It is destructive even to regard Social Security as a "fund." To do so is opens up the conversation on the "problems" of Social Security, and that conversation has to be killed. If it continues at all in "respectable" contexts sooner or later, probably sooner, it will lead to severe damage to the system -- and certainly suppress the important demand that SS payments be substantially increased and the tax on low incomes be eliminated. It was a serious defeat in the '30s when it was established as "insurance" rather than a payment out of general funds. Now that defeat is engendering more defeats.
Carrol -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Charlie Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2012 5:25 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Pen-l] Dean Baker recommends austerity Dean Baker's economic theory relies heavily on market maneuvers. Here is one disturbing example from two years ago. Andy Stern: Invest Social Security Funds In Wall Street By Ryan Grim Huffington Post, 06/30/10 Andy Stern, a key member of the deficit commission, is pushing to invest a significant portion of the Social Security trust fund in private companies through the stock market, the former labor leader told HuffPost. ... "I don't think it's necessarily a bad idea," said Dean Baker, an economist with the liberal-leaning Center for Economic Policy and Research. "If he's talking about getting money out of the trust fund for that purpose, I could live with it. You'd get a higher return now that stocks are falling." ... "Steven Rattner and Orin Kramer should not be allowed to touch Social Security," said [Firedoglake's Jane] Hamsher. Investing Social Security funds in the market ignores the corruption at the heart of Wall Street, she said. "It's a Ponzi scheme run by con artists," she said of the market. "Why do you take that risk for three percent? Wall Street wants their hands on the money. Who's going to pay these fees? And we're doing this why? So Pete Peterson doesn't have to pay his taxes?" ,,, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/30/andy-stern-invest-social_n_631228.h tml _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
