What would have happened if Social Security had been privatized and invested in the stock market?

[Ralph T]

The same thing as any other investment,but you'd still have some money.
Both parties have tapped the social security trust fund to help pay for all the programs set up by congress.
There is actually no money in the fund at all,that is why the program was made mandatory for those born after 1983.
The democrats opposed the Bush plan to allow people to divert part of their S.S. tax into the stock market.
If a person was allowed to do so and they put the money in government bonds,they would be doing exactly what the government does with the S.S. taxes.
The only difference is that when you died,your survivors would have been able to inherit those diverted funds as opposed to losing all S.S. benefits from your account once the account was depleted.
This financial crisis started as far back as the Carter administration,it just caught up with us.