Obama, Social Security and Galveston County, Texas
Tuesday, August 17th, 2010I just watched President Obama’s weekly address given on the 75th anniversary of Social Security. Of course, anything implemented or done by President Franklin D. Roosevelt is praised, admired and drooled over by any Democrat; but I digress.
President Obama said, “One thing we can’t afford to do though is privatize Social Security. An ill-conceived idea that would add trillions of dollars to our budget deficit.”
That’s confusing to me. Certainly President Obama has heard of Galveston County in Texas pulling out of Social Security back in 1980. (Sorry, no other counties can opt out thanks to Congress passing a law in 1983.) What were the results? How did those people do? Read about Galveston County’s smart move.
I appreciate President Obama’s concern about adding trillions of dollars to the budget deficit. But that seems a little half-hearted coming from him as he’s had the largest annual budget deficits of any president EVER.
Further, President Obama must also know that Galveston County invested the taxes (which would ordinarily have gone to FICA) in Fixed Rate Guaranteed Annuities. There are no ups and downs of the market. There are no potential losses (annuities have strict regulation guidelines). Any investor that has dabbled a little in the market knows how secure these are.
So claiming market instability as evidence of the ridiculousness of privatizing Social Security is simply put: foolish.
