Dems: Private Accounts Would Hurt Farmers

[Judi Lynn]

Dems: Private Accounts Would Hurt Farmers
By EMERY P. DALESIO, Associated Press Writer

Saturday, June 18, 2005

(06-18) 08:10 PDT Raleigh, N.C. (AP) --

President Bush's proposal to allow taxpayers to invest part of their Social Security taxes would have an amplified, negative effect on farm families who depend on the government program in retirement, Rep. Bob Etheridge, D-N.C., said Saturday.

"Farm families have tight budgets, and most don't have access to employer retirement accounts such as 401(k) plans. In fact, three out of four farmers fund their own retirement. They depend on Social Security when the crop yield is low or the weather is bad," Etheridge, a member of the House Agriculture Committee and a part-time farmer, said in the Democratic Party's weekly radio address.

Etheridge, who co-chairs the Democratic House Rural Working Group with Rep. Stephanie Herseth, D-S.D., spoke as public polls show tepid support for Bush's call to allow younger workers to create voluntary personal accounts funded out of their Social Security payroll taxes.

Democrats accuse the White House of seeking to privatize the Depression-era program, while supporters of the accounts argue they are needed to modernize it.
(snip/...)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/06/18/national/w081037D31.DTL

[BamaLefty]

1. Take Notes Iowa and Wisconsin

If you leave our camp...

[acmavm]

2. Somehow I don't think that will matter much. They'll still support their

boy bush** even if it kills them.

You really gotta live here with 'em to see them in action. Believe me, I'll never claim to understand it.

[Iowa]

4. Yep, these folks repeatedly vote against their own interests...

and will probably continue to do so. I grew up on an Iowa farm in the 50s and 60s and knew a lot of them. My parents were college educated Democrat farmers, which was rare in those days.

[sam sarrha]

3. Private accounts will hurt everyone not rich enough to already have them.!

[NVMojo]

5. ...if they had one word "ranchers" to this, boy would this kick up!!!

[CityDem]

6. Private Accounts

Private accounts will destroy Social Security and will only help the investment brokers and other fat cat wall street types.

[Raiden]

7. I think we're finally learning to frame the debate

'06 and beyond!