Reply #15: Here's the lowdown...

[Liberty Belle]

The WAll Street Journal reported a while back that Bush's plan would divert $3 trillion out of the SS fund. Who benefits? Not seniors. Not any of us. Two groups:

1. Stock brokerage firms--lots of commissions from all those folks investing their retirement funds in the stock market, which amounts to gambling with our futures. What happens if the market crashes?

2. Financial institutions--Privatizing Social Security, even partially, means that 20% of the SS fund will be needed to administer the privatized portion, similar to how medical insurance administration/overhead chews up a big chunk of the pie. To put that in perspective, right now only 1% of SS money go for administering the fund. The big financial institutions will make windfall profits administering all that money.

Of course, Bush's biggest campaign donors are stockbrokerage firms in 2004, followed by banks.

Even Bush's own cabinet people have admitted that this will force big cuts in Social security benefits; many other experts believe the ultimate goal is destruction of SS altogether, a program the neocons view as socialist.

FYI, before Social Security, 50% of US seniors lived in poverty. Today it is 10%. Shrub wants to roll back the clock. Gramps and Granny better get used to eating Alpo again.