Toles on Social Security (must see!)

[grytpype]

It's funny because it's true!!!!!

[Warpy]

1. he's trying to push this one through without a concrete plan

because he knows damned well the only way he can get it through is if Delay is in place to bully the rest of the party.

Remove Delay and that whole rotten edifice of GOP solidarity crumbles.

[indepat]

2. Just trust them

[JPZenger]

3. African Americans & Social Security - Phila Inquirer Article

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/columnists/dick_polman/11064443.htm

The following text is from the end of article:

"Bush framed it in January: "African American males die sooner than other males do, which means the system is inherently unfair," because black males get less Social Security retirement money than whites. He said that if black males were allowed to "build a nest egg of their own," by diverting some of their Social Security taxes into the stock market, they would leave more money to their survivors.

Critics say Bush's facts are selective. He never mentions that blacks, far more than whites, use the full range of Social Security options, which include disability and survivor benefits. And blacks, who on average earn less than whites, get a higher rate of return on their payroll contributions, because benefits are skewed to give extra help to the less affluent. All told, a 2003 report by the General Accounting (now Government Accountability) Office concluded that blacks get more out of Social Security than whites.

Stats aside, some blacks are insulted by Bush's argument. Malveaux said: "For him to use lower black life expectancy as a selling tool is cruelly cynical. Blacks die sooner because of poverty and bad health care - the stuff that conservatives don't talk about. They want to change Social Security over the next 40 years, but they don't talk about raising black life expectancy over the next 40 years."

[Martin Eden]

4. the Flip Side of the argument

If SS is a bad deal for blacks because of shorter life expectancy (which is a cruelly cynical argument, as pointed out in the article), what is the flip side of the argument for longer life spans?

If SS is a good deal for those blessed with longevity, then private accounts is a bad deal for them because they would continue to live (in poverty) after their private accounts are depleted.