Posted on 01/14/2005 12:15:15 PM PST by frog_jerk_2004
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Vice President Dick Cheney told an audience at The Catholic University of America in Washington Jan. 13 that the administration's plan to change Social Security could yield greater retirement benefits for those who invest in the stock market.
Two days after President George W. Bush launched a campaign to fundamentally change the Social Security program with the claim that the system is headed toward bankruptcy, Cheney reiterated many of the president's points and disputed critics of the proposals.
For example, Cheney said the answer to concerns about the financial risks posed by workers withdrawing from Social Security in favor of personal investment accounts "is simply to set guidelines, basic standards of safety and soundness when it comes to investment choices."
Cheney said investment in the stock market can yield more substantial savings than a worker could earn through Social Security, and called securities markets "the best, safest way to build substantial personal savings."
Wow. I thought only liberals could speak at Catholic Universities, and even then they'd have to be speaking of how abortion is a good.
To: National Desk
Contact: Brendan Daly or Jennifer Crider, 202-226-7616, both of the Office of House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi
WASHINGTON, Jan. 13 /U.S. Newswire/ -- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today in response to Vice President Cheney's remarks this afternoon on Social Security (news - web sites).
"This afternoon, Vice President Cheney tried to persuade American workers that the Republican proposal to drastically slash Social Security benefits and put their retirement benefits at the mercy of the stock market would somehow make it easier for them to save for retirement. Nothing could be further from the truth.
"Nonpartisan experts have determined that even under the most optimistic assumptions, private accounts will never provide retirement benefits that are equal to what Social Security provides workers today. The false promise of private accounts combined with the Bush Administration's proposal to cut Social Security benefits by more than 40 percent is a lose-lose proposition for American workers.
"Vice President Cheney spoke today about continuing the great American tradition of upward mobility. But so far, all the Republicans have offered is a massive cut in the only guaranteed source of retirement income that workers have. They are making Social Security weaker, not stronger. And they are making it harder for American families to achieve financial security.
"Democrats believe that Americans have paid into Social Security and deserve to receive the full benefits they were promised. Republicans are on the wrong track."
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