The Future's So Bright...

Who Benefits?
The big winners of Private Investment Accounts

George W. Bush’s plan to privatize Social Security has nothing to do with enhancing workers’ retirement income. Rather, it is a scheme to redistribute money from the majority of people who work to the minority of people who own the banks and brokerage firms.

A worker retiring in 2042 after having earned average compensation would ordinarily receive about $20,000 a year in Social Security benefits. If nothing at all were done to offset a Social Security Fund shortfall due in 2042, and all future benefits were paid to that worker out of payroll taxes at the time, that worker would still receive approximately $18,000 in benefits. With the Bush plan, that same worker would have his benefits reduced to less than $15,000 a year, according to the center’s analyses.

So who are the real winners here? The answer is clear: Big Finance.

It just figures, doesn't it? I mean, really. And you know what else reeks about it? They decry social programs because of "redistribution of wealth." Yeah, right. They just want to "redistribute" it into their own coffers.