On Tue, 4 Jan 2005, Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:
>> The interest of securities firms is obvious. But why would this be a
>> priority for manufacturers?
>
> There are two possible reasons. One is that they can weasel out of paying
> their 50% share of the social security tax. At this time, they have to
> pay it no matter what, but in the world of private account they will
> not....[And the second is control over employees]
I don't believe that's true, Wojtek. Under all schemes I've seen, the contribution level will stay exactly the same. And if the employee chooses to divert some of her contributions to a private account, that account will be entirely independent of the employer.
So my question remains. I see why NAM might be prejudiced in favor of this on general cussed principles. But I don't see how they personally make a dime out of it. So I don't see why NAM would spend cold hard cash -- lots of it, *more than any other sector* -- rather than be a free rider. Especially when they've got scads of other lobbying things to spend money on where the returns are immediate and obvious. And when their collective situation is pretty dire.
I'm beginning to faintly suspect that there must be a quid pro quo going on here -- that the administration has promised some NAM something they want if NAM will fund its pet SS project.
Michael