Social Security privatization impact on retirement

I knew it was coming. There has been so much news lately about Social Security privatization that someone was going to ask me about my opinion. I did receive over two dozen questions on the topic. Well, I have to admit that I have my strengths but understanding the complexities of Social Security is not one of them. So I assembled a group of my friends who specialize in economics and public policy and here is a brief summary of my understanding:

• The US economy has many weaknesses - the huge deficits, the falling dollar, lack of jobs in America, 45 millions uninsured Americans, falling incomes, aging population, and yes, a gradually developing revenue shortfall in Social Security. Some of these problems have gotten worse since President Bush came to power due to his relentless tax cuts for a select few, giveaways to large corporations, war in Iraq, and other poor economic policies.
• Social Security is not in a crisis but like many other problems with the US economy, it is one of the problems to deal with over time.
• While I do have an online trading account (though over my investing life, I have lost money overall), a 401(K) account (where I have done reasonably well), I am not sure if I want to be invest my retirement savings into the stock market. Given a choice, I will probably keep those savings in a more secure place.
• No matter who says what, the retirement benefits will fall significantly under Bush's plan. That is kind of scary since like anyone else, I don't save enough, though I have zero bad debt.
• I don't know about others, but as a young American, even though I might benefit from a private investment account, I am not sure I will feel great if I see our seniors, disabled, widows/widowers, and spouses and children of retired and disabled workers (that adds up to roughly 45 million Americans) fall into poverty.

So my advice to you is to ask yourself how selfish you want to be. I am personally trying to save more so that I have a pool of money available to me when I retire.

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