My date with Rick Santorum
"He's like a pitbull. He's got a pair of trousers in his mouth and he's not letting go."
-- Sen. Santorum, describing President Bush on Social Security.
Despite belonging to an organization that has the words "against Senator
Santorum" in its name and occasionally comparing Mr. Santorum to various
lower life forms such as amoebas and paramecia, I made myself a promise
that I would attend The Senator's presentation on saving and strengthening
Social Security (held on Drexel's campus yesterday morning) with an open
mind.
Well, I've endured Rick Santorum's PowerPoint assault of facts and
figures, and not only do I still belong to Patriots Against Senator
Santorum but I've also begun to wonder why Rick uses his feet, instead of
his whip-like flagellum, as a means of locomotion. It's not that Rick's
presentation isn't impressive with its card stock handouts and 17 full
color slideshow. It's just that Rick uses all of the available data to
reach the wrong conclusion. Come to think of it, that's kind of impressive
too.
The show kicks off with Rick's "opening act", Deputy Commissioner of Social
Security Jim Lockhart. Jim was there to lay the groundwork for Rick's
assertions that Social Security is headed down the path that leads to
impending disaster and to make many people in the audience feel
uncomfortable about watching a public employee promote a political agenda.
When Jim finished speaking, Santorum stepped up to the podium and repeated
Lockhart's talking points but this time with the aid of a charts and
graphs.
The problem, as Rick pointed out, is that Americans, on average are living
longer and having fewer children. While that might not seem like a problem
to those of us who want to live to be 100 and have been seated on an
airplane next to someone with an infant, it does put a tremendous strain
on Social Security.
In 1955 there were 8.5 workings paying into Social Security per retiree.
Today that number has dropped to 3. If this trend continues (no one in
Tuesday's audience volunteered to die before age 65 or step up their
breeding schedule) and if no changes to the system are implemented, in
2018 Social Security will need to dip into to its Trust Fund, estimate to
then exceed $3 trillion. By 2042, that Trust Fund will be depleted (Of
course Social Security would still be able to pay recipients 73% of
promised benefits).
OK, so just about everybody agrees that there is a problem (although not
everybody agrees that there's a "crisis"). There are plenty of solutions
out there for remedying Social Security's impending ills. Unfortunately,
Senator Santorum only dwelled on one possible solution. Can you guess
which solution Rick Santorum supports? If you guessed private (recently
re-christened "personal") retirement accounts, you should get a gold
star … and sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach.
The obvious problem with private accounts is that, as confirmed by
Government Accounting Office Head, David Walker, they'll do nothing to
fix Social Security's predicted shortfall. In fact, since private accounts
would divert money from Social Security intended to pay full benefits,
it's been estimated that they could cause the Trust Fund to be exhausted
14 years sooner than is currently expected. This news should bring a smile
to the lips of those of you who've dreamed of spending your Golden Years
pursuing a career in Fast Food.
What the Bush plan for private accounts would definitely do is add $2
trillion in cost of transition costs to our national debt and create a
massive new bureaucracy which Bush himself admits would devour at lest 5%
of its budget in administrative costs. By comparison, Social Security only
spends 0.6% of its budget on administrative fees.
What Santorum's pitch for private accounts did offer, however, was plenty
of irony. One of Rick's selling points was that one of the advantages of
private accounts over the current system is that private accounts would
enable participants to bequeath accumulated funds to whomever they please
instead of the money automatically going to the deceased's spouse or
offspring. Translation: If you're in a same-sex relationship and live in
a state where your union isn't legally recognized, you now have a way to
pass-on your retirement fund to your partner.
Come to think of it, had Bush's plan been in effect in the early nineties,
Newt Gingrich would've been able to divert his savings to his mistress
instead of his wife and kids.
Despite all of that, support for private retirement accounts remained
popular among many of the younger attendees at Tuesday's presentation.
I was seated in the auditorium next to a trio of young men who liked the
idea of private accounts (Despite our obvious political differences - one
of them was wearing a "Bush/Cheney" t-shirt -; I thought that they seemed
like reasonable, intelligent folks. Especially when we all laughed our
asses off over the two protesters who were evicted from the room for
attempting to shout down Santorum. One of the disgruntled guys was shouting
about General Pinochet and the other made some vague reference to Linden
LaRouche). As one of these fellows put it "It's my money and I should
decide what to do with it." Well, yes and no…
Under the Bush plan, you don't get to pick where your money is invested.
Instead your cash would be handed over to several Wall Street firms which
will administer the funds. The cost of this administration could be up to
20% of a private account's earnings.
Yes, it is your money. But it's also your society. I society to which you
owe certain obligations and responsibilities. Millions of widows, orphans,
and disabled people rely on Social Security. Stop contributing and you'll
have to step over those people on your way to gym.
Look, I don't plan on ever needing the police or fire department but that
doesn't mean that it would be a good idea if I stopped by the taxes that
fund those services and hand that cash over some guys with baseball bats
and buckets of water.
If you're looking for viable solutions, here are two:
Since the population is living longer (as shown by the Golden Girls
Swimsuit Calendar), raise the retirement age by one year every decade.
Raise the cap on taxed income for Social Security from the current $90,000
to $120,000. This step alone would reduce the expected shortfall by 43%.
Wow, I managed to make my point without the aid of a slideshow or once
saying "fuck."
Tomorrow (Friday at the latest) we'll discover the network.
Happy birthday to ...
Charlie. The star of WMB: Weapons of Masturbation and Good
Grief, Charlie Blown hits the big three-ooooh today.
while fellow Easy Rider, Peter Fonda, turns 66.
efisthmi - appoint.
If the above word looks like ippojshit to you,
then you need to go here
and download the SPIONIC font for either MAC or PC. Dude.
caro - meat
Rodney on 02.23.05 @ 03:25 PM EST [link] [No Comments]
So this morning I'm downstairs, in the kitchen, making a cup of tea when I
