WE WANT TO THANK FRED, JERI, & FAMILY FOR ALL THE SACRIFICES THEY ARE AND WILL BE MAKING IN RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT.
Posted on 11/13/2007 1:38:48 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
One of the aspects of Fred Thompson's campaign for President that has appealed to me is that I've always had the sense that he was willing to take on tough issues. Early on he said that he'd be talking about things that might cause him to lose the race, but he was prepared for that.
Last week, he took on the toughest of issues, Social Security, the so called third rail of politics, that will kill anyone who dares suggest any changes to the system. Unlike Barack Obama, who is not touching the third rail himself, but rather throwing taxpayers on the rail and letting the trains run at the same time, Thompson's plan doesn't involve tax hikes and puts some common sense back in the system.
The plan has two parts. One is to index initial benefits to wages as adjusted by inflation, instead of by wage growth. Thompson's proposal mirrors the work of University of Illinois Professor Jeffrey Brown whose 2005 article on the subject demonstrates how this simple change to the program can actually fix the problem of social security running out of money in the future. Essentially what it means is this. Under the current system, in calculating your initial retirement benefit, your past wages are adjusted based on the average growth in wages. So if wages increase at more than the rate of inflation (typical) then the money you earned twenty years ago is actually valued at more than its inflation adjusted amount. My recollection of this back in the 70s was that it was done because during the Carter years, inflation actually was higher than wage growth, although my memories are certainly sketchy on that.
The other part of the plan allows workers to voluntarily start private retirement accounts, much like 401Ks. Under this part of the proposal, workers who opt into the voluntary retirment accounts would see their retirement age for maximum benefits rise.
Positive review from the Wall Street Journal and interesting analysis from ABC News.
FRED: 10% ACROSS THE BOARD Cut OF THE GOVERNMENT SPENDNG AND A top-down audit of every penny spent
win in a landslide
We should let people opt-out of Social Security. Within 20 years, the program would be dead, and the country would be better off.
WE WANT TO THANK FRED, JERI, & FAMILY FOR ALL THE SACRIFICES THEY ARE AND WILL BE MAKING IN RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT.
Fredipedia: The Definitive Fred Thompson Reference
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Go Fred Go!
It seems he gets enough press lately. Maybe people are taking notice?
Social Security third rail Bump
The slimy socialists even insulated this fraud from discussion with their "third rail" nonsense. Hooray Fred! (Hooray President Bush, also!)
Great graphic. I just set up a reminder on my calendar for that day.
BTTT!
Fred is a leader, not a politician bump.
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