Now He Puts his Foot Down
by digby
Fergawdsake:
John McCain came under fire on Friday from defenders of the current Social Security system after his aides signaled to the Associated Press that the current market turmoil has not altered his support for changing the retirement program to allow individuals to invest some portion of their Social Security payroll taxes in stocks and bonds.
It's not just Alan greenspan who McCain wants to prop up like the corpse in Weekend at Bernies, it's this privatization zombie as well. It's hard to believe that he'll pander on every single thing but this one, but apparently this is where he draws the line. What a putz.
It's one thing to tell 23 years olds that they get to have fun with their social security taxes. They are young and dumb and don't have clue about saving. But once people get into their 30s and have kids and old parents they start to think about the future. And one of the things that allows them to take some risk with their 401ks or their homes is the fact that they have a guarantee of some kind of modest retirement income. If these free market wizards want average people to continue to participate in the markets, they'd better make sure they aren't asking them to risk everything. Unlike big banks and hedge fund managers, working people don't have golden parachutes to protect them from failure and the government isn't likely to step in to bail them out if they take a big risk and fail.
If guys like McCain have their way, people will be so afraid of any kind of investing that they'll start burying their money in the back yard. And that isn't going to help anyone.
Leave Social Security alooooone!
Update: Fergawdsake Squared!
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