From the Times article I talked about yesterday:
But their vision of the federal government is frequently at odds with the one that both parties have constructed. Tea Party gatherings are full of people who say they would do away with the Federal Reserve, the federal income tax and countless agencies, not to mention bailouts and stimulus packages. Nor is it unusual to hear calls to eliminate Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. A remarkable number say this despite having recently lost jobs or health coverage. Some of the prescriptions they are debating — secession, tax boycotts, states “nullifying” federal laws, forming citizen militias — are outside the mainstream, too.
The article goes on to say that these folks view most government institutions as tyrannical entities who seek to "grab power," control our lives, and piss away our tax dollars.
I've been thinking a lot about Social Security of late. Remember back in 2004 when the base wanted to privatize Social Security? The argument was that the federal government was inefficient in managing your money and that the program was a failure. There were cries of "Ponzi scheme" and calls to invest all the money with the private financial institutions of our country. My question to all of you who supported this notion is quite simple:
What would've happened to all that money had we done that?
2 comments:
I would actually have some by retirement age. 'Course, that's problematic if guys like "The Won" keep violating bankruptcy laws to give money from the sale of assets to their cronies instead of 401K plans who are contractually obligated to have first dibs on that money.
I don't expect to ever receive "Social Security" checks. And my kids are guaranteed to not get any even though they are required to pay money (that they should be saving for retirement) into the system.
My portfolio is reasonably diverse and after a pretty big slump last year, is back past it's previous high right now. So I think it's safe to say that any savings I had been able to make with SS withholdings would be in the same boat, as I would have allocated that money in the same manner. Didn't have the CHOICE, though, did I, as I'm obviously too stupid to be allowed to invest my own money for myself.
If I took all the money that has ever been and ever will be stolen from me via the SS fraud and just shoved it under my mattress - THAT would be a better return than I could expect from the govt.
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