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Many countries have privatized Social Security (but they are not America.)
The US politicians who want to privatize SS are a bunch of CEO's handing out corporate favors. Like CEO GW Bush and CEO Dick Cheney handing out billions of dollars to oil corporations. Big Oil's Influence in Washington . NOW | PBS
Anyone who would trust these CEO's handling our retirement money is not thinking clearly.
I don't see your point. Fund managers are already in charge of retirement money and college tuition money. Besides, the CEO's are not in control of the 401K's and they get very generous bonuses when the stock price goes up.
Private companies must provide a reasonably good service to stay in business, government, they don't. Not happy? too bad
Private companies of the fifties maybe. My SS office serves me with a reasonable level of assistance should I need it. The OP is afflicted in the way of so many of our countrymen, they can't see an IT problem as an IT problem, no, it's now a "government problem" as was the ADC screw up regarding initial signup.
I worked for one of America's largest corporations, it was screwed up beyond compare, customers were stuck buying their product or having the "choice" of the "other" screwed up business, that's right, only two enterprises where it used to be many, monopoly business doesn't have to serve--anyone. Any large enterprise is innately full of inconsistent policies and procedures, this is the nature of any man made construct that has a long tail to it, the head in one state and the body strung out in a far flung manner that encourages centralized thinking.
Too many people are now laboring under the impression that business is somehow the bastion of efficiency, what a joke, try calling these "efficient" folks sometime, LOL, you'll soon have a lot of time on your hands to contemplate the truth of it all....
Last edited by jertheber; 08-06-2014 at 12:49 PM..
Reason: spelling
I have an on-line social security account, which I use rarely to check things, but mostly to change direct deposit information. BTW the on-line system is great. Probably designed by Google in that period of time when Google was welcome in Washington in 2009-2010
So last night I was trying to log in, and had password problems. Apparently I cant read my own handwriting. After three failed tries, the system suspended my account, not unusual for situations like this, private sector or government.
Unfortunately, Social Security does not have an on-line process to un-suspend an account. Some companies have a process where an account is suspended for a defined period of time. Some companies have a procedure where one call call and after jumping through a few hoops, the account can be un-suspended by a person in the security department.
Social Security, however, tells me the only way my account can be un-suspended is for me to read back the code texted to me. Well, my phone is a dumb phone. I cant read a text without disconnecting the call. The passcode is good only for 10 minutes and the phone wait when I call is about an hour, and the agent in Washington is adamant that she cannot call me back in 60 seconds so I can look at the text and write down the code.
The alternative is to drive 30 miles to my local SS office, waste a lot of time there waiting in line, not to mention a few gallons of gas, just for something as simple as a reset.
So my account will be suspended forever because I cannot meet their idiot draconian process. Amazing. Has Government never heard of customer service? Oh wait. We are just sheep to them. The only thing they think we are good for is more tax money to support their inefficient bureaucracy.
So that's yet another reason I hate government.
So, YOU forgot your password, and the government is at fault because you can't read your own handwriting?
Sure, makes sense to me.
Equities return depends upon when you bought in. If you bot at the low right after 9/11 and held through today, sure. If you bot in early 2000 and sold in 2008 and then bot again in 2012, I dont know.
I thoought I was the smartest guy in the world when I bot Cisco Systems at 40 and sold at 60, but it subsequently rose to 80 and then fell precipitously with the dot com bust.
SSA payouts increase based upon the CPI so the increase in payouts depends.
There are so many reasons to end up on the short end of the stick through one's working years, investing conventionally in the markets. With the stock markets there are always buyers and sellers, winners and losers. If you do your due diligence, and add in the luck of timing, you can do well over your life. Or not.
SS though a pain in the arse tax, is a guarantee. A guarantee proven to work in dire economic circumstances, and like you say even has a COL adjustment built in.
SS should at least be a part of nearly anyone's retirement portfolio.
There are so many reasons to end up on the short end of the stick through one's working years, investing conventionally in the markets. With the stock markets there are always buyers and sellers, winners and losers. If you do your due diligence, and add in the luck of timing, you can do well over your life. Or not.
SS though a pain in the arse tax, is a guarantee. A guarantee proven to work in dire economic circumstances, and like you say even has a COL adjustment built in.
SS should at least be a part of nearly anyone's retirement portfolio.
Or we could do what Australia did and privatize the system, but have a base level guarantee.
I don't see your point. Fund managers are already in charge of retirement money and college tuition money. Besides, the CEO's are not in control of the 401K's and they get very generous bonuses when the stock price goes up.
The republican party is controlled by corporate think tanks and CEO's, and everything they do gives money to CEO's and large corporations.
They oppose the "death tax" because it only effects the super rich.
They say "global warming is a hoax" (when 97% of climate scientists say its real), because combating global warming would decrease corporate profits. http://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus/
They want to abolish the IRS to set in motion their dream of dismantling the US governments regulatory powers. And then put in the "Flat Tax" which is just a tax cut for the rich. Flat Tax Will Benefit Only the Rich - US News
If Social Security is privatized the CEO's who control the republican agenda will have a field day (because CEO's like Dick Cheney and Mitt Romney will write the law.) Wall Street will take $750 billion dollars in fees from our SS money first. Then all the SS money will be transferred to corporations, then the CEO's will vote themselves huge pay raises, and buy new corporate jets.
And if we privatize SS large American corporations will be flooded with money. They will build more US factories in Asia, buy more factory robots and eliminate American jobs, and have tons more money to give to our politicians political campaigns.
I don't want republican CEO's to even look at, or even think about my SS money.
Who cares? The stock market is still going to get the best returns.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chad3
They oppose the "death tax" because it only effects the super rich.
They say "global warming is a hoax" (when 97% of climate scientists say its real), because combating global warming would decrease corporate profits. Climate Change: Consensus
Who cares? The stock market is still going to get the best returns.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chad3
They want to abolish the IRS to set in motion their dream of dismantling the US governments regulatory powers. And then put in the "Flat Tax" which is just a tax cut for the rich. Flat Tax Will Benefit Only the Rich - US News
Who cares? The stock market is still going to get the best returns.
Who cares? The stock market is still going to get the best returns.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chad3
If Social Security is privatized the CEO's who control the republican agenda will have a field day (because CEO's like Dick Cheney and Mitt Romney will write the law.) Wall Street will take $750 billion dollars in fees from our SS money first. Then all the SS money will be transferred to corporations, then the CEO's will vote themselves huge pay raises, and buy new corporate jets.
You have absolutely no idea how the stock market works do you? The mutual funds do charge a fee, but why would you care? The average return is 10% and the fee is anywhere from .25% to 2%. SS is going to return less than 2% and starting in 2038 SS will be cut by 28%. Secondly, the money is used to buy stocks from current stockholders, not transferred to corporations. Thirdly, the CEO's cannot vote themselves a raise, that is done by the board - whom are elected by the shareholders.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chad3
And if we privatize SS large American corporations will be flooded with money. They will build more US factories in Asia, buy more factory robots and eliminate American jobs, and have tons more money to give to our politicians political campaigns.
I don't want republican CEO's to even look at, or even think about my SS money.
They can already do all that. Your money would not go to corporations. It would go into mutual funds that invest in corporations, index funds, and bond funds. Everybody with a lick of sense already invests in the market, so privatizing SS just puts more money to work in the market.
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