"Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force! Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."
George Washington.
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" ... There will always be a party for giving more to the rulers, that the rulers may be able in return to give more to them. Hence as all history informs us, there has been in every State & Kingdom a constant kind of warfare between the governing & governed: the one striving to obtain more for its support, and the other to pay less. And this has alone occasioned great convulsions, actual civil wars, ending either in dethroning of the Princes, or enslaving of the people. Generally indeed the ruling power carries its point, the revenues of princes constantly increasing, and we see that they are never satisfied, but always in want of more."
-- Benjamin Franklin, in a letter to the Federal Constitutional Convention, as recorded by James Madison on June 2, 1787.
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Read Ayn Rand's book Atlas Shrugged
Deseret News, Mar. 13, '99
Letter by Michael T. Hannan
Last Saturday, one of the front page headlines read "Clinton and GOP present their plans for Social Security." A March 8 op-ed piece by James Ferrin was titled, "Stop the Social Security poverty machine." The contrast of the information from the two articles couldn't have been sharper.
The initial "plans" of Clinton and the GOP are nothing more than variations of the old "robbing Peter to pay Paul" routine, feel-good attempts to fix something that can't possibly be fixed, at least not by the methods alluded to by respective party spokesmen.
But the article by Mr. Ferrin hit the nail right on the head. Social Security is not worthy of being saved. It is a flawed system that was never designed to bear up the loads it is being asked to bear. Therefore the payroll tax to pay for it has grown like a cancer and still the program is in trouble with a capital T.
This is a fact which politicians on both sides of the aisle seem unable to understand or admit. Unfortunately, most Americans don't want to accept the simple fact that Social Security deserves to die the quickest death possible.
There is plenty of documentation available to underscore the pitiable economic returns Social Security offers and the illusion it creates in the minds of Americans that planning for retirement is mostly a federal responsibility. An insightful book by Marshall Carter and William Shipman, "Promises To Keep," details in understandable English why Social Security is flawed, how we can painlessly phase it out during a transition period, and how everyone in our country can reap the benefits of the freedoms that will accrue from this changeover. I urge everyone to obtain a copy of this book, to read it and to act.
Let Americans assume once more the responsibility for their own future, and give them the 12 percent of their wages now confiscated to establish a safety net in their own name.
Michael T. Hannan, Salt Lake City
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nandotimes.com, Mar. 14, '99
by Jay Ambrose
The AFL-CIO is one of the labor organizations that have signed on to an all-out national campaign to thwart the partial privatization of Social Security. That would be fine and good except for a couple of things. First, it's contrary to the interests of American workers and, second, it's out of step with many labor unions around the globe.
Establishing individual retirement accounts within Social Security is not some brash, untested idea, but a practice employed in government-sponsored retirement systems in Europe, Latin America and elsewhere. The return on investment provides a revenue stream reducing the need for higher taxes or lesser benefits to keep Social Security afloat. As various statistical studies have demonstrated, workers would almost certainly receive more retirement income after some such reform, and might actually accumulate significant wealth they could pass on to their children.
In some other lands, labor has either come to see the light or else has led the way. In Australia, a left-leaning Labor Party adopted privatization as a chief goal and brags that it has now put in place one of the best Social Security systems in the world, that word "best" being largely defined by how average workers fare.
So why are some American unions combating this idea so fiercely? It would probably take some expert on the inner dynamics of the American labor movement to figure out the answer, though it probably has to do with deeply embedded prejudices against Wall Street, a distrust of any policy embraced by many conservatives and a sense of safety in clinging to programs that once served workers well. In terms of best serving those whom these unions represent, however, their stance is neither objective nor rational.
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ANNUAL
WAGE/SALARY | ANNUAL FICA
WITHHELD plus
employer match | MONTHLY FICA
WITHHELD plus
employer match | ANNUAL FED
INCOME TAX
WITHHELD
1 exemption | STATE
TAX
2% | CITY TAX
.5% | ANNUAL
NET in your
pocket | SALES TAXES
7% OF NET |
| $10,000 | $1,530.00 | $127.50 | $1,500.00 | $200.00 | $50.00 | $7,416.67 | $519.17 |
| $15,000 | $2,295.00 | $191.25 | $2,250.00 | $300.00 | $75.00 | $11,125.00 | $778.75 |
| $20,000 | $3,060.00 | $255.00 | $3,000.00 | $400.00 | $100.00 | $14,833.33 | $1,038.33 |
| $25,000 | $3,825.00 | $318.75 | $3,750.00 | $500.00 | $125.00 | $18,541.67 | $1,297.92 |
| $30,000 | $4,590.00 | $382.50 | $4,453.20 | $600.00 | $150.00 | $22,296.80 | $1,560.78 |
| $35,000 | $5,355.00 | $446.25 | $5,853.20 | $700.00 | $175.00 | $25,355.13 | $1,774.86 |
| $40,000 | $6,120.00 | $510.00 | $7,253.20 | $800.00 | $200.00 | $28,413.47 | $1,988.94 |
| $45,000 | $6,885.00 | $573.75 | $8,653.20 | $900.00 | $225.00 | $31,471.80 | $2,203.03 |
| $50,000 | $7,650.00 | $637.50 | $10,053.20 | $1,000.00 | $250.00 | $34,530.13 | $2,417.11 |
| $55,000 | $8,415.00 | $701.25 | $11,453.20 | $1,100.00 | $275.00 | $37,588.47 | $2,631.19 |
| $60,000 | $9,180.00 | $765.00 | $12,898.20 | $1,200.00 | $300.00 | $40,601.80 | $2,842.13 |
| $65,000 | $9,945.00 | $828.75 | $14,448.20 | $1,300.00 | $325.00 | $43,510.13 | $3,045.71 |
| $70,000 | $10,710.00 | $892.50 | $15,998.20 | $1,400.00 | $350.00 | $46,418.47 | $3,249.29 |
| $75,000 | $11,475.00 | $956.25 | $17,548.20 | $1,500.00 | $375.00 | $49,326.80 | $3,452.88 |
| $80,000 | $12,240.00 | $1,020.00 | $19,098.20 | $1,600.00 | $400.00 | $52,235.13 | $3,656.46 |
| $85,000 | $13,005.00 | $1,083.75 | $20,648.20 | $1,700.00 | $425.00 | $55,143.47 | $3,860.04 |
J U L I E M O U G E O T T E
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| He Said,
She Said… |
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Let Americans save and invest their own hard-earned money without government interference. Anyone who really saves and invests 12.4 percent of their income can, over their working lifetimes, make themselves financially independent millionaire retirees, not poverty-stricken elderly of the "Social Security class," regardless of the job they choose.
