More on Social Security

My comeback to any talk of better returns on the market and privatization are these:

1) Who gets better prices from brokers? You and me with our thousands or the Social Security Administration with 1.7 trillion. Think Wal-Mart and suppliers.

2) It is called Social SECURITY for a reason. We should not subject people nearing retirement to fears surrounding the market. It would have been great to retire in 2000 but what about 2002. You may have thought twice seeing your personal account plumet.

3) Despite the Republicans willful ignoring of this, it is a fact that people do not always act in their own best interests. People are not experts in everything and are liable to make mistakes. That is fine in life but not in Social SECURITY.

Look to Sweden where people that should be thinking of capital preservation and current income (older people) have used their Social Security personal saving account to lever up on high tech growth stuff. Well when 2001-2003 comes along that is a very bad decision for someone in their 60's. People are too swayed by trends to make good decisions all the time.

We should have something for the elderly and the disabled that is secure so they stay off welfare and, more importantly, have decency and dignity in old age.

My grandmother is a signature beneficiary of Social Security. She and my Pop-Pop were working class FDR dems and she bought into the system hook line and sinker. Well good for her because it worked. She is in her mid eighties and has been able to live for the last 20 years with financial strength due to her husband's union pension and Social Security. She is an intelligent and wise person but i am not sure she would have made the best investment decisions if left to her own devices. Throw in brokers fees and what have you and I fear for what she would have experienced.

In Mexico and many other countries, old people must live with their grown children because there are no savings and there is no Social Security. In the US we moved away from this model a long time ago and we owe it to the people that came before us to provide dignity and security for our seniors.

I wish Bush was intelligent enough and had the pelotas to tackle what needs reforming: Medicare and health care in general. That seems to be the real crisis.