Friday, November 9, 2007

Fred Unviels His Social Security Fix

Reuters:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson waded into the politically potent issue of Social Security on Friday and proposed overhauling the retirement system by creating 401(k)-style personal accounts.

..

Thompson would leave Social Security benefits unchanged for people who
are currently retired or are near retirement. No one now over the age of 57
would be affected.


He would provide voluntary personal retirement "add-on" accounts to supplement benefits and index the program's benefit system to prices instead of the current practice of indexes benefits on wages.

Thompson's plan would give current workers the option of making voluntary contributions into personal retirement accounts similar to a 401(k) plan.

Workers would be able to contribute 2 percent of their monthly wages and the federal government would match that contribution.

Thompson said under his plan, a worker earning $40,000 a year who started contributing to the plan at age 22 and worked until age 67 would accumulate more than $280,000 for retirement.

He said he opposed trying to overhaul Social Security by raising taxes on wealthier Americans, as some Democratic candidates have proposed.

I think this would be a great option for younger people. Of course the Democrats are not going to like it, because they believe the government is smarter than you. You are too dumb to handle YOUR money. I cannot believe that argument is actually standing in the way of this type of plan.

Win, Fred, Win

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