Saturday, January 08, 2005
More social security dissection
From A Tiny Revolution:
There is a clue to [Peter] Wehner's perspective in the savings bond example above.
It actually is fine with Wehner for people to buy bonds as individuals and get a return on them. Likewise, he thinks it's fine for people to have individual bank accounts and own stocks.
However, he hates the idea of Americans sharing in America's increasing wealth without investing privately. He believes ONLY private investors should get the money. Of course, they already get lots of it. And that's fine. But Wehner thinks they should get ALL of it.
For instance, imagine a teacher starting out now who works for 45 years. She awakens a love for knowledge among hundreds of young people. One of her former students invents an extremely effective medicine for heart attacks. Another starts a company that makes cars that get 150 mpg. Yet because she works at a low-paying Catholic school and never marries, she never makes enough money to save much herself.
As you're imagining her, also imagine a soldier who fought in Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was shot in the leg and it had to be amputated. For the rest of his life, he works as a janitor. Perhaps he could have made more of himself, but his amputation made him uncomfortable around people, and he never tries. He never saves much either.
Do this teacher, do this veteran, deserve a modest share of America's increased wealth when they retire in 2050?
Peter Wehner says: NO WAY.
But most Americans say: YOU BET THEY DO.
That's why Social Security is so popular. And that's why Bush's only shot at destroying it is for people like Wehner to tell ridiculous lies.
posted by chris at 2:19 PM
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