SS reform

Leave to the MSM to propigate fears regarding the Social Security overhaul:



"WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) - A slight majority of Americans feel Social Security needs fundamental changes to ensure its long-term health, but aren't convinced that President Bush's call to add private investment accounts to the system is the appropriate solution."



I am not intimately knowlegeable of Pres. Bush's plan, but I feel I know enough to know that this "poll" strategically mispresents it. For instance:



Fifty-nine percent of respondents in the recent survey said they would be unlikely to invest Social Security taxes, while 29 percent said they would be somewhat or very likely to do so.

The reluctance appeared to stem from a lack of confidence in their own investment savvy, with only 19 percent saying they were "very confident" in their own investment skills, while 33 percent were somewhat confident and 45 percent were not confident.



As this indicates, everyone isn't required to invest their money into a private account. Only those who want to have to. What difference does it make that not everyone feels competent enough to invest on their own? Are they saying the plan is faulty since a majority of Americans won't take an advantage of it? Or are they trying to prove the liberal tenet that the average American is fiscally incompent and prodigal and is in need of the government to make his decisions for him? I would imagine more people would join the program as they see how successful it can be. What difference does it make what people think now? I imagine most people don't even understand how it works, and thus, are unable to make an accurate judgement.



Here is another great poll question:



Indications by the White House that a Bush plan would also require a cut in benefits for future retirees from currently promised levels have also created wariness among Capitol Hill Republicans, who fear such a move could cost them in the 2006 midterm elections.

The survey showed such fears aren't without merit. Seventy-eight percent of those surveyed said combining benefit cuts with and private investment accounts is a bad idea.



If I am not mistaken, the supposed cut in benefits for future retirees is based on faulty math from a journalist writing about the plan (I apologize I cannot remember the journalist or the article). Even so, what kind of question is that? They might as well said, "85% of respondants said they would oppose the plan if the investment accounts required one sacrifice their children to Molech." No one wants to see a cut in benefits. SS is going to be in trouble. It could be bankrupt by 2042, the year the people who would benefit from the private accounts would start to retire. Does this poll ask what people think of having no benefits from the money they "invested" in SS?



There is an obvious agenda at work here. The MSM is going to do everything they can to sway public opinion away from the Pres. Bush. I just hope that the White House can effectively communicate and market the plan, so that people not only understand it, but will welcome it with open arms.