jimhanson 
Group: Moderator
Posts: 8491
Joined: Aug. 2003
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Posted on: Mar. 26 2004,9:51 am |
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I removed my post from the Government thread to an individual thread of its own. Thoughts on Social Security?
You are right, Madd Max--we need to keep investing and making plans for our OWN retirement. If someone finds that too hard to do, they can always opt to have the government do it for them, under the present system of Social Security. If SS were a private business, they would be charged with fraud--a Ponzi scheme, in which new victims pay for the old--no real financial reserves, just an IOU--horrible returns on investment--restrictive rules on how much you can earn (what private pension has those limitations?)--if you die before age 62, you get nothing (but your dependents may get a small stipend), and you can't leave any of the money to your heirs. Given the choice, would YOU invest 6.65% of your paycheck in this worthless scheme? Perhaps that is why Americans traditionally have such a low rate of saving compared to other countries--the government got it first! 
If THAT weren't bad enough, they take ANOTHER 7.65% from the employer--a total of 15.3% of ALL paychecks up to about $80,000. This is money used to fund the Federal Government--money that YOU could be investing yourself--money that could be reinvested in infrastructure and industry within the U.S.. Does the corporation pay that 7.65%? No, they just collect it for the government--they pass the cost on to the consumer--and the CONSUMER pays it.
No wonder that politicians will do their best to make sure that the privatization OPTION won't pass--why kill the "cash cow"? Worst of all, Americans have become so conditioned to this obviously defective scheme, that they won't allow legislators the ability to GIVE US THE OPTION--PRIVATE OR PUBLIC RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS.
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"If you want to anger a Conservative, tell him a lie. If you want to anger a LIBERAL, tell him the TRUTH!"
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