Repent
I repent. In an earlier posting I supported the administration's wish to make changes in Social Security. I no longer do.
But not because I think all their ideas are bad. If there were a way to provide for those who wish to invest some small part of their payroll tax in a private account so that it would not jeapordize the solvency of the program, and had some safety net, it would be a good thing. Because the money would get into the economy where it could work, and history has shown that long-term investing earns a higher return than Social Security pays.
And I have long believed the most important purpose of Social Security is as an insurance program against people becoming impoverished in their old age. So when President Bush suggested that there be a means test, so rich people would receiver a lower percentage from the program than poor people, I thought that was a good idea.
Now it looks like more of the Bush bait and switch. Of course the very rich will feel virtually nothing from reducing their Social Security checks. But the actual numbers show that poor people will not be raised substantially, and middle class people will be significantly reduced.
Finally, one comes to believe that this administration really does want to totally dismantle the programs for insuring care for poor people put in place as a result of the horrors of the Great Depression. Perhaps we have forgotten what this nation went through. Never again, we have to say.
Hard to know whether all this is merely cynical oil-rich millionaires having hijacked government and skillfully blinded the very people who will suffer. Or whether they honestly believe that removing all the safeguards government has put in place in the past seventy-five years will result in everyone working harder and making more money.
But whichever it is, it is a disaster looking to happen. You and I, who have been around a while and know the vagaries of human history, need to make our voices heard. I tend to focus on the soul of a nation that turns its back on its most vulnerable members. But the plain money facts are enough.
This so-called Free Market approach to all of life is nothing short of a jungle designed for the rich.
But not because I think all their ideas are bad. If there were a way to provide for those who wish to invest some small part of their payroll tax in a private account so that it would not jeapordize the solvency of the program, and had some safety net, it would be a good thing. Because the money would get into the economy where it could work, and history has shown that long-term investing earns a higher return than Social Security pays.
And I have long believed the most important purpose of Social Security is as an insurance program against people becoming impoverished in their old age. So when President Bush suggested that there be a means test, so rich people would receiver a lower percentage from the program than poor people, I thought that was a good idea.
Now it looks like more of the Bush bait and switch. Of course the very rich will feel virtually nothing from reducing their Social Security checks. But the actual numbers show that poor people will not be raised substantially, and middle class people will be significantly reduced.
Finally, one comes to believe that this administration really does want to totally dismantle the programs for insuring care for poor people put in place as a result of the horrors of the Great Depression. Perhaps we have forgotten what this nation went through. Never again, we have to say.
Hard to know whether all this is merely cynical oil-rich millionaires having hijacked government and skillfully blinded the very people who will suffer. Or whether they honestly believe that removing all the safeguards government has put in place in the past seventy-five years will result in everyone working harder and making more money.
But whichever it is, it is a disaster looking to happen. You and I, who have been around a while and know the vagaries of human history, need to make our voices heard. I tend to focus on the soul of a nation that turns its back on its most vulnerable members. But the plain money facts are enough.
This so-called Free Market approach to all of life is nothing short of a jungle designed for the rich.
posted by Blayney at 2:27 PM
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