Securing Your Retirement

Our nation’s promise to its seniors, once considered a sacred trust, has become little more than a tool for politicians to scare retirees while robbing them of their promised benefits. Today, the Social Security system is broke and broken. Politicians in Washington are stealing your future.

Every year, they take 12.4% of your income to prop up their failed Social Security system - a system that is heading toward bankruptcy.

If you are an American earning the median income of $31,695 per year, and were given the option of investing that same amount of money in a stock mutual fund, you would retire a millionaire - without winning the lottery or a TV game show.

That million dollars would provide you with a retirement income of over $100,000 per year - about five times what you could expect from Social Security. Even a very conservative investment strategy would yield three times the benefits promised by Social Security.

Libertarians believe you should be able to opt out of Social Security and invest your money in your own personal retirement account. An account that you own and control - one that politicians can't get their hands on.

Republicans and Democrats say it can't be done - that your Social Security taxes are needed to pay benefits to today's retirees. Instead of letting you invest in your own future, they want you to have faith that someone else will pay your benefits when it comes time for you to retire.

This is the same type of Ponzi scheme for which these same politicians sentence others to prison. With our Baby Boomers retiring and a decreasing number of taxpayers contributing, the system is doomed to fail. In 1950, there were 16 workers contributing to support each beneficiary; in 1995, this number dropped to 3.3. Now, in 2008, we are seeing Baby Boomers retire and this number will drop even lower. This is a Ponzi scheme that can't continue.

According to the Cato Institute, the Social Security trust fund will be paying our more than it collects within 9 years. It will be completely bankrupt in 2041. The main reason for this is the fact that Congress has raided these trust funds to support special interests and irresponsible spending.

Unlike traditional trust funds, the Social Security trust fund may be raided for other purposes; further, it earns no interest. To pay on it's obligations, the government must collect taxes, borrow money, or spend from the trust.  When the trust fund is depleted and taxes don't cover the expense obligations, the government must go yet further in debt and compromise it's ability to pay in the future. Alternatively, the government may simply print more money; while this will allow it meet its obligation, it will grossly devalue the worth of the currency.

Although most won't admit it publicly, most Republican and Democrat "solutions" to the Social Security crises all come down to some combination of tax increases and benefit cuts. They hope to find a real answer in the future that will allow them to retain control over your retirement funds. Libertarians know that there's a better way and have the answer now.

Countries like Chile, Mexico, Britain, and Australia have successfully made the transition from their failed Social Security systems to healthy systems based on individual retirement accounts. In Chile, over 90% of workers have opted out of the government-run system. It's time America did as well.

The federal government owns assets worth trillions of dollars - assets that it simply doesn't need to perform its Constitutional functions. By selling those assets over time, we can keep the promises that were made to today's retirees, and to those nearing retirement, while freeing the rest of America from a failed Social Security system.

Libertarians will introduce and support legislation to give you that choice, and put you in control of your own retirement future.

On the Issues:

• I support selling government-owned assets that are not needed to perform its Constitutional duties; this may be used to fund our obligation to current retirees and free the rest of America from a failed Social Security system.
• I support privatization of our retirement system that will conservatively result in retirement income 3 times greater than social security, boost the enconomy by encouraging investment in business and job creation, give individuals control over their investments, and put these funds out of the reach of politicians who have proven they cannot be trusted. This approach is the appropriate solution the Constitution does not grant the federal government the authority to administer the current program.
• I support allowing citizens to opt out of the Social Security sytem, as others have successfully done in Texas, and withdraw their contributions from the Social Security trust fund.
• Individuals should be able to contribute their Social Security 'refunds' to mutual funds, low-risk bonds and savings accounts, individually-controlled Personal Retirement Accounts, employer pension plans, or any other legitimate retirement plan. This may benefit small-businesses as well as large, blue-chip organizations.
• The federal government has demonstrated it cannot responsibly manage a pension system for citizens. For this reason, I oppose any effort to impose govermental control over private pension funds. 
• I support the removal of any earnings limitations on those age 62 and over so that they may earn any amount of additional income on top of Social Security benefits.
• I oppose proposed decreases in benefits, increases in Social Security taxes, or increasing the age at which recipients may qualify for full benefits..
• Until privatization can be achieved, I support legislation requiring the Federal government to protect our so-called trust funds through the creation of real trust funds, using those funds solely for the purpose originally intended - this includes the Social Security trust fund as well as Highway Trust Funds, Unemployment Trust Funds, and so on.
• I oppose any sort of merger between the US Social Security system and that of any other foreign country.
• I support the repeal of those provisions in the Social Security system that penalize those born during the 'notch years' - between 1917 and 1926 - and that such persons be placed on the same benefit schedule as other participants. 
• I oppose distributions of Social Security trust funds to those that are in the country illegally or for their contributions made while in the nation illegally while using the identity of another.
• I support the eventual disbandment of the Social Security Adminstration; however, we must honor our commitments to current seniors and will require the resources to manage that obligation.