Social Security sell-outs
November 30th, 2006 by Brendan SteinhauserThe Wall Street Journal has an editorial today that indicates politicians are going to fold on social security reform. Since we have been one of the only voices for personal retirement accounts recently, I guess we will have to roll up our sleeves and get down to business fighting “Democrats who don’t care and Republicans who don’t dare.”
I agree with the editorial board on this point,
“More broadly, genuine Social Security reform is about more than federal accounting and “solvency.” It ought to be about individual ownership and retirement independence. Personal accounts are a way to let younger workers–especially lower-income workers–put some of their payroll taxes into accounts that they would own and could grow over time. They would build wealth, and their future benefits wouldn’t depend on the whims of future politicians. The Pozen plan by itself merely reduces their benefits and maintains Social Security as a cross-generational income transfer program.”
