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Complexities
First off, Biden's statement that corporate bosses should lose their pensions before workers do is a call for accountability, not class warfare. The bosses are most responsible for company failures, and they should suffer first. That's basic market morality, aside from common sense, and should appeal to conservatives.
As for the rest of your post, it sounds like a complex and multi-tiered approach to Social Security and pension reform that includes personal accounts. That it proposes paying for part of the program with decreased tax deductions from private pensions seems to make some sense. That keeps the basic principle of SS intact while shifting the nation away from the demographic trap of an aging population. Sure, some people will pay more while other benefit, but that's true of any reform proposal. So choose your poison. As you said, SS is underfunded (not quite bankrupt), so we either cut benefits or raise taxes, or both. This approach has some merit, in that it does include investment of pension funds for individuals. Paying for it with increased taxes on the wealthy is better than increasing everyone's taxes. After all, I'd rather have Joe Biden and Barack Obama paying more in taxes than struggling families like mine. But I agree that taxing the pension with estate taxes shouldn't be included. I'd cut that, and shift the increased taxes to a higher bracket, one not quite so close to mine.
Now, what is McCain proposing to fix SS? Wasn't it something like personal accounts? And has he got a way to pay for it? Like taxing private pensions on rich people . . . ?
posted by
mousehop
on October 25, 2008 at 9:44 AM
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It's called spreading the wealth.
It's called lets' keep the lazy ne'er do wells at home and pay them to do it while you're left practically pennies at retirement age because of it.
posted by
NewYorker_in_Sicily
on October 25, 2008 at 2:57 AM
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