Posted on 06/15/2011 6:39:55 PM PDT by Kaslin
Politics: Herman Cain proposed privatizing U.S. Social Security and cited Chile's success. But like cuckoos popping out of clocks, the media smeared Chile as a "dictatorship."
Cain, speaking Monday at CNN's Republican presidential candidates' debate in New Hampshire, boldly laid out the one solution known to work in resolving much of America's $100 trillion in unfunded mandates by saying:
"I support a personal retirement system option in order to phase (out) the current system. We know that this works. It worked in the small country of Chile when they did it 30 years ago. I believe we can do the same thing."
That system, initiated in 1981 by Chile's Labor Secretary Jose Pinera, a U.S.-trained economist, formed the backbone of what's known as Chile's Economic Miracle. The privatization has provided Chile's workers with an average 9.23% compound rate of return on their retirement contributions over 30 years compared with the 1% or less that U.S. workers can expect before the U.S. system goes bust in 2038.
Instead of challenging the proposal on its merits, the media were quick to leap on the only thing that excites them: The system, approved by Chile's legislature and freely chosen by 97% of its workers over a state system, came about under the military government of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.
"The Pinochet Plan: In discussing Social Security reform, Cain name-checks Chile from 30 years ago as a success story. Was he referring to the time when dictator Augusto Pinochet had his iron boot on the country? Oh, let's hope not," chirped the San Francisco Chronicle's Joe Garofoli on the newspaper's website.
The Daily Caller and other media sites have made similar snarks.
Cain isn't the only U.S. politician who's had the Pinochet canard hurled at him.
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
If it’s “dictatorial,” why haven’t the socialists who have ruled in Chile since 1990 repealed the privatization of the pension system?
What U.S. politician would want to talk seriously about pension reform if the first word to pop out of the media's mouth is "Pinochet"?
Hence the need for a spokesperson/candidate who not only does not give a thought to media canards, but actually seems to thrive on them.
I speak of none other than the Mama Grizz, the (not yet) candidate with more and bigger brass ones than are found in the belfry of St. Paul's.
I believe Bubba was the first to want to privatize SS.
It’s too late to fix SS by privatization. The idea behind privatization was that we had a SS “surplus.” The money coming into SS was greater than the amount being paid out in benefits. Take the “surplus” and tell young people that they could invest it privately, like a 401K. That way, the government could not use it and it would be there when those workers retired, even if the rest of the SS system imploded.
But SS is no longer running a surplus. It’s running a deficit. That means that if you want to take a dollar out of the trust fund and put it in private accounts, then you’re going to have to find another dollar someplace to pay current SS benefits.
It’s too late to fix SS, or as some would say, it’s all over except the shouting.
Cain raises a good point (that Bush tried to raise in 2000 and 2004) but, IMO, we need to pull the plug on SS and let it finally die an ugly death before considering a whole new beginning and caling it something else.
As long as someone keeps trying to breath new life into FDR’s Ponzi scheme, we will never be rid of it. LET IT DIE, for cryin’ out loud!!!
You should run for President.
“The good general eliminated the communist leadership and agitators in his country. Result peace and prosperity. We need to break Pinochet on the commies in this country.”
Agree. When I was in college, all the commies were really worked up about him. So I researched and found that his predecessor, Salvador Allende, was VERY QUICKLY turning Chile into a South American Cuba...CLEARLY doing that.
Pinochet stopped that takeover in its tracks. Yes, Allende was elected...but did that give him the right to do that to Chile?
“It’s too late to fix SS, or as some would say, it’s all over except the shouting.”
AGREE!!!! The Ponzi scheme must collapse. The only question is who gets screwed. Hopefully not my kids and (future) grand kids...but I think that will end up being the case.
I disagree. Currently about 46% of all workers in America pay NO income tax (I know they pay a payroll tax which funds medicare and SS). This needs to stop and everyone should pay something, even if it is just 1 or 2%. The extra cash brought in would free up other monies and allow for the transition of SS to a private system.
It would be easier to simply raise the rate of SS contributions by the 2% or so on existing workers while phasing in the privatization of the system beginning with all new entrants into the workforce. They would continue to pay a small amount to transition the current system to private, say 3-4% while the balance would go towards their private accounts. Once transition is complete the entire amount would go towards their private plan.
It may take 30 years or so to do this but it would be well worth it, IMO.
I would not call a tax increase a “fix.” For one thing, I would not trust the politicians to use the money to “fix” the problem, given that they’ve already increased taxes many times under the guise of “fixing” social security, and we still have a problem because every time they increase taxes, they also increase benefits. But beyond that, the whole concept is flawed. They promised a certain level of benefits, if you paid a certain amount of money. Increasing the taxes halfway thru your career is a breach of that promise.
Suppose you bought a diamond ring on layaway for $3000, and paid $1000 down. Six months later, you pay another $1000. At the end of a year, you show up at the jewelry store, and pay the last $1000 installment. The jeweler takes your money, then says, “I have bad news and good news. The bad news is that I lost the other $2000 you paid me. The good news is that you just need to pay me another $2000, and that problem is “fixed.” He might think so, but not me.
Only a set amount...That was changed. In a separate account...That was changed. Never to be taxed..that's changed. On and on it goes....
I don't trust a damn one of them. No, not one.
Yep. I'm surprised the commies in your college let the facts exist for you to find. All our major problems are caused by marxists. I have included a list of the communist goals from 1963. Read it and consider how many they have accomplished. Also consider who have been their allies.
Congressional Record--Appendix, pp. A34-A35 January 10, 1963 Current Communist Goals EXTENSION OF REMARKS OF HON. A. S. HERLONG, JR. OF FLORIDA IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Thursday, January 10, 1963 Mr. HERLONG. Mr. Speaker, Mrs. Patricia Nordman of De Land, Fla., is an ardent and articulate opponent of communism, and until recently published the De Land Courier, which she dedicated to the purpose of alerting the public to the dangers of communism in America. At Mrs. Nordman's request, I include in the RECORD, under unanimous consent, the following "Current Communist Goals," which she identifies as an excerpt from "The Naked Communist," by Cleon Skousen: [From "The Naked Communist," by Cleon Skousen] CURRENT COMMUNIST GOALS
1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.
2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.
3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament [by] the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.
4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.
5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.
6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.
7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.
8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.
9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.
10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.
11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)
12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.
13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.
14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.
15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.
16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.
17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks.
18. Gain control of all student newspapers.
19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.
20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policy making positions.
21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.
22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."
23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art."
24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.
25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.
26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."
27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."
28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."
29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.
30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man."
31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.
32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture--education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.
33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.
34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.
35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.
36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.
37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.
38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand [or treat].
39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.
40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.
41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.
42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use ["]united force["] to solve economic, political or social problems.
43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.
44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.
45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction [over domestic problems. Give the World Court jurisdiction] over nations and individuals alike.
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