"Just give me mine", say the greedy geezers. "Who cares about anyone after me."
You couldn't have said it better! DH & I have SIX retired parents (four natural, two steps) and they are scared to death that they're going to lose their cash cow, though all are rollin' in the dough from investing wisely for their retirement in the first place.
I cannot convince any of them of the fact that the changes are not going to effect them at all, while benefiting me. And in reality, if we younger generation are allowed to open our own accounts, don't look for more than 4% of your earnings to be freed up anyway. For me, that's not enough! I want ALL of my money invested as I see fit!
As usual, it's the left doing two things; saying there is no crisis (even when they rallied behind Klinton on this exact subject in 1998!), yet making sure they use fear tatics to point the finger at the other guy. Same old, same old.
Ask your retired parents if they know how much they are paid vs what they paid in. I believe the retirees selfishly don't want to consider what they are getting in SS monies vs what they really paid. I recognize they might have done better in the stock market but the geezers are still getting far back than what they paid in taxes years ago. Most don't want to think about anything but themselves- and have no shame either. I've lost respect for many of them due to their support of the dems and liberal programs and the 'hell with the grand children' attitude.
I'm 62 and I favor the private account proposal. I will benefit from it as much as any of the younger people who will actually invest in the new accounts because creation of those new accounts will result in a vast increase in demand for investment grade securities. Being reasonably well invested in the market, I foresee that increase in investment demand greatly increasing the value of my investments.
As far as the demagoguery about the plan jeopardizing current, or nearly current, benefit levels is concerned, there's no legitimate basis to believe it. That's because anybody actually proposing cuts in current benefit levels will commit political suicide. Thus, this has to be an entirely prospective reform.
Amen and amen, Diana!