Help the poor

[Mark Gibb <mmegibb@orbitworld.net>]

I believe that the primary value of Social Security should be
that it lifts people up, and leaves them better off than they
otherwise would have been.  The largest manifestation of this
value is that the reformed program should help the working poor
the most.  In my view the reform that does the most to
accomplish those goals is the complete privatization of the
system.

Privatization helps the working poor the most primarily because 
they are the ones most injured by the current system.  Why don't
people in the lower income brackets save more money, you might
ask?  Well, I believe the primary reason is that the government
confiscates 12.4% of their precious income and immediately spends
it on corporate welfare, farm subsidies, and wars around the
world.  It is not "saved" for the future in the chimera that is
the "trust fund".  That is the income that could be used for real
saving.  As it is now, the working poor have very little chance
of building up real wealth, and sharing in this powerful economy
that our (relatively) free system has provided for us.  I believe
that the sense of empowerment that a low income working person
would feel from watching their own nest egg grow as a result of
their hard work would be a wonderfully positive validation of the
value of that work.  Thus, benefits are tied to effort, and this
will help break the cycle of poverty.

A privatized Social Security system with individually owned
accounts would also be a huge step toward breaking the
generational cycle of poverty.  Right now the system is terribly
unjust to poor people because of the sad but true reality that,
on the average, they have shorter lifespans.  Imagine a person
that worked for their entire life at minimum wage, and then had
the misfortune to die on their retirement day.  If their children
are adults and there is no surviving spouse, then all the money
they "contributed" to SS is vaporized.  In a privatized system,
there is a nest egg that they own, that can be passed on to their
children to help them break the cycle of poverty.

A privatized system would be one of the best ways that "liberty
and justice for all" could be secured for the American people.

Sincerely,

Mark Gibb
League City, TX