Social Security is, in fact, the single tallest, most difficult hurdle standing between most working-class Americans and their hopes for security in their senior years. Let's recognize this fact, and let's end it now.
| "On Opting Out"
Alan Greenspan, Fed. Reserve Board Chmn.
"My own preference is strongly in the direction of moving towards a privately financed system."
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Edward H. Crane, Pres., Cato Institute
"Social Security privatization is, nowadays, the single most important step toward a society of liberty. It combines personal freedom with widespread property ownership, and those are the pillars of a free society."
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THE SOCIAL SECURITY TRUST FUND ACCOMPLISHES NOTHING, Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No. 1256, Feb. 22, '99 by Daniel J. Mitchell, McKenna Senior Fellow in Political Economy in The Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies
TAKING SOCIAL SECURITY PRIVATE, Investors Business Daily, Mar. 17, '99, by Aaron Steelman
A PENNY SAVED IS A PENNY EARNED, Cato Institute, Mar. 11, '99, by Carrie Lips, a Social Security analyst at the Cato Institute
Stop the Social Security Poverty Machine, Deseret News, Mar. 8, '99, by James Ferrin, a certified financial planner based in Orem
WHY SOCIAL SECURITY IS BANKRUPT, Brainstorm Magazine, Feb. '99, by Ted Abram, American Institute for Full Employment
CLINTON'S SOCIAL SECURITY SHELL GAME, Brainstorm Magazine, Feb. '99, by Charles D. Hobbs, Program Director for the American Institute for Full Employment, and Domestic Policy Advisor for Pres. Ronald Reagan, 1984-89
NORTHWEST COMMENTS ON REFORM, Brainstorm Magazine, Feb. '99
Short Columns, That should infuriate you and make you vote for anyone not democrat or republican
A Real Solution to the Social Security Crisis: Testimony of José Piñera, President of the International Center for Pension Reform, Co-Chairman of the Cato Project on Social Security Privatization before the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means, February 11, 1999
THE SOCIAL SECURITY TRAP, Intellectualcapital.com, Jan. 21, '99, by James K. Glassman, the DeWitt Wallace-Reader's Digest Fellow in Communications at the American Enterprise Institute
SOCIAL SECURITY MEETS THE 21ST CENTURY, Cato Policy Report, Feb. '99, by José Piñera, co-chairman, Cato's Project on Social Security Privatization
SOCIAL SECURITY INVESTMENTS MUST BE MADE BY WORKERS THEMSELVES, Los Angeles Times, Feb. 21, '99 by U.S. Rep. Christopher Cox, (R-Newport Beach), Chairman of the House Policy Committee
FATAL CONCEIT IN SOCIAL SECURITY SUBSIDY, The Wall Street Journal, Mar. 2, '99, by Thomas J. DiLorenzo, Professor of Economics, Loyola College
PRIVATIZE SOCIAL SECURITY ... FOR THE CHILDREN, Investor's Business Daily, Feb. 22, '99, by Doug Bandow, a senior fellow with the Cato Institute
SOCIAL SECURITY REFORM URGED, Denver Post, Feb. 17, '99, by Steve Raabe
THE ADMINISTRATION'S BEWILDERING ASSERTION, Cato Institute, Feb. 19, '99, by Michael Tanner, director of the Cato Project on Social Security Privatization
NINTH-GRADERS WORRY ABOUT THEIR FUTURE, Binghamton Press, Feb. 22, '99, by Wyn Hornbuckle, Staff Writer
GOVERNORS OPPOSE SOCIAL SECURITY FOR STATE WORKERS, Reuters, Feb. 23, '99
A DIFFERENT SOCIAL SECURITY IDEA, The Chattanooga Times & Free Press, Feb. 21, '99, Editorial
