Dems: Private Accounts Would Hurt Farmers

Yahoo! News reports President Bush's proposal to allow taxpayers to invest part of their Social Security taxes would have an amplified, negative effect on farm families who depend on the government program in retirement, Rep. Bob Etheridge (news, bio, voting record), D-N.C., said Saturday. "Farm families have tight budgets, and most don't have access to employer retirement accounts such as 401(k) plans. In fact, three out of four farmers fund their own retirement. They depend on Social Security when the crop yield is low or the weather is bad," Etheridge, a member of the House Agriculture Committee and a part-time farmer, said in the Democratic Party's weekly radio address.

Then they certainly should not want a system where all excess income is spent on other government projects. They should want to be able to have as much of what they pay into social security going into a personal account that the government can't steal.

Jayson @PoliPundit blogged The latest no-name political hack sent over the airwaves by the Demo-Zombies decided to shoot for the heart (strings) regarding the National Ponzi Scheme. Brilliant, huh? Earth to Democrats: Nobody out there in GOP Politician Land is planning completely to do away with Social (In)security benefits. Not at all. Furthermore, the entire point of private accounts is to wean the gummint off of taking putative “retirement money” out of persons’ wallets and pocketbooks, thereby to fund present-day payouts for such gems as the Big Dig and statues of Robert Byrd. Simultaneously, the people then can be weaned off of feeling like they need Uncle Sam’s “charity” to fund their retirements. To the contrary, they can take their own money and {shudder} invest and save for themselves. You know, they can buy such things as {gulp} U.S. savings bonds, stocks, mutual funds, corporate notes, commodities, etc. And given the reality of 15-25-35-40-plus years of tax-free compounding, those people won’t need the freakin’ gummint to hold their hands in their golden years. And if for some reason they still need a safety net, we already have such things as Section 8 housing, medi-caid, welfare, food stamps, etc. Sheesh. Honestly, if the current version of the old Democrat Party were an automobile, it would be recalled …..