Date: Thu, 6 Jan 2005 04:04:39 CST
From: greg.hennessy@tantalus.cox.net (Greg Hennessy)
Newsgroups: misc.invest.financial-plan
Subject:  Re: Fear Of Private Social Security
Message-ID:  
References:   <1104936046.661820.238830@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>  <1104960413.723117.29080@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>
	iQBVAwUAQd0NOPl/I4+O31e5AQGOLAH/Sw3eyVjYqQPaNhuVp2Z/erne8FF83XFe
	RAb4WY8Je5gaenGDaZi6A+WzSkTe7Q2dc1W5KWpHjyxJC8d65+NLIg==
	=eTJQ

In article <1104960413.723117.29080@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>,
  wrote:
> >I'm curious, is your income above or below the average? I wonder if
> >your feelings might be different if your financial situation were
> >different.
> 
> It is above average, and they might be. But consider this. The 2% of my
> income that could be set aside in personal Social Security accounts
> would only be a relatively small part of my savings. 

I suspect that would be true for many, for myself I save 11% in my
retirement fund, and I have a 5% match, for a total of 16%, so
obviously the 2-4% is a small point. But I wasn't expecting to need SS
to stay out of poverty.

> For lower income people, the personal accounts could
> represent a big part of their savings at retirement, which they would
> not have in a pure pay-as-you-go system.

They wouldn't have savings, but under the pay as you go system, they
would have an income stream. I've yet to be convinced that poor people
would benifit from the changes Bush is proposing.

> >In general, broad generalizations tend to be insulting.
> 
> I should not have used the phrase I did. I apologize to you and other
> mifp readers.

Thank you. Speaking for my self, apology accepted.

> >And what do you say to a retired 62 year old who paid SS taxes all of
> >their adult life, and are expecting to get the benefits promised them?
> 
> I would say that the payroll taxes he paid were not saved but spent on
> general government activities. 

But most of what he paid in payroll taxes weren't spent on general
government activities, they were spent on those people collecting
SS. Since the 70's some were spent on other things, but bonds were
issued with the intent to repay those. 

> Why I am responsible for keeping the
> promises that politicians made before I was born?

For the same reason I'm responsible keeping the government set up
before I was born.