I believe the message it sends is that you should not save for retirement because big government will just take it. And the problem with that is most of that money is invested in stocks, and bonds which create jobs without any help from the government. This administration loathes the idea that the people and economy can do just fine without them thats why they keep sticking in their greedy little hands to disrupt things to keep some dependent on them.

And what are we to do with those that pay no income tax? Have them collect a "reverse tax" in the form of money?

Oh crap- we already do that.

And you think the poor "dont mind" this? Shucks boss, would anyone mind getting free money besides the little girl who throws Cheerios on the credit card commercial?

And there should also be limits to the tax exemptions granted pension plans, lest we treat inequitably those who are responsible for their own retirment savings vs. those who have a group plan.

Dramatic overstatement.

Years ago, my father-in-law had half of his retirement money taken by the Peruvian government when they took over the accounts. It was essentially the same thing as our social security system. He had been putting money into it for 40 years and in one act by the government, half of it was gone. Nice. Think it can't happen here?

I think B.O. should be able to grab all the money he wants. Buying votes and coming through with those promises of more and more entitlements is costly. At least B.O. is keeping those campaign promises.

I don't have any answers to your questions. I am not in politics and this is not the 1950's. But I do know that just telling everyone that the poor will pay all the taxes and the rich will never pay anymore than 15% is just about the dumbest way I have ever heard of getting 98% of the population to accept your budget plans.

The currently crop of Conservatives are attempting to turn this old way of doing things around by skipping the part where the wealthy pay their 'fair' portion of the taxes and going right for the Poor. Working out pretty well for them don't 'ch think?

The way Romney described the 47% is the new normal among Conservatives. This plays well among those that, like Romney, don't care about the 47%, but it is not the way to attract more voters.

It is however, a great way to see everything you have worked for during an election go down in flames.

Want to have the people accept a bad deal? Make them think they thought of it. Republicans had been doing this up until about ten years ago. I really don't know why they quit except that the money part of the Party was taken over by rich guys that thought they knew everything because they are rich.

Rush Limbaugh sometimes refers to that moment. He calls it one of the greatest things to ever happen to a Democracy because it freed the people of Peru from the trap of Social Security.

Rush always leaves out the part about anyone losing money.

In fact, Rush loves this Peru plan so much he has been recommending it for the US SS for years.

What the government should do is let people send it in voluntarily based on how they feel about what they are getting in return. I've already got a number in mind;).

Perhaps you confuse Peru with Chile? I have never heard anybody else extoll the Peruvian gov for anything. However, I wouldn't wish to claim to know what Limbaugh's opinion might be on ... anything really. Maybe he confused Chile with Peru.

But I have heard lots of Milton Freeman types praise Chile's retirement system. Also one of the nordic countries has a similar plan to Chile's that's been very effective.

So lessee, the anxiety here is that those who have been able to put away $3 million tax free for their retirement are going to suffer needlessly? I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that most people who have managed to salt away $3 million in a retirement account have other assets that will also be useful to them in retirement. The article estimates that a $3 million retirement account will yield an annuity of around $205K. Cry me a river ya'all.

Mountain, molehill, etc.

Chile is often mentioned by Rush along with other forward thinking countries such as Peru and El Salvador.

Actually any country that does anything involving something Rush thinks he can tie to the Democrats is OK in his book. I never said he spent a lot of time looking into things; and his show chugs along due to none of his aud checking out anything, either.

By the way, he is proud of the fact that he always issues corrections when he is wrong. He does it just before a commercial break when the music is coming up and always a few weeks after he spoke in error. If you have never heard him do this is because you are not supposed to.

But Rush makes tons of money, so everything he says must be true!

By the way... If this program is so terrible then why did the Republicans enact it in 1975?

That Gerald Ford.... No wonder he did not get reelected.

Keeping up sounds tedious.

Sure the government loses in the long run, move it overseas, and give uncle sam the big middle finger.

Caymen Islands are nice in the winter.:D