Social security
Spent some time on the phone last night talking with an old friend, of the “anybody but Bush” persuasion. She made a big deal out of how social security was in deep shit, because Bush was gonna fuck it all up.
I am astounded at the ignorance of someone who is otherwise quite intelligent.
I’m further amazed that she actually believes that this attitude is anything but partisanship.
11 comments Og | Uncategorized
Social Security is already broke.
This is not going to fix it; in fact, it’s going to make it worse for a lot of people.
But I guess it’ll give someone a nice warm glow thinking that the govmint cares about them and wants to help them ensure that they don’t spend their golden years sleeping on subway grates.
It would be nice if we did have some control over our own destiny where Social Security was concerned, but that’s not going to happen in this plan either; essentially they’re going to let you buy stocks on margin with some of your Social Security moneys. They’ll front you the money and take it from your Social Security (plus an estimated 3% interest) on the back end.
Buying stocks on margin is a risky investment in any situation; doing it with an institution that always has its hand in your pocket and is paid first and last(and is far rougher than any corner loan shark) makes this a dubious prospect at best and a scary proposition.
If your investments are a booming success (which the White House is figuring, based on economic predictions right out of the go-go 1990s playbook), then you win: You end up with something to spend on top of your (reduced) Social Security.
If your investments don’t do so well . . . you lose. Too bad. You still have to pay back what you borrowed plus interest, you’re left with what you’re left with.
Want a secure retirement? Don’t count on your Uncle. Better be about getting it for yourself, or be resigned to working until they tote you out feet first.
Jenny
your humble TubaDiva
Who looked at her paycheck and said, “Who’s this Fica they keep taking out for? I don’t even know the bitch.”
Give me a link for this when you can, jenny, none of the stuff I’ve read from official sites says anything about what you’re saying. I DO know that the plan is a suggestion, and not written in stone, any of it.
I’m not going to claim it’s a good idea, I will say this: Who else has done a single thing? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
How do you know when Social Security is in trouble?
Answer: When the politians start talking about it.
politans = politicians
Here you go:
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/duncanblack/ssb.txt
Jenny
your humble TubaDiva
Wow, that’s official? from Duncan Black, also known as Atrios, the blogger only slightly to the left of stalin? the content of that disagrees sharply with what’s up at whitehouse.gov, and at sources like Newsday, itself no conservative organization.
http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-social-security-changes,0,6208065.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines
The model, as I’ve seen it, is based on the one being used in Chile.
http://www.isil.org/resources/lit/time-to-end-ss.html
Most sucessfully. And the one that gummint employees have access to. (the thrift savings plan) Completely voluntary. Completely opt in/and opt outable. No “loan” fro your account, just the choice to put a percentage of cash into your own account and out of Uncles. Not a big percentage, not the whole thing (as it should be) but a small portion.
Again, not one other soul, doing a single thing. Anywhere. Ever.
I grabbed that from a quick Google search; I read it originally from a link at the NY Times.
It’s also listed as a link at the Washington Post.
You gonna tell me now it’s a big fucking conspiracy and they made it all up?
I’m sorry I didn’t have time to check to see if the Heritage Foundation had it available.
Jenny
your humble TubaDiva
Here’s a copy from the Federal News Service; they supposedly were the people who transcribed this to begin with:
http://www.fnsg.com/transcript.htm?id=20050202t6418&nquery=&query=
Of course, they could be lying too.
Jenny
your humble TubaDiva
“If your mother says she loves you, check it out.”
No worries, I just wouldn’t trust Atrios if he said it was february. It still disagrees with the “official” story, and I’d really like to know who the “unnamed source” is.
And, again, the plan suggested is, a, suggestion. By the only person with cojones ever to touch the third rail of politics. Any change is better than no change.
People forget that Clinton and other prominent democrats were among the first to say there was a problem looming with Social Security. They didn’t have the guts to really try to make any changes. Now that Bush wants to make some changes, it’s a terrible idea. Partisan politics plain and simple. The thrift savings plan for gov’t employees is very similar to a 401k plan. Why not let those who are willing to accept the risk, opt out of the current system (at least on a partial basis) and invest the money where we can get a better rate of return. The stock market has consistently been the best investment an American could make for the last 100+ years (even factoring in the crashes of ’29 and ’87). Right now, the SS system is nothing more than a gov’t run Ponzi Scheme that will collapse without the gov’t (taxpayers) bailing it out.
Couldn’t agree more, dash. Sick to death of “Waaaah! It’ll never work”. Here’s a newsflash, folks: anything that is a move away from the current ponzi scheme is a good thing, however small the increment.