Government Lies?

[Mark Wright AIA]

Howdy

& FWIW

Bush and the Republicans want to "save Social Security" by taking a
portion of the taxes earmarked for the Social Security program and
"give the money back to the people" on the condition that the funds be
invested in the stock and bond markets. Do we bother to wonder why? The
pitch Bush makes, more or less, is that it is somehow the right thing
to do and that we will all retire wealthier as a result. But since the
current taxes are to fund, more or less, the benefits of the current
cohort of the elderly, and if  as Bush asserts, those "promises will be
kept," then it stands to reason that taxes will need to be higher than
they would otherwise be to cover the new outlays for the new stock
market accounts.  What could possibly be in this scheme for the
wealthiest Americans, whose interests the Republicans always IMHO
serve, at their root level? 
The speculative balloon of the stock market cannot continue to inflate
forever.  The vast paper wealth of the wealthiest among us is based on
this balloon, which has been fueled by the influx of cash from the baby
boomers looking towards their retirement.  Problem: as these millions
begin to cash in their stock investments in favor of safer forms of
savings they will begin to exert a downward pressure on the value of
the market in balance to the upward pressure they have exerted over the
past 20 years. The paper wealth of the wealthiest will tend to
evaporate as a result. As the stock market levels off or sags the next
generation of Americans will not be as eager to invest as the boomers
have, exacerbating the problem.  Answer: get the government to place an
extra tax (in effect) on those who do not invest a certain minimum sum
every month in the stock market, thus stabilizing the paper wealth of
those with the most to win or lose in the system...

Mark

--- Terrance <lycidas2 at earthlink.net> wrote:
> 

> Paul Mackin wrote:
> 
> > 
> > Not sure where Terence is taking this but my point was simply that
> the
> > special pension fund and the special unemployment fund to be
> derived from
> > taxes on payrolls was a scheme devised by the Franklin Roosevelt
> > administration to provide for an obivious need for what has proved
> over
> > the years to be a very successful and necessary program.  
> 
> Who knows where I was taking it, but you are quite correct.
> My point, if I had one,  was not to question the success or
> the need for the S.S. system. "Government Lies?" was the
> subject. That's what I wrote about. I don't know why. I have
> no idea why we would want to discuss the S.S. System or the
> U.S. government budget here. 
> 
> http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09469a.htm


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