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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: neolib who wrote (215305)	1/18/2005 2:49:07 PM
From: Alighieri	Respond to of 1573927

I'm curious how many people realise that SS is mostly a progressive tax system which shifts money from wealthier working individuals to less well off working individuals. This is the attribute conservatives hate, aside for the fact that it wasn't a republican initiative, and the one which gives rise to much of the vitriol conservatives on this board spit against the program. They'll deny it of course, but the fact that bush passed the medicare_giveaway_to_special_interests last year shows that they can betray their conservative vows when they need to appeal to political voter blocks, but they can't' do it honestly and without padding the wallets of those with which they came to the dance. Al

To: neolib who wrote (215305)	1/18/2005 4:25:06 PM
From: SilentZ	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1573927

>This will mean less money returned in the lower income brackets (since they put in less), more money in the higher brackets (as they pay more in). It is consistent with conservative ambitions in general. This is so key... >I'm curious how many people realise that SS is mostly a progressive tax system which shifts money from wealthier working individuals to less well off working individuals. The conservatives around here most certainly do, and they don't like it. -Z

To: neolib who wrote (215305)	1/18/2005 4:50:33 PM
From: RetiredNow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1573927

I think you are exactly right. Republicans like Bush is probably trying to do just that, eliminate the progressive benefit elements of Social Security. I would like to see a link established between contributions and benefits paid for the simple reason that I think it is the only way to stabilize this system for eternity. Otherwise, you're always going to have to mess with the plan in the future, as demographic trends change. Just wait until our population stabilizes, like has already happened in many European countries. That will create havoc in a plan structured like ours, just like the Baby Boom will be doing over the next 20-40 years. If people are really concerned about people on the low end, then it seems obvious to me that we should apply financial planning best practices to the issue. That means taking a portion of their money and investing it at higher rates of return based on their time horizon to retirement.