Privatization or Bust!

[Javier Jimenez <jimenj@yahoo.com>]

I think that most people in the US will agree that some form of
privatization, be it partial or complete, will positively impact
the lives of the millions of workers during their retirement.
However, the message of full privatization has not been fully
addressed by the media, so the people are still ignorant about what
it is all about. I have not yet seen talk show discussion about
the issue, and have only seen a handfull of shows where the topic
is discussed, all available at the Cato Institute's web site.

Politicians protecting the status quo refer to statistics that
poverty among the elderly, and disabled is kept low by the system.
This is nothing but a sound bite to inflame the uninformed. Why do
they fail to say that under the full privatization proposals there
is a safaty net for those who fail to accumulate enough for their
time of need? This behavior shows the hypocrisy of these people's
motives.  Study after study shows that privatization will provide
better retirement and disability protection to workers. Experience
here in the US with the pension system of the unions, the city of
San Diego (SPSP), and others like it show that the beneficiaries
receive much more in benefits for less contributions, as much as
3 times in the case of SPSP. Experience abroad, like that of Chile,
shows us that not only individuals benefit from privatization, but
society itself is improved, along with the economy, standard of
living, and freedom and security.

However, experience with the government pension system has shown
us time and time again that tax increases, benefit cuts, age
increases, crunching debt, and shifting burden to future generations
is the norm. Why will it be different this time around? Why continue
the dependence on future politicians? Why just keep the elderly
barely above poverty?

One common thing among people outside government run pay-as-you-go
systems is the freedom of not depending on the government in their
time of need, knowing that they have taken care of themselves, and
are not subject to the whim of future politicians. Why not provide
this same freedom and security to all workers?