The Cellar Security proposal

[glatt]

Originally Posted by lookout123

the individual accounts would work. i don't know what the smoothest way to convert from the old system to the new system would be, but their must be some solution.

Ah, the devil is in the details. But we have heard no details from anyone.

I fully believe that Social Security will not be around for me when I retire (I'm 38) unless something is done to fix it. I'm in favor of fixing it or eliminated it today before I pay another penny into it. If it's not fixed, somebody will be left holding the bag, and I don't want it to be me. I also believe that the "rate of return" for social security is miserable compared to virtually everything else, but since SS wasn't originally set up as an investment fund but rather as a pyramid scheme, it's not a fair comparison.

You sound very confident that a conversion away from the pyramid scheme to private accounts is possible, but I honestly don't see how. The amount of money we are talking about is staggering!

I've seen Bush do so many things that blatantly favored corporate America over the little guy that I simply don't trust him. He's not giving us the details of his plan. I don't agree with those who say he is dumb. You can usually see the twisted logic in what he does, but I don't see it here.

Maybe he realizes that US stocks are not doing so well as a result of his fiscal policies that he wants to give them this shot in the arm, and this is a form of corporate welfare. Maybe he's trying to please that enormous stock broker lobby. Maybe he's going to set up funds that only invest in companies owned by his friends.

I am very dubious that his "plan" would help Social Security (he even said it wouldn't) and I simply don't understand his motivation.

[lookout123]

Maybe he realizes that US stocks are not doing so well as a result of his fiscal policies that he wants to give them this shot in the arm,

actually they are doing very well. we are in an upward moving trend, certainly not a boom ,but that is ok. it takes time for people to be comfortable with equities again because of all the horror stories from 2000-2002. slow and steady is a much better situation than a runaway bull market anyway.

most of this is just cyclical and not easily swayed by the whims of a president. the market does what it does and that is all there is to it. the government can tweak it and make certain things more favorable, but there is always someplace inthe market to make solid returns.

[lookout123]

in reality, if they brought this system on line, most of the money would have to be placed in treasuries or very,very large companies just because of the amount of dollars we are talking about. it wouldn't be wise to throw massive amounts of cash into the equity markets all at once. it would be a slow process moving from income vehicles to equities.