Was reading my local rag just now, the Daily Times (not a bad paper for a Gannetted paper, although I read it almost exclusively online) and saw somebody just whining about mean old Bush giving money to all his fatcat Republican cronies on Wall Street, where "15 traders were just indicted" (I paraphrase) for some sort of irregularity. This if Social Security is "privatized".
You know, I don't give a rip about 15 "vulture" traders, I bet if I found 1,000 people of any profession, at least 15 would be liars, cheats, and swindlers (and get caught doing it). Just as an example, they nailed two players on our minor league ballteam for steroids (or related drugs). That's 2 of 25, or 8%...of 1,000, that's 80 cheats.
I love the scare tactics this guy invokes. There's the obligitory paean to "radical" Republicans "destroying Social Security".
Well, I say destroy it and give me the money back I put in it! Let's see, 6% of what I've earned over the years, even when I barely made 5 figures in the 80's, I'm just guessing off the top of my head that's $20,000. Give me that 20 grand, let me put it someplace I can't touch it until I'm 60, and I'll be damned if I don't have a nice year or two's living at that point, maybe more if I invest well. I got out my calculator, and even at 5%, in 20 years I'm looking at over $53,000. At a 15% return (a stretch, but possible), it's over $327,000. If I found the next early-era Microsoft, Apple Computer, or Home Depot, I'm possibly a millionaire.
Now when I got my statement about a year ago, I think I was looking at $1100 a month from Social Security. Whoopee.
I think what I'm going to have to say (you know this is going to be a letter, I'm mad as hell and can't take it anymore!) is that I'll take the chance on 15 bad apples - it's MY money and I want the government's filthy hands off! Much better to worry about 15 traders on Wall Street than the 535 cutthroat spenders that make up Congress. They spend $9,000 on every man, woman, and child in the country...a $2.6 trillion budget for a country of 290 million or so.
Yes, I'm damn greedy. It's MINE, I worked for it, I want to keep as much of it as possible. And what I do have to give up, I don't want wasted. As far as I'm concerned, the feds need to protect me with a military and run our foreign affairs. Pretty much everything else can be up to the states. I know I'm oversimplifying it but you get the idea. If Maryland doubled their spending and taxes because the feds quit running the programs they do and turned it over to the states, I'd be ecstatic. I have a lot more pull in Annapolis than I do in DC. If Wicomico County did the same with the programs the state is handling that could be done locally, more's the better.
I may pay as much in taxes (or possibly even more) than I do now, but I'd have easy accountibility. It's a lot better for me to go to the mayor, the county commission, or even my state representative than it is to share my opinion with a Congressman who covers 9 counties and probably gets faxes and e-mails from 100 more daily, let alone Senators who both cover the whole state.
It's just too bad that if this happens it probably won't be in my lifetime. Of course, it could happen but if the studies are right I'll be a drooling idiot by then, since us big guys have a 74% larger chance of dementia according to some study. Probably paid for by a government grant.
