RE: Privatization?! Not for me!

[Mark Gibb <mmegibb@orbitworld.net>]

It sounds to me like the kind of investing you are talking about
is where the investor picks individual stocks, does his own
research, and buys and sells frequently.  You're right, this kind
of investing is risky, and requires a lot of knowledge and time
to make it pay off.

However, those of us talking about privatization do not have that
kind of investing in mind when we talk about individual accounts
replacing Social Security.  We are talking about mutual funds and
even more conservative investments like bonds.  Investing in a
mutual fund requires almost no advanced knowledge of companies or
stocks.  The funds are extremely diversified so that they
basically follow the growth of the whole economy, and therefore
don't hang their hat on the fortunes of a few companies.  It is a
heavily regulated and mature industry that millions of people are
using to provide a secure retirement for themselves.  I want to
see this same opportunity opened to everyone, the poor included.

If you are worried about risk, then you should be worried about
the current system.  The politcal risk in the current system, I
believe, is greater than the investment risk in a private system.
This is because the government can cut benefits or raise taxes at
any time in the current system, thus making it an even worse deal
for everybody.  Also, the Supreme Court ruled that people do not
have a "property right" in their Social Security.  That means
that they contribute all their lives into the system, and they do
not have a legally enforcable right to anything in return.  That
sounds risky to me!

Sincerely,

Mark Gibb
League City, TX