Soft privatization

[Max Sawicky]

>Do I gather that Doug and some others see equity purchases by the trust
>fund as unacceptable? True, there's no urgent need for reform. But isn't
>that a more palatable one than tax increases/benefit cuts?

Aside from how the purchases would be financed,
once you had the fund owning these assets, there
would be pressure to distribute them to individuals.
Then the program is kaput.

The required tax increases are not large and
not needed now.  Even with present, pessimistic
projections of growth, after-tax wages in 2030
should still be much higher than presently, so
"our children" will be richer, even with the
higher tax.  Under the current structure of
the program, they will also get higher benefits.

The shortfall is attributable to longer life
expectancies.  If you expect to live longer
after a fixed retirement age, it's reasonable
to pay more taxes against that contingency.

MBS