977 Democrats don’t want young workers to benefit?

The calculator being used at 16 Democrat websites to figure the Bush overhaul of Social Security is inaccurate, according to Fact Check.org.

“Democrats have been using a web-based "calculator" to generate individualized answers to the question, "How much will you lose under Bush privatization plan?" For young, low-wage workers it projects cuts of up to 50% in benefits. And a $1-million TV advertising campaign is amplifying the claim, saying, "Look below the surface (of Bush's plan) and you'll find benefit checks cut almost in half."

In fact, the calculator is rigged. We find it is based on a number of false assumptions and deceptive comparisons. For one thing, it assumes that stocks will yield average returns of only 3 percent per year above inflation. The historical average is close to 7 percent.

The calculator's authors claim that they use the same assumption used by the Congressional Budget Office. Actually, CBO projects a 6.8 percent gain.”

Everyone agrees that as the boomers age and there are fewer and fewer workers to support them, someone’s going to have to water down the soup to make it go around. That’s how my grandmother managed when poor neighbors showed up at the door close to dinner time during the Depression. Add a little water to the gravy.

It won’t matter to me--I’m not eligible for SS, but who will be there for my children, now middle-aged? Democrats really don’t want any Bush administration plan to work, but especially not this one. It takes some of the control away from the government and hands it back to the worker--especially that choice and inheritability thing. Ohhh! That’s so scary. A constituency that doesn’t need the party for favors is one that might vote libertarian or Republican. It cuts into their base.

And Republican congress people are really lackluster in their support, too. In yesterday’s WSJ Ed Crane of Cato Institute commented that inheritability and personal control, which he considers the best features, are rarely even mentioned, even by Republicans. And Democrats NEVER do--but that’s no surprise at all, now is it? Choice is OK to kill a baby (although not for your breast implants), but not OK for your money.