To all of you who worship at the altar of the person occupying The White House: You are fools if you think that Bush’s plan (if it could be called that) to set up private accounts in Social Security will rescue the markets, ensure your comfort in old age, or your childrens’ and their children.
The “markets” as Bush called them are inherently risky. Even the most skilled stock picker makes mistakes. There’s this little thing called timing: knowing when to buy and when to sell.
If you’re an adult now; you lived through the ’90′s and should understand what I’m saying. Fortunes could be made overnight, and lost even more quickly.
How do you know that the wonderful company you researched thoroughly, and think that you know everything about doesn’t have some hole that can cause the stock to plunge quicker than I can write this. Do you really research everything very carefully? Do you understand how to research a company and what exactly you should be looking for?
I don’t always nor did my father and it was (is) the family business. We have done very well; we also had and have some big big losses.
Morals can’t be regulated. No matter how much oversight there is, people will always find a way to circumvent them. There will always be stocks that seem to good to be true and are. There will always be stocks that can be manipulated by one person in its companys management; there will always be stocks that can be manipulated by large investors.
I’m not saying that people are inherently dumb and shouldn’t be investing. I am saying that there are many variables nobody can teach you about. Nobody calls stock picking: The science of picking stocks; it’s called the art of stock picking for a reason; picking successful stocks over and over again, and knowing when to sell is almost an intutitive art that also involves skill, knowledge of specific industries and KNOWING WHEN TO SELL AND WHEN NOT TO.
AND HOW THE HELL IS PRIVATIZING SOCIAL SECURITY SUPPOSED TO HELP THE MARKETS RECOVER?
Just wanted to put in my views as my father devoted much of his life to not just teaching me about the markets, but teaching me about most recessions since 1962. I was very young then and sheltered from it but my father gradually introduced recession training to my life skill training. It was the most important lesson he taught me.
He taught my sister and I caution and so we didn’t lose much money.- We actually made some from the 1990′s experiment in “I’m a millionaire; you’re a millionaire; we’re all going to be millionaires.” We all saw how that ended.
The market up and downs then were neither Bill Clinton’s success or failure. He happened to be president during a time when our economy was changing from a service/manufactoring one to a information/technology one.
Personally I’d think Bush is on such an ego power trip that he’s planning to do things that can really hurt our country for many generations to come.
Social Security needs to be changed; private accounts are not the answer.
If we stopped tapping into the so called Social Security “trust” for other things there might be a chance Social Security could begin to replenish itself with some help–intelligant thought out help.
Why is something called a “trust” when it can it be invaded for anything? Because it’s not a “trust,” but given that label since it sounds more secure.
I’m a baby boomer; I’ve lived through too many recessions already. It’s time to pump up the economy not through private Social Security accounts but by creating new professional level jobs, ensuring that every job pays a living wage and that there are jobs for everyone who wants one.
How can this be done? Many ways: giving new businesses good incentives to start up in large urban areas; giving exsisting businesses more incentives to stay in the same areas; building affordable housing for workers (think Mitchell-Lama, a great program that helped keep New York vital for many years.)
Taxes are never a bad thing if used to tax people who actually have money rather than being used to hurt poor people by implementing a national tax on clothes and other neccessities of life.
Taxes are supposed to be progressive. Think about it. Most really rich people don’t pay regular income taxes because of passive business losses and other tricks, don’t pay estate taxes because their money is put into trusts that like Social Security can be invaded. The difference is when a person is worth less than the really rich they might really need to invade that trust to live. Oh wait, there’s no difference. Maybe trusts should be tightened so that they can’t be invaded.
If we do the things W believes in, we’re going to be a regressive nation filled to the brim with rich and poor people. Say goodbye, as we are in Manhattan, to the middle class–the people who work their butts off and still live from paycheck to paycheck. Or are laid-off because younger people who will work for less money and have less to contribute can take their places.
The USA should be the greatest country; it shouldn’t be a place where more and more people live in fear that not just their old age will be resource-less but so do a growing number of middle-aged people.
No matter what you personally think of New York; think about the entire middle class of New York City moving to your states because they can get jobs, affordable housing, and the cost of living is much less. ONE THIRD OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK LIVES IN POVERTY OR ON ITS EDGE. That’s 33 percent–a very high figure.
Do you really want us in your backyard? Get ready; we’re coming!
