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Why not do away with Social Security altogether? Let individuals decide how and if they want to save for their retirement. Maybe the system has run its course.
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Two reasons.
First, commitment. People have been planning their futures based on SS. Removal of this isn't very polite.
Second, security. Social security is a form of security: if everything goes wrong, you won't starve. Older people tend to become less able to deal with complete finantial collapse: they get sick more often, they can't restart in a new career very easily, etc.
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Regardless, KMA-628 is correct when he says that we need to drop the partisan bickering and focus on the issues and stuff.
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In case you haven't noticed, the Bush white house uses 'partisan' to mean 'anything that does not perfectly agree with me, and from another party'.
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no wonder we had a record, $55.5 billion trade deficit in just the past month.
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Oh wow. Something I just noticed.
I thought a good chunk of the US trade deficit was due to the US having a higher GNP than GDP. Historically, this has been true, or so I vaguely remembered.
It isn't true anymore. Not only does the US have a trade deficit, the USA owns less productive capacity in the world than the world owns in the USA.
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Look around you......consumer items that can be manufactured by easterners who are paid slave wages have never been cheaper. Walmart offers a $27.00 DVD player. This lulls you into a false sense of confidence. The dollar will buy less resource derived value.....plywood, oil, silver, if it must be imported, or competes on the export market.
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Do you understand that a 27.00$ DVD is
wealth? A protectionist US economy might be able to generate more US jobs, but all your consumer goods would cost 1.5 to 2 times as much. Protectionism is an inefficient form of welfare.
Do I expect the US dollar to fall? Yes. There is a reason why I'm liquidating US assets and buying up non-US assets.
A falling US dollar is part of the payment the US will be making on it's irresponsable fiscal policy. It is a price: when USD are worth less, your money is worth less. It has side effects which are benefitial.
Lastly, your term 'slave wages'... Are you attacking the wages based off 'unfair' competition, or based off harm to the wage earners?