Social Security and Bush's Big Gaffe
It looks more and more like the attempt by Bush and the Republican noise machine to privatize and eliminate Social Security is going to crash and burn as hard as any of Bushy's business ventures.
Up and down the board, private accounts have fallen on deaf ears. The AARP has said that they are a bad idea, and the Republicans have turned on this organization in an attempt to smear them. Young people are not sold on the private accounts. In my humble opinion, it is because young people have no flipping idea on what investment managment means, it scares them to death!
The Republicans have been selling a phony bill of goods, trying to convince Americans that the SS system is going to go bankrupt or insolvent long before it is actually going to. The system is secure for a number of years still, but changes do need to be made soon in order to keep it in good working order.
Here are my thoughts on Soc. Security.
1. The program as intended was not meant to provide retirees with a rich and healthy pension for them to live in the lap of luxury. SS was developed to make sure people could live and eat when they retired or became unable to work. The Repubs would have us believe that SS is meant to be an investment vehicle...a way to increase your retirement payouts so that you can have more money to spend. This was not the purpose, and will not be the purpose even with private accounts.
2. Real reforms are needed for SS. However, the kinds of reforms that should be enacted are not politically popular. For example, human life expectancies are getting longer....raising the retirement age would help. Also, some of the richest Americans obviously do not need more money in their retirement. Means testing, or assessing need may help save money in the system.
3. The solution is NOT to raise the payroll tax.
4. We cannot continue reckless government spending and amassing a gigantic National debt AND save SS. The government has to be fiscally responsible for the decisions it makes....maybe dropping $200 billion on an unneccessary war in Iraq could have been a place to start....
Up and down the board, private accounts have fallen on deaf ears. The AARP has said that they are a bad idea, and the Republicans have turned on this organization in an attempt to smear them. Young people are not sold on the private accounts. In my humble opinion, it is because young people have no flipping idea on what investment managment means, it scares them to death!
The Republicans have been selling a phony bill of goods, trying to convince Americans that the SS system is going to go bankrupt or insolvent long before it is actually going to. The system is secure for a number of years still, but changes do need to be made soon in order to keep it in good working order.
Here are my thoughts on Soc. Security.
1. The program as intended was not meant to provide retirees with a rich and healthy pension for them to live in the lap of luxury. SS was developed to make sure people could live and eat when they retired or became unable to work. The Repubs would have us believe that SS is meant to be an investment vehicle...a way to increase your retirement payouts so that you can have more money to spend. This was not the purpose, and will not be the purpose even with private accounts.
2. Real reforms are needed for SS. However, the kinds of reforms that should be enacted are not politically popular. For example, human life expectancies are getting longer....raising the retirement age would help. Also, some of the richest Americans obviously do not need more money in their retirement. Means testing, or assessing need may help save money in the system.
3. The solution is NOT to raise the payroll tax.
4. We cannot continue reckless government spending and amassing a gigantic National debt AND save SS. The government has to be fiscally responsible for the decisions it makes....maybe dropping $200 billion on an unneccessary war in Iraq could have been a place to start....
posted by GT at 8:04 AM
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