Posted by
Rich on Friday, February 08, 2008 10:03:03 AM
Barrak Obama and Hillary Clinton have both proposed raising the ceiling on the current Social Security payroll taxes to $200,000. There are some liberals in Congress and the media who have suggested this is not enough.
Remember a liberal is a man who will give away everything he doesn’t own. Well we now have a bonified liberal woman wanting to do the same.
Helen Rosen, writer for the Albany Times Union, says so in her column, "
HOW TO FIX SOCIAL SECURITY - A fairer country for all citizens".
So what is Helen's solution? "Instead of having the Social Security tax cap go up from the $100,000 level, it should descend as far down as needed from the rarefied atmosphere of the very richest. To make that an effectively equitable tax, the money made from exercising stock options should be considered earned income, along with the monstrous bonuses corporate tycoons receive whether their business is doing well or not."
This solution makes for an "equitable tax" and a "fairer country"?
Let's look at the current Social Security system (the third rail in politics that Senator John McCain has pledged to fix).
Would you as a young person looking for a savings plan that you and your family will put 14% of your income into invest in a fund: that historically pays below average interest rates, your money once invested no longer legally belongs to you, the fund can take your money and spend it on whatever it wants and simply give you an IOU, if you die before your retirement date (which is set by the fund) you get none of the money you invested (if you are white you have a 1 in 5 chance and if you are black you have a 1 in 2 chance of dying before you can get any dividends), the fund unilaterally can reduce the dividends it pays out, it can raise the age at which you can withdraw your dividends, it penalizes you if you retire early and finally, the fund uses money from current investors to pay the dividends to older investors?
Of course not. You would be crazy to invest in such a fund. Well this is exactly what you are doing with 14% of your money by giving it to Social Security.
What is our solution? It is simple - give you total control and ownership of your money, and let you decide how to invest it.
We believe in making the current payroll taxes work harder for you by investing them through some form of personal retirement account (PRA).
Establishing PRAs is the only solution that will also give future retirees the option to receive an improved standard of living in retirement. These accounts would give you more control over how to structure your income and allow you to build a nest egg that could be used for emergencies during retirement, used to start a business, or left to your family. Establishing PRAs will be complex and—as experience from other countries shows— will require careful planning. We and Senator John McCain know that this is the best solution for the American worker.
This solution is much fairer and more equitable than Helen's. What do you think?
For more information on how to really fix Social Security go to the Heritage Foundation and read their comprehensive paper, "
How to Fix Social Security".