Mired in a project, so not a lot of time to look for good information. But a google search turns up these points:
"The cuts in scheduled benefits that are termed "progressive price indexing" apply to beneficiaries regardless of whether or not they opt to have a private account. In addition, people who choose to have a private account are subject to a second cut in their guaranteed benefits in order to pay for it. The President attempted to underplay the nature of the cuts that would apply to everyone, saying "Americans who choose not to save in a personal account will still be able to count on a Social Security check equal or higher than the benefits of today's seniors." This is a misleading statement because under the current rules, the benefits of future retirees are already scheduled to be much higher than benefits of today's seniors due to wage indexing as explained above. Even if your initial benefit was subject entirely to price indexing (which would be a drastic cut compared to scheduled benefits under current law) you would have a greater benefit in nominal dollars (not adjusted for inflation) than today's seniors. " http://www.policyalmanac.org/elists/viewtopic.php?t=207 "Those who do not opt for a personal retirement account would continue to draw benefits from the traditional Social Security system, reformed to be permanently sustainable." http://www.gop.com/news/read.aspx?ID=5159 Note the "reformed to the permanently sustainable" clause. Even despite the voluntary nature of it, I have other reservations about the private accounts concept. Basically it looks like a great plan to siphon money out the stream that should be going to the needy and instead puts it into the pockets of the richest 1%. It's not going to be open market investment. The stocks to choose from are going to be limited to the ones on the plan. So people desperate to get their money out of SS and hope to make a buck on the market will be artificially infusing these select accounts with fat, lucsious, and trapped market capital. Then when those markets become artificially bloated because of the capital infusion they will face a correction. The fat cats at the top who aren't fixed into the personal accounts system will be able to bail while the people who are on the personal accounts system are stuck there since it's not an open market. The joe-blow investor will be making pennies on the dollar for the investments, the last vestiges of SS will crumble trying to support a gutted system, and the rich 1% will be laughing at the bank. -Kevin On 7/14/05, G <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Looks like it all comes down to the "voluntary part" then. > > We seem to agree that if it is being offered on a purely voluntary basis (as > it seems to be), it should be done. All the people you mention could go on > about their merry way, hoping SS somehow helps them out (it won't), and the > rest of us can take advantage of this opportunity. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Purchase Flash MX Pro from House of Fusion, a Macromedia Authorized Affiliate and support the CF community. http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=57 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:164788 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
