If Soc. Security is privatized, what will you do with your SS taxes?

[ecstatic]

Poll question: If Soc. Security is privatized, what will you do with your SS taxes?

[sniffa]

1. spend it on drugs

or maybe invest it in scratch tickets

[Justyce]

2. I would bet we will still have to pay for it, just get nothing in return.

[billyoc]

3. Airfare. And a globe. n/t

[WMliberal]

4. foreign bonds. the euro is and shall continue to rise.

so long as we have a treasury secretary with a hard-on for a "soft dollar."

[ecstatic]

5. I would probably put it in a private account

Let me start by saying that I really don't agree with privatizing SS, but if it were to happen, I'd have to protect myself somehow.

I imagine that might be what most young people would do--with the knowledge that Bush & the Repubs will bankrupt the SS system well before we reach our 70s.

[lawladyprof]

17. Not so

Your retirement income will flow from younger workers. If there are enough of those (be fruitful and multiply--LOL), your income will be safe. That said, there are winnners and losers re: social security (as in everything). Winner--minimum wage worker who lives long past the age s/he retires. Loser-anyone (but especially high income workers) who dies shortly after retiring. The question becomes who will be the winners and losers. Under Bush, I have a sneaking suspicion I know.

[sam sarrha]

6. this SUBDIZING the stock market, they will steal it and you will be FUCKED

[hlthe2b]

7. you'll only "get" to invest among a selection of Bush* approved funds....

So, forget having any real choice. It's just a way to get more millions into the hands of his cronies.

But, if I could, i'd take it and emigrate! (don't yell, Duers who are tired of expat discussions-- just a fantasy, for God's sake)

[ecstatic]

12. I didn't even think about that

How could I forget that each of W's schemes are designed to make his friends richer? Honestly I have no idea what I'd do with the money now.

[Inland]

8. Buy dog food, funeral home stocks

[nono]

9. We could--------

Cut out the middle man and send it to the rich like * want's.

[leftofthedial]

10. purchase assault weapons

and video surveillance equipment

[slackmaster]

18. Sorry, it is not possible to buy assault weapons any more

There is no longer any such thing. They've all reverted back to being rifles, pistols, and shotguns.

[leftofthedial]

20. travel to Iraq

loot munitions dumps

[slackmaster]

21. You won't find any "assault weapons" there either

Automatic rifles, RPGs, maybe some shoulder-launched AA missiles but nothing that would ever have been classified as an "assault weapon" in the US. Military forces don't use semiautomatics.

[leftofthedial]

23. yeah. this was plan B

not a restatement of plan A

[Sperk]

11. Uh, hello? you are not going to be able to decide where your

money goes....at least not totally, you get to decide which crooked fanancial instution gets to invest your money....don't think it's ever going to be in YOUR hands, cause it's not.

[ecstatic]

13. where can I go to find info about this?

I admit I'm confused about the specifics of what * is proposing.

[Kokonoe]

14. We still must pay in to support present retirees

I guess I'll just put the rest in a jar.

[Tracer]

15. I didn't vote in this poll.

Because I'm totally confused.

Even though I'm a * loather, I recognize that SS needs to be made solvent for future generations. As it stands now, there is nothing but a stack of IOUs in a file drawer in Washington. (I actually saw the file drawer on a Paul Salmon segment on the NewsHour).

The question is what to do.

I've just started to read "Running on Empty" by Peter G. Peterson. Maybe that will give me a clue.

[meti57b]

19. there are IOUs because bush has stolen the SS money and spent it on Iraq

and for tax cuts for the wealthy. In 2000 when bush took office, there was a surplus. He has taken the SS money and spent it on Iraq and not replaced it because of the tax cuts for the wealthy. All that needs to be done is that the government has to stop running deficit budgets.

[mainer]

16. Social Security ensures a lifelong retirement fund

You can live to 110 and never stop getting your checks.

But if your self-managed retirement fund runs out when you're eight five, what then?

[Christiana]

22. Public teachers in CA don't get SS...

Our money gets put into a state retirement program for teachers, although I guess I'll get a little SS from the odd jobs I've held over the years.