Reply #45: past performance is no guarantee ........

[ThomasJackson]

the standard mutual fund disclaimer about prior performance.

just so's everyone on the same page, talking about SS from a "cash flow" rather than an "assets held" point of view is most illuminating. the "treasury securities" in the SS trust fund are not "real" Treasury securities in that the Trust fund can't sell them to raise cash, unlike the Treasuries held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac or foreign governments, etc. They are legal obligations of thefederal gov't, but cannor be sold in the market. For those worried about the overall defecit, this is critical, because the ONLY way for the SS trust fund to convert these "assets" into cash money is to redeem them from the US Treasury. If you haven't been keeping up with current events ..... WE DON"T HAVE 3 trillion dollars with which to redeem those securities. Soooooo ..... if you don't like the current 500billion dollar defecit, how will being 3 trillion dollars in the hole feel?

Look, I'm not saying that private accounts are a great idea....BUT doing nothing is not going to fix Jack. And raising taxes only plugs a bit of the hole ..... still lots of room for improvement. So, lets have a rational discussion about how to deal with the issue, not stick our heads in the sand and hope it goes away.