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02/03/2005: I guess it's just a matter of taste which sin you prefer....
I don't mind a president who got a blow-job in the side, but I'm getting pretty damn sick and tired of one that lies through his teeth to us.... From the Enterprise Ethics Weblog:
You can do a better job investing your retirement money than the government can -- or so we're being told. We're also being told that if Social Security is piratized -- excuse me, privatized -- I'm sorry, the current propaganda word is now "personalized," workers will get to keep all the money their financial acumen accumulates. We've heard it directly from the chief proponent of privatization:Youll be able to pass along the money that accumulates in your personal account, if you wish, to your children . . . or grandchildren, Bush said last night. And best of all, the money in the account is yours, and the government can never take it away.Not so fast. Like with everything else, you need to read the fine print. And the real story is a lot more complicated.
The plan is more complicated. Under the proposal, workers could invest as much as 4 percent of their wages subject to Social Security taxation in a limited assortment of stock, bond and mixed-investment funds. But the government would keep and administer that money. Upon retirement, workers would then be given any money that exceeded inflation-adjusted gains over 3 percent.In other words, it's not a retirement account. It's a loan.
Under the system, the gains may be minimal. The Social Security Administration, in projecting benefits under a partially privatized system, assumes a 4.6 percent rate of return above inflation. The Congressional Budget Office, Capitol Hill's official scorekeeper, assumes 3.3 percent gains.Spot the lie -- follow the money.And to think there are idiots who urged us to vote for Bush because he was "a moral and Godly man." What dictionary are they using to define "moral", I wonder? Not one that I'm familiar with--at least not in the real world.
If a worker sets aside $1,000 a year for 40 years, and earns 4 percent annually on investments, the account would grow to $99,800 in today's dollars, but the government would keep $78,700 -- or about 80 percent of the account. The remainder, $21,100, would be the worker's.
With a 4.6 percent average gain over inflation, the government keeps more than 70 percent. With the CBO's 3.3 percent rate, the worker is left with nothing but the guaranteed benefit.
Len on 02.03.05 @ 11:45 AM CST
