Social Security Suggestions

I currently live in Kansas and was astounded this morning to read in the Wichita Eagle Senator Sam Brownback's comments on President Bush's plan to reform social security. According to the newspaper, Brownback could not say anything positive about Bush's ideas other than he appreciated the president getting the debate started. In an interview on MSNBC, the senator stated " I don't think that's the sort of solution we ought to be going at", " I personally don't think that's really the route we ought to be going".

If this is not the route we should be taking, what is? Will we see our payroll taxes double again?
Will my children even have social security benefits? What changes in the system will help average blue-collar citizen.

I have probably never had an original idea in my life and I am sure that the folowing suggestions have been made before. Nonetheless, here are a few social security reform ideas to ponder.

#1. How about lowering the payroll tax rate from >6.5% to 3%?
Rationale: Do you remember the shock you felt when you received your first paycheck. You worked really hard and had big plans for all the money you had earned and expected to receive. Sadly when payday came Washington D.C. reached out and confiscated a huge chunk of the fruits of your labor. The money you had planned to spend then in your local community had been cut into so severely (Income taxes, SS deductions etc.) all purchases had to be reprioritized.
Lowering the confiscation rate would put more dollars in my hands. The more dollars in my hands translates to my spending more dollars in the local community thereby improving the local economy. Moreover, lower rates would put more dollars in the cash accounts of small businesses, thereby improving the chances for additional local jobs, higher wages, and/or improved benefits.

#2. Raise the confiscation cap to the first million earned.

Rationale: There must be away to make up for the lost revenue created by lowering the payroll tax.

President Bush's plan sounds good to me, not for me, but for my children and their generation. I particularly like the idea that when I die, under the Presidents plan, I could leave my retirement assets to my spouse (if I had one) or my children. The strong opposition to this
key plank should remind you that there are many in this country that do not think todays blue-collar family should have the opportunity to advance from one generation to the next.

The Democrat/Brownback alternative is to either increase payroll tax rates, raise the retirement age, and/or lower benefits. Congress, specifically the Senate, has become a Jurassic Park. A home for wayward dinosaurs. I sincerely hope and pray American citizens will get more involved with this issue and demand from our governement innovative and creative solutions to these and other problems.

Social Security Personal Accounts

After the president's news conference last night, Chris Matthews interviewed Democratic Senators Durbin of Illinois and Schumer of New York. Matthews asked each to explain the democrats alternative to president Bush's social security reform plan. Senator Durbin talked in circles and never answered the question. Not surprisingly, Matthews failed to follow-up and push for a direct answer. Senator Schumer however, gave a glimpse of what the democrats have in mind for the future of our social security. He said the president should appoint a commission (providing cover for all as in the BRAC "base realignment and closure:Commission) The last time this occurred, payroll taxes increased dramatically and the retirement age was raised. This is the democrat alternative as usual. Higher taxes and reduced benefits.

I cannot for the life of me see nor understand the opposition to personal accounts. Just the benefit of being able to pass benefits to a surviving spouse/children merits further consideration but democrats once again display their opposition to any new idea reaffirming my belief that the democratic party is stuck in the past, hyper-change resistant and doomed to go the way of the dinosaurs.