Remember “Private Investment Accounts”?
It was only four years ago that George W. Bush was traveling around the United States promoting the idea of partially privatizing Social Security. Yes, in April 2005, W showed us a government filing cabinet and proclaimed,
“The retirement security for future generations is sitting in a filing cabinet. It’s time to strengthen and modernize Social Security for future generations with growing assets that you can control that you call your own — assets that the government can’t take away.”
What did he mean by that? On April 29, 2005, he gave more details of his vision:
“I believe the best way to achieve this goal is to give younger workers the option, the opportunity if they so choose, of putting a portion of their payroll taxes into a voluntary personal retirement account. Because this money is saved and invested, younger workers will have the opportunity to receive a higher rate of return on their money than the current Social Security system can provide.”
So the plan was that younger workers would take some of their Social Security fund deposit and put it instead into some personal financial account, like stocks or bonds, to prepare for their retirement. What would that mean when they retire? Their Social Security checks would be reduced, “because it is expected that some of their retirement income would come from these funds.”
I mention this because the first year for participation was supposed to be 2009, when workers born between 1950 and 1965 could open their private investment accounts. So, how is the stock market today? Don’t you wish you could bet your retirement on it?
Personally, I think we avoided having yet another W disaster. W neglected to mention that it was also possible, under his plan, that future retirees would receive a lower rate of return on their money than the current Social Security system can provide.
[By the way, John McCain liked W’s plan, too. He even had a “little straight talk” for the AARP about their opposition to it.] Alex Budarin
“The retirement security for future generations is sitting in a filing cabinet. It’s time to strengthen and modernize Social Security for future generations with growing assets that you can control that you call your own — assets that the government can’t take away.”
What did he mean by that? On April 29, 2005, he gave more details of his vision:
“I believe the best way to achieve this goal is to give younger workers the option, the opportunity if they so choose, of putting a portion of their payroll taxes into a voluntary personal retirement account. Because this money is saved and invested, younger workers will have the opportunity to receive a higher rate of return on their money than the current Social Security system can provide.”
So the plan was that younger workers would take some of their Social Security fund deposit and put it instead into some personal financial account, like stocks or bonds, to prepare for their retirement. What would that mean when they retire? Their Social Security checks would be reduced, “because it is expected that some of their retirement income would come from these funds.”
I mention this because the first year for participation was supposed to be 2009, when workers born between 1950 and 1965 could open their private investment accounts. So, how is the stock market today? Don’t you wish you could bet your retirement on it?
Personally, I think we avoided having yet another W disaster. W neglected to mention that it was also possible, under his plan, that future retirees would receive a lower rate of return on their money than the current Social Security system can provide.
[By the way, John McCain liked W’s plan, too. He even had a “little straight talk” for the AARP about their opposition to it.] Alex Budarin
posted by Alex Budarin | 10:36 PM
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