Anyone considering voting this fall needs to think about the Republican threat to Social Security.
Social Security is the world's most successful retirement pension and survivors insurance program. Last year it distributed $900 billion at an admin cost of less than 1 percent. No insurance company or Wall Street bank comes close to that efficiency.
At the bidding of Wall Street the Republican Party has set its sight on privatization. House Speaker Paul Ryan's budget plan begins the process. Social Security remains for workers already collecting pension benefits. For younger workers it proposes putting Social Secutiry taxes into private investment plans, claiming Social Security is a "bad investment" for workers decades away from retirement.
Social Security is not and never was an investment program. Republican reformers forget that the day a worker starts paying Social Security taxes they are covered by insurance for themselves and their dependents in case of death or disability. Actuaries value this equal to a $2 million life insurance policy.
I would like to hear Paul Ryan (or Republican 8th District candidate Stewart Mills) promise that investment companies or Wall Street banks will charge less than a percent and guarantee all workers a $2 million life insurance policy. If they do I will show you a pig that can fly.
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David Strand
Aitkin
