Privatizing Social Security

Now's probably not the best time to talk about how great investing in the stock market is but I'm going to anyway.

Did you know that since 1926, the annual average return of the stock market is near 12 percent per year when adjusted for inflation?

Did you know that for a household with two 30 year old wage earners, the average return on an investment in social security is only 1.23 percent annually? For some low income minorities, there is actually a negative return because of decreased life expectancy.

Wouldn't it be great if instead of throwing away our money that is stolen from our paychecks against our will and thrown into a large social insecurity pot, we could keep some or all of that money in a private account to invest as we wished?

Bush tried to enact a partial privatization of social security. Under his plan, workers would be able to place part of their social security money into private accounts that they would control and be able to pass on to children and grandchildren. The accounts were completely optional, not mandatory. Those workers who were comfortable with SS as it was didn't have to participate. Sounds like a great plan, right?

Guess who didn't think it was a great plan: Barack Obama. He called social security "Franklin Roosevelt's greatest legacy" instead of what it is: a giant entitlement program that is bankrupting America and that I don't expect to see a dime from when I retire. On the campaign trail he told a group of voters in Florida that McCain wanted to privatize their social security and "gamble with their life savings".

That is typical liberalism for you: any possible option that would lessen the effect of government in peoples lives should be quashed. If American citizens are not reliant on the government anymore, the Democrat party will shrivel up and die. What a wonderful thought.