KRUGMAN ON PRIVATIZING SOCIAL SECURITY
This British horror story is a must-read for us all

From the New York Times via the Houston Chronicle:

Pardon my Britishism, but Britain's 20-year experience with privatization is a cautionary tale Americans should know about.

The U.S. news media have provided readers and viewers with little information about how privatization has worked in other countries. Now my colleagues have even fewer excuses: There's an illuminating article on the British experience in The American Prospect, www.prospect.org, by Norma Cohen, a senior corporate reporter at The Financial Times who covers pension issues.

Her verdict is summed up in her title: "A Bloody Mess." Strong words, but her conclusions match those expressed more discreetly in a recent report by Britain's Pensions Commission, which warns that at least 75 percent of those with private investment accounts will not have enough savings to provide "adequate pensions."

Click here for the rest.

Remember this:

1. There is no Social Security "crisis." It's been made up by the Republicans who are waging a long term battle to dismantle the New Deal, that is, America as we've known it all our lives.

2. Any repairs that are actually needed by Social Security can be easily accomplished within the existing system well before there are any actual problems (which best estimates predict will start sometime between 2042 and 2051).

3. Private retirement accounts will make things for the vast majority of retirees worse, not better; the only group who stands to benefit from such "reform" is the banking and finance industry, which strongly supports these changes.

4. This whole thing seems disturbingly similar to the bogus rhetoric about WMDs thrown around by the Bush administration during the run-up to the Iraