Its all about YOU
Today's New York Times has a very revealing article about how the benefit cuts that come with private accounts plans would affect young people. You've got to read this thing.
The article talks about a certain benefit cut that has a lot of support from the politicians in Washington, particularly the Big Dog at the White House. This benefit cut is the main idea they are putting forward for how to "save money" in Social Security. Saving money in this case is political speak for taking money out of your pocket.
A lot of people are asking us, Why is Rock the Vote taking on Social Security? Do you have an agenda?
The answer is YES, we have an agenda: protecting your wallet when the ax starts swinging on Social Security! You stand to lose thousands of dollars. You stand to have a lower standard of living when you get older. You stand to have no real secure foundation for your investments.
We want whatever happens to be FAIR, and we do not think this is fair. At all.
And we're glad that organizations like the AARP agree with us on this. That's going to help out, a lot.
Some key quotes from the article:
--
"To show how a switch would affect people, Mr. Soto plugged assumptions into a basic framework set forth in 2001 by Mr. Bush's panel on Social Security. His findings are estimates, and things could turn out differently. But in general, he found that people who are over 45 today would feel the change only mildly, while younger people would find the system greatly changed by the time they retired. The guaranteed portion of future benefits for younger workers would effectively be much smaller, leaving them to rely more heavily on their investment accounts. But even with solid investment gains, their combined benefit would in most cases be considerably less than what the current system promises... Younger people would be unlikely to win back their losses because price indexing is so powerful."
--
Did you notice the part where it said, "even with solid investment gains" you still lose money on the deal?
Now, look, if you want to invest your own Social Security money so bad that you're willing to reduce your standard of living, more power to you. Just don't come knocking on my door when you can't buy your drugs.
One more thing. This huge cut in benefits applies to everyone. Whether you want to invest your own money or not. The investment is voluntary but the cuts are mandatory. Got it?
Good.
Tell your friends. We can stop this.
The article talks about a certain benefit cut that has a lot of support from the politicians in Washington, particularly the Big Dog at the White House. This benefit cut is the main idea they are putting forward for how to "save money" in Social Security. Saving money in this case is political speak for taking money out of your pocket.
A lot of people are asking us, Why is Rock the Vote taking on Social Security? Do you have an agenda?
The answer is YES, we have an agenda: protecting your wallet when the ax starts swinging on Social Security! You stand to lose thousands of dollars. You stand to have a lower standard of living when you get older. You stand to have no real secure foundation for your investments.
We want whatever happens to be FAIR, and we do not think this is fair. At all.
And we're glad that organizations like the AARP agree with us on this. That's going to help out, a lot.
Some key quotes from the article:
--
"To show how a switch would affect people, Mr. Soto plugged assumptions into a basic framework set forth in 2001 by Mr. Bush's panel on Social Security. His findings are estimates, and things could turn out differently. But in general, he found that people who are over 45 today would feel the change only mildly, while younger people would find the system greatly changed by the time they retired. The guaranteed portion of future benefits for younger workers would effectively be much smaller, leaving them to rely more heavily on their investment accounts. But even with solid investment gains, their combined benefit would in most cases be considerably less than what the current system promises... Younger people would be unlikely to win back their losses because price indexing is so powerful."
--
Did you notice the part where it said, "even with solid investment gains" you still lose money on the deal?
Now, look, if you want to invest your own Social Security money so bad that you're willing to reduce your standard of living, more power to you. Just don't come knocking on my door when you can't buy your drugs.
One more thing. This huge cut in benefits applies to everyone. Whether you want to invest your own money or not. The investment is voluntary but the cuts are mandatory. Got it?
Good.
Tell your friends. We can stop this.
posted by Hans Riemer at 4:42 PM
7 Comments:
haha...nice try RTV...
if its all about US, then why do you assume we aren't smart enough to make our own decisions? This may be the saddest attempt yet to steer us away from an issue we overwhelmingly support.
If anyone reading this has taking statistics, or even ethics, whatever you do, don't read RTV's Social Security Survey results. It breaks every ethical rule of statistics.
And even when we still show overwhelming support for controlling our own money, they slant it by saying it isn't as powerful a block as once suspected. Nice work guys! You managed to supress our support to a majority that is less than any other poll (yet still a majority). Maybe you should throw random quotes in the poll like, "If you believe in privatization you will become impotent." That MIGHT pull support under the 50% mark.
I was channel flipping and saw Hans Reimer speak on Social Security at a townhall meeting. I was VERY offended when Mr. Reimer (are you an American citizen Mr. Reimer?) said something along the line that one of the benefits of Social Security is knowing that your parents won't move in with you in their old age. That is very socialistic thinking of you Mr. Reimer; I & my employer should combined, pay $11,520 into a program so that YOU and the rest of the irresponsible left in this country don't have to worry about having your PARENTS live with you! No doubt you want ME and all other taxpayers to support YOUR parents so YOU can buy a 1) newer car 2) bigger home 3) exotic vacation and not have to worry about helping your parents out in their later years because you and the rest of the IRRESPONSIBLE LEFT have shoved them off on the rest of us taxpayers!
You don't speak for this person. Social Security is the biggest welfare fraud ever passed on an unsuspecting public by politicians. 3.2 people supporting every 1 on Social Security today and by the time I retire it will be 2 to 1. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out the system is a PONZI scheme.
If your employer walks up to you and says from now on your weekly paycheck is 70% of what it is suppose to be do you go home and tell your wife the company is bankrupt? Yup, you bet you do. So President Bush is correct. When you cannot make your financial obligations it is called BANKRUPTCY!
It's funny that the AARP, who is heavily qouted and used as the main source, "offers its 35 million members a choice of 38 investment funds -- stocks, bonds, small-cap, large-cap, foreign and domestic funds of all shapes and sizes." (National Center for Policy Analysis, Why Democrats Oppose S.S. Reform). If S.S. reform is not in our best interest, why does the AARP offer their employees seperate accounts? Basically the politicians who oppose S.S. reform are telling us that we are too stupid to handle our own money. We can work for our own money, but then we have to give it to the big government to invest for us. Please do not be fooled by MTV's one-sided bias.
To me this is just further proof of how much you don't understand who you supposedly represent. If I, a 22 year old has parents that aren't banking on Social Security, why would I? Sorry, I know that I can do better with the money in my own hands rather than the government and if they are going to be taking it, a private account will ensure I get what I put in!
"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have ... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases." - Thomas Jefferson
There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him. -- Robert Heinlein
Take it from these wise men...smaller government means giving people more power. At 19 years old I already know that I need to start a retirement fund because S.S. is not enough to live on and is in trouble. I am smart enough and responsible enough to make my own decisions about the money I earn. Please don't let MTV or any other corporation tell you what you can and can not do with YOUR money!! Be informed!!
well said. the comments are better than the article, that's for sure.
// ryan, 20-something from Chicago
Read what's being addressed from the people actually proposing solutions!
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