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?
