Election 2008

Crisis Draws Attention to McCain Social Security Plan - WSJ.com:

"These proposals -- particularly private accounts carved out of Social Security -- were controversial to begin with, and the new crisis only heightens the concerns. The accounts are designed to generate greater returns than the government gets holding onto the money. But if workers invest their Social Security taxes in the stock market, what happens if the market is down when it comes time to retire?"

Actually I have to say that I did agree with the money-market funds when I first heard of it ... but with the understanding that they would have to educate the general public on how money-markets work ... what the risks are ... which stocks to look for ... and how having a financial broker handle it will effect your funds ... as well as what happens to the funds if anything should happen to you or you have a need to draw on them earlier than expected.

That's a lot to get thru most college-educated minds ... but I just heard that in CA the drop out rate is growing faster than the graduation rate and that less than half the African-American & Latino kids are completing - 1/3 of the states population is Hispanic/Latino and 8% are African-American -- that's a pretty large part of the population not getting basic education.

Now if we had been on the private account system, there is a good chance that many of these people would have had some (perhaps all) of their money in Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac as I have heard all thru my growing up on the radio financial-shows [well since about 7th grade] ... I think most brokers/advisers would have told them it would be a safe bet.

This is one time I have to admit that its a good thing the goverment. didn't get its way.

but now -- where will they get the money to pay for they buy-outs? they will have to tax the peep out of us OR they will have to borrow the money from foreign nations, in which case they will still have to tax the whoo-hoo out of us to pay them back.

either way - we're screwed.