Posted on 11/09/2007 1:52:58 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson waded into the politically potent issue of Social Security on Friday and proposed overhauling the retirement system by creating 401(k)-style personal accounts.
Tampering with Social Security is fraught with political peril and President George W. Bush's attempts to change it during his second term fizzled as lawmakers balked at his drive to create private investment accounts subject to the whims of the stock market.
Thompson, a former senator from Tennessee, is seeking to show he is willing to take on tough issues if elected in November 2008, telling a news conference in Washington he is the only candidate to offer an extensive Social Security plan.
Like Bush's plan, Thompson's would include investments in the stock market. But he said his proposal is different because it would be strictly voluntary and would be added to the Social Security system rather than carved out of it.
With the post-World War Two "baby-boom generation" beginning to reach retirement age, the Social Security system is expected to come under strain in coming years and could run out of money by 2041 if left as it is.
"The ugly truth is that we're going to lose it as we know it if we don't do something about it," Thompson said.
Thompson is currently running a distant second in national polling, behind Rudy Giuliani, as a candidate for the Republican nomination for the November 2008 presidential election.
But he is far behind the leaders in the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire.
Thompson would leave Social Security benefits unchanged for people who are currently retired or are near retirement. No one now over the age of 57 would be affected.
He would provide voluntary personal retirement "add-on" accounts to supplement benefits and index the program's benefit system to prices instead of the current practice of indexes benefits on wages.
Thompson's plan would give current workers the option of making voluntary contributions into personal retirement accounts similar to a 401(k) plan.
Workers would be able to contribute 2 percent of their monthly wages and the federal government would match that contribution.
Thompson said under his plan, a worker earning $40,000 a year who started contributing to the plan at age 22 and worked until age 67 would accumulate more than $280,000 for retirement.
He said he opposed trying to overhaul Social Security by raising taxes on wealthier Americans, as some Democratic candidates have proposed.
Well, I dont mean your Son doesn’t get it.
I mean some one isnt going to get “IT” (retirement) and I think this is a 3rd rail thing to campaign on
Yes we can agree.
Its a difficult pill to swallow.
I admire that Fred says “END IT NOW” but I have myself to look after.
I have never been selfish, I just want what is mine.
Call it entitlements or what ever. Take away the tax and I’d be a millionaire long ago despite poor life choices.
The big deal to me is that with GOV you have no choices. Its like marrying a bad woman
Is that like matching yourself? The money has to come from somewhere.
lol...Your reading my mind? The feds will match my contribution with the money they confiscate from me?
Too funny.
Thompson does have some guts! The only problem, is this is a political loser. The rats will pound him into a pulp over it.
Glad to hear I’m not alone.
I hate BS! I hate It!
WTF is he thinking? I can only hope he's been misreported.
Of Course, you forgot 75% of matched federal funds and 25% of my direct funds will be eaten by gubmint payroll staffers
Only Hillary has gone there to date
Yes, I will take some land near Chiricahau as payment
Hey, that’s a thought. You could bid for property using your social security payments!
I like it better than rich sierra clubber’s controlling the lands
About 7%.
1. Theft: They have already spent the money.
2. Wire Fraud.
3. Mail Fraud.
4. Embezzlement. see #1.
5. Illegal Ponzi scheme.
This is how social security works. The take the money (theft). They did not invest the money like they said (fraud). You pay income tax on the money they took, it counts as part of your gross salary even though they steal it, this is a tax on a tax (fraud and theft). When you retire they give some of it back (fraud). They tax you on what they stole and taxed before (fraud, theft, fraud). If you die they do not give any of the left over money that they have really already stolen, taxed, spent, taxed again, to your heirs. No they hand your children a bill obligating them to pay for what they stole, taxed, embezzeled, and taxed again. I have no idea what this last crime is but it would make Al Capone look like an amateur.
However, I think my grandfather (ninth grade education) understood it best. He described them as "thieving Bast--ds." My grand daddy did not waste a lot of words on making a point.
Thats about right, near as I can figure
Since he's made it perfectly CLEAR that he's not touching the old folks' money, the Dems and the AARP won't have a leg to stand on if they try to demagogue the issue.
We who are in the Boomer generation (I'm in the middle of it) have know for years that even if we DID get back anything, it wouldn't be the money WE contributed, but that of our kids. We also know that the money would not have been 'invested', in that it doesn't 'grow' as a typical investment would.
We've known for years that, in order to be able to retire with any level of comfort, we'd better start saving on our own. This is something we've drilled into our kids; if you start young, you don't have to put large amounts away each month, because with the miracle of compound interest, the little they do save, if left untouched, will increase greatly.
What would be "fair" would be for you to get your money back from the people to whom it was given. Not likely to happen, though. The fact that you have had money stolen from you does not give you any legitimate right to take money from people who had nothing to do with the theft. Why is it "fair" that people should have to repay you for money that other people stole?
Yeah, drilled into your head at 35.
One setback and your screwed
Fair enough.
Good opinion
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