Social Security

By the way, the GOP has not given up on trying to eviscerate Social Security. While Bush failed to privatize Social Security because Democrats exposed the details of his plan an people revolted against the scheme, the war is not over.

CNN article

Privatization of Social Security, although he doesn't like to talk about it during election time, is most certainly a part of McCain's economic policy.

Think about what that would mean. Social Security is, by definition of the program, pay-as-you-go. People receiving checks now get the funds from people paying into the system right now. If folk paying in right now had that money diverted to private accounts, current recipients would either stop receiving all money altogether (of course not), or the government would have to borrow the money. Borrowing the money means everyone's taxes would have to go up to pay back the loan and the interest. Then the private accounts would have fund management fees applied to them - a VERY, VERY sweet deal for whomever is selected by the government to run the private accounts.

I'm all in favor of being in charge of my own money, including my retirement savings - and I am in charge of most of it. I am not, however, willing to put the final safety net in the hands of private contractors selected by the government who are motivated by their own profits, rather than keeping Social Security solvent and reliable.

Can you imagine what all the Social Security recipients around the country would be facing right now if the current financial meltdown was directly reflected in checks they depended on? Benefits that took a lifetime of work would be hanging on every word from Wall Street. That just doesn't sound like good planning to me.