make up the deficit? Here is the Bush Administration's answer:
"The White House hopes that some, if not all, of those benefit cuts would be made up by gains in newly created personal investment accounts that would harness returns on stocks and bonds."
They hope? I'm sorry, but I can't put my support on a program based on hope. It might have worked for Bill Clinton, but not me.
We have no idea what the stock market will be like in the coming years. There might be another bull market, but we could also face another bear market. Odds are both will happen. The stock market is unpredicatable, we have no certainty that it will do amazing well or amazingly bad. That doesn't mean one shouldn't invest in the market, but I don't think it's wise to think that people could make up the cut in federal benefits on the hope that there will be a decades long bull market. That's, well, bull.
Social Security was never meant to be a full on pension plan. It's social insurance, a base to keep people out of poverty. We do need to make some adjustments, but we must still keep it as social insurance from the whims of the market.
The President is not scoring many points with this Republican.
Posted by Dennis at January 5, 2005 12:02 AMgood its exhibition congratulations
Posted by: hector seguel at January 31, 2005 10:21 PMFrom: Mr. Mike Ato
Accra Ghana
sir,
My name is Mr. Mike Ato. I am the Eastern regional branch manager of
the
Barclays Bank of Ghana ltd, in West Africa. I am a Christian. I do not
want
problems but I just hope you can assist me. I write you this letter in
good
faith.
I am in control of the sum of one million, eight hundred and fifty
thousand
US dollars ($1,850,000.00) which was an excess of profit made by our
regional eastern branch office in the last quarter of the year 2003,
which I
have carefully placed in an Escrow Call Deposit Account and did not
declare
this to my head office.
Can I really trust you to hold this money for me until I arrive your
country
and pick it up myself and you deduct 30% of the total money as your
commission. If you accept my offer you can contact me immediately. If
you do
not accept can you forget I contacted you?
All I need is for you to get me a good current account in your bank
where I
can move this money.I will discretly give you all the information
concerning
the account so that you can apply to the bank for the release of the
money.
There is practically no risk involved, it will be a bank to bank
transfer. I
hope you understand my situation.
Thank you and God bless.
Yours truly,
Mr. Mike Ato.
Personal Investment Accounts?? In a society that does not save money? What a pipe dream! Most folks have a hard enough time saving for their childrens education, or healthcare cost, let alone put money into a personal investment account. That is the same thing as an IRA. First we have to get congress to quit taking from the SS funds and then start building it up while looking at other options.
Posted by: Bob Faust at January 5, 2005 11:16 PMSocial security, hell the entire social support system needs reform, but basing the reforms on a flucuating market that can well collapse at any moment is too risky a move.
The biggest problem is that the Bush leadership is stuck in a 'cant-tax' mode while living in a period where our need for government services, esp. military, have increased, relying on amassing a deficit to be paid by future generations in a shameless pass-the-buck mindset, and this mindset is going to pop up in every aspect of government and society no matter what comes up in a crisis.
I wonder why people haven't noticed how Bush has almost always operated his private businesses the same way he's running the government (this also applies to Cheney), building up debts that have to be paid off by other people (the only thing he made a profit on was the baseball team, and even then that relied a lot on the inclusive nature of sports ownership). Our government, the medicare, and if he has his way the social security, are all going to be a big red hole by the time he's out of the White House.
Personal suggestion to reform Social Security: make it less a Ponzi scheme and more a savings account. That's all I gotta say.
There have been a few alternatives/modifications to Bush's SS plan.
One alternative is 'do nothing.' I admit it isn't the first alternative that comes to mind.
A modification to Bush's SS plans is to raise the cap on 'high income' workers from its current level of $88K (which comes from Lindsay Graham, a Republican, not anti-Bush).
You are correct ... there is an elephant in the room. It's name: medicare. No one is talking about it and it is running out of money faster than SS.
Posted by: EG at January 5, 2005 05:37 AMThe problem with the social insurance is that more are taking than giving... So it is merely another income tax/welfare program. There is an elephant in the room... So the anti Bush crowd is again saying that they don't like how Bush wants to remove the elephant... Not offering their own suggestions as to how to do it...
Posted by: Ben Gibson at January 5, 2005 05:28 AM