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Edited on Tue Mar-02-04 01:59 AM by mac2
The Three Legged Stool
The National Press Club, on CSPAN cable network, had a speaker on from the Heritage Foundation. He stated, that his organization is out for reforms in Social Security. Social Security was set up to be a "three legged stool"...one leg savings, two pensions, three social security. If you failed to have the other two...the third would keep you from starving, etc.
As I listened to this man, it occurred to me that we no longer have a society like that of our parents. Our parents and older relatives had these choices for their retirement. The present day retiring and their children will not. Why not? Let's talk about each of the legs on the "three legged stool".
-Savings. It is almost impossible to save. Banks are not giving investors and savers interest rate amounts that can keep up with inflation. You can't buy a CD that has a good interest rate payment. This occurred after the Savings and Loan bailouts of the 80s. We had to pay back the bad loans and failures. Today, CEOs making huge salaries, pensions, options, stock giveaways, homes, trips, etc. plundering profits. Bank and financial mergers and buyouts also cause debt (CEOs and lawyers profiting but no one else). Bad investments and cheaper interest rates to influential people bring in less profit. Americans who once could just put their money in the bank and allow it to grow in a safe manner find they can no longer do so. Workers can't count on this leg of the stool for retirement as in the past.
-Pensions. We all know that companies have cut back and even stopped giving pensions to their employees. They have raided some of the pension plans to pay off debt from poor management, etc. Even when the company is in debt and employees are refused good pension plans...the CEO takes huge, lifetime pension and "consulting fee payment" plans for themselves. Employees that were given 401Ks or stock in the company find their values almost worthless. Workers can't count on this leg of the stool for retirement as in the past.
-Social Security. At one time there were old people on the streets. They ended up there not because they didn't work all their lives. Social Security was set up to be a net to prevent that from happening in old age. Other programs were added for children who lost a bread winner, the disabled, etc. Social Security is one of the most successful federal programs yet.
Let's face it, the Heritage Foundation, some Congress people, the administration, and "money mongers" on Wall Street can't wait to get their hands on it for their own profit. They want everything we have as citizens for their own profit...including our old age money. To take Social Security and invest it in the stock market is pure folly especially when we consider the risk.
We've all seen old people lose their other "leg" in retirement from loss of investments and stocks. Many were living on the dividends and interest rates. Many old people see their retirement money dwindle to half...some even having to enter the work force, if they are healthy enough to do so.
De-regulation of our financial institutions, since Ronald Reagan, has resulted in financial disaster for this country. The fox is in the hen house and has stolen all the "eggs in the basket"...plus eaten all the hens. There is so much corruption and fraud in our financial institutions that the government doesn't even bother to tell the citizens how bad it is. They fail to hold anyone accountable...like it is "the nature of the beast". This "financial greedy beast bit us" back in 1929 yet our leaders pursue the same path today.
It seems to me that, the Heritage Foundation doesn't have a pot to use regarding the "three legged stool". Today...the stool has no legs thanks to Repubicans!!!
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