There is a saying that goes, "If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck." This is what we have with private accounts. No matter what one calls them, private accounts, personal accounts, savings accounts, the bottom line is that private accounts weaken, not strengthen, our Social Security system. Private accounts take money away from the Social Security fund.
Our message to the president and Congress should be for them to put their energy into finding ways that will strengthen our Social Security system and not tear it apart. There is time, we are not in a crisis.
We have a good sound system that works and there are ways, without private accounts, to strengthen our system. We can increase the age from 67 to 70, we can move the amount of taxable income from 90 thousand to 140 thousand, we can bring more workers into the system, and the list goes on. These measures do not take money out of the system as does private accounts. All of us need to keep in mind, what we do today is for future generations. In my view, we can provide them with a rock solid base for retirement or we can saddle them with debt.
Private acccounts have their place. If managed well, there will be a good return. However, they need to exist as they do today, outside the Social Security system.
Stanley R. Franek
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Fargo
