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Baldwin ponders privatization plan
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Wisconsin Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin addressed concerns about President Bush's Social Security privatization plan and offered some possible solutions during a listening session Monday night at Middleton High School.
Baldwin said she sees a long-term challenge in Social Security where others see a crisis. She said she believes with the $1.7 trillion the government has in Social Security reserves, it can afford full Social Security benefits for those who qualify until the year 2042.
Baldwin also expressed her dislike for Bush's privatization plan.
"The president has not given many details about his plan," Baldwin said. "But based on what we do know, I think it makes the problem worse."
The privatization plan, according to Baldwin, does not give low-income workers the same chances it gives high-income workers. A worker is only able to put money earned on payroll into their private Social Security account and those earning less have a smaller amount to put into their account, she added.
Baldwin said she is concerned a Social Security privatization plan would not provide an adequate safety net for people who are disabled or who have lost family members to premature death. A privatization plan, she argued, would really hurt these people because they will not have had as much time to build a private account. These people make up almost one third of the people who qualify for Social Security in the United States.
Baldwin recommended solutions to the Social Security challenge. One idea the audience enjoyed was eliminating the payroll tax cap. The tax cap is set at $90,000, causing someone who makes less than that yearly amount to pay as much in taxes as someone who makes $1 million a year.
The idea follows the theory that eliminating the cap would bring in more tax money, which the government could put toward Social Security.
During the conference, the audience took the opportunity to let Baldwin know what they thought about Social Security. Most expressed concern against Bush's privatization plan but expressed comfort with the current safety net the Social Security plan affords them.
Jan Foval, a financial planner who was present in the audience, said her concern with privatization was that people are not financially educated enough to make the correct decisions necessary for a successful private Social Security plan.
A lone voice in support of the goals of Bush's plan Monday night belonged to Tom Theding, another member of the audience. Theding said he did not necessarily support the privatization of Social Security, but he was encouraged that the government is trying new things.
"I think it's encouraging that the president is bringing about innovative ideas," Theding said. "I'm not sure if the president's plan will work, but times are changing, and I like it that our government is looking to run the country in new and hopefully more efficient ways."
Baldwin said she hopes the government can meet this Social Security challenge.
"We have time to do this right," Baldwin said. "We have to respond to this challenge in a responsible and hopefully bipartisan way."
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“She said she believes with the $1.7 trillion the government has in Social Security reserves,”
These “reserves” are just IOUs from one US Government agency to another. You can’t loan yourself money and count the outstanding loan as an asset without considering the offsetting liablility! It’s exactly like an insurance company issuing bonds to itself and then counting these as assets.
The SS scam makes WorldCon and Enron look like paragons of accounting integrity.
Everyone is for raising taxes when its not their money. Yes, lets raise the payroll cap, but not raise those above $90k benefits. Then lets call it for what it is, purely socialist income redistribution.
Duh, me a conservative. Me privatize everything is smart.
Anyone under the age of 40 will get **ed by the current SS scheme. By even conservative estimates, taxes will have to raise exponentially to pay for the current level of benefits to an expanding group of recipients.
The system will either go bankrupt or we’ll have mass civil disobedience in the form of unpaid taxes.
What Bush is hoping to do is set up some sort of incentive for the leaders of tomorrow to not return the favor and ** the then-old people who refused to make this even halfway palatable to future earners.
Me liberl genus. i no need work or save cuz sumone els pay all me bills. Guvmint gonna take care of me if i get old.