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To: Tom Chwojko-Frank who wrote (103407)	5/15/2000 9:02:00 AM
From: Joe NYC	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 186894

Tom, I guess we would be ok if we make it to a fully funded retirement system. The only way to get there is to collect more money than what is needed and spend less, so that enough assets are built up that we can switch from the pay as you go basis. Regarding the safety net, I think welfare and food stamps are safety net. Social Security is perceived as a retirement system, meaning, you get out of it some amount that is in some proportion to what you put in. Changing social security from this to a pure safety net (like welfare) will effectively kill it, because the majority of working (and voting) people would see it as a bad deal, and would vote to kill it. This is the opinion of Pat Moynihan, retiring Democratic Senator from New York, who has spend a good part of his career trying to save the Social Security system. Joe

To: Tom Chwojko-Frank who wrote (103407)	5/15/2000 10:05:00 AM
From: willcousa	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 186894

You don't have to be as careful when experimenting with a lousy safety net as with a good one. The system will go broke and we will not be able to tax enough to prevent it. I strongly believe that to be so. And the tragedy is that we have known it since before the system was enacted. Almost everything done for the greater good has downsides. I know I am being extreme here but you are almost saying that we should not have cars if someone is going to get hurt. Before airplanes it was much more rare that things would fall out of the sky on you. The potential good, a stronger system, broader and better investment skills withing the general population, more general appreciation of the need for strong democracy for shareholders, more knowlegable public opinion on economic issues, ad nauseum. These are things I hope for out of a privatized system. And we have the benefit of IRA's and 401k's to show us the structure and feasibility.