If the Bush Social Security plan had passed and then we had this economic crisis what would have happened?

[jakeb]

If you chose private accounts (it was totally voluntary) you ma be doing well or not, it's up to your choices. After a lifetime of working, you likely would be ahead with private accounts.

[gosam777]

No. They would have allowed investments in mutual funds, same as 401K's, IRA's. Investments in the market have produced 10% returns every year over any given 20 year consecutive period since it began, including the crashes of '29, and '87. As opposed to the social security entitlement (SS is an entitlement, not an owned account). which earns nothing.

[ward311]

You are wrong.

It would have been 4% of the contributions into a choice of many different kinds of mutual funds.


If Congressional Democrats has listened to Bush about Fannie and Freddie, what would NOT have happened.

September 11, 2003
New Agency Proposed to Oversee Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae
By STEPHEN LABATON

The Bush administration today recommended the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago.

Under the plan, disclosed at a Congressional hearing today, a new agency would be created within the Treasury Department to assume supervision of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored companies that are the two largest players in the mortgage lending industry.

The new agency would have the authority, which now rests with Congress, to set one of the two capital-reserve requirements for the companies. It would exercise authority over any new lines of business. And it would determine whether the two are adequately managing the risks of their ballooning portfolios.


Barny Frank 2003 in response to Bush's plan.

Barney Frank: "''These two entities -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- are not facing any kind of financial crisis,'' said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. ''The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing

Or McCain in 2006 ?

"In 2006," the Post editorialized, McCain "pushed for stronger regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - while Mr. Obama was notably silent. 'If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole,' McCain warned at the time."

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.ht...nted=print

[Doug H]

Investing Social Security funds in the institutions that collapsed would have seriously compounded the problem. The collapse happened because these companies invested entirely too heavily in high-risk securities. Those securities were tied to subprime mortgages, and when the housing bubble burst the securities were worthless.
In short, the economic crisis occurred because these companies were making reckless investment decisions. Giving them even more of our money wouldn't have been the solution.

[smsmith500]

The social security plan was completely voluntary. What it would have done is give wage earners the Choice of getting a percentage of the money back so they could add it to their 401K or an IRA account. And this would still be preferable to giving the Money to the government so they could spend it. The Bush plan would have given direct control back to the people who will need the money in retirement, not to the Congress who use it as yet another source of income for the treasury.
Ward311 states the fact of the matter. The Democrats could have done something to solve the problem, but for purely political reasons, didn't. A very familar scenario for them.

[poolplayer]

Planned? To exactly what end? I'm assuming you have some conspiracy in mind. And if it was planned, it was brought about the democrats, regardless of what the media is telling you.

In my opinion, I'd rather have control of my own SS funds than to allow the government to control them. Besides, for the most part, the money that is supposed to go to your SS account are really just going to the general fund and being spent anyway. That's one of the reasons there is so much worry about the solvency of this program.

Let me invest my own dough.

[poolplayer]

A lot more old people working at Walmart...

Which is a shame because I really like having old people carry my bags and fetch things for me...


Palin-McCain '08

[niceslave672]

It could have been ugly. A lot of retirees were burned as is.


TyranusXX --- you state "The SS plan would have only allowed people to invest in very limited and "safe" things"


Weren't Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG, and all the others considered "safe" stocks 18 months ago?