Obama will keep Social Security safety net intact
Whatever our age, we should be concerned with the future of Social Security. Social Security is a safety net that we need. Here are 12 reasons from http://socsec.org, a Century Foundation Project. (The Century Foundation conducts independent research on many matters relating to public policy and functions independently of political campaigns.)
Twelve Reasons Why Privatizing Social Security is a Bad Idea
Greg Anrig, Bernard Wasow, The Century Foundation, 12/14/2004
Addressing Social Security’s potential long-term financing challenges by taking the dramatic step of diverting its payroll taxes to create new personal accounts will have drastic consequences for federal finances, future retirees, and those who rely on the system the most. Learn more about twelve major reasons why less costly and less painful reforms should be considered instead.
- Reason #1: Today’s insurance to protect workers and their families against death and disability would be threatened.
- Reason #2: Creating private accounts would make Social Security’s financing problem worse, not better.
- Reason #3: Creating private accounts could dampen economic growth, which would further weaken Social Security’s future finances.
- Reason #4: Privatization has been a disappointment elsewhere.
- Reason #5: The odds are against individuals investing successfully.
- Reason #6: What you get will depend on whether you retire when the market is up or down.
- Reason #7: Wall Street would reap windfalls from your taxes.
- Reason #8: Private accounts would require a new government bureaucracy.
- Reason #9: Young people would be worse off.
- Reason # 10: Women stand to lose the most.
- Reason #11: African Americans and Latin Americans also would become more vulnerable under privatization.
- Reason #12: Retirees will not be protected against inflation.
So what are the individual stands of the 2 candidates? The bottom line is that Obama believes that the privatization of Social Security would be disastrous. McCain is in support of privatization, by whatever name, and to this end, will be more of the same as President Bush.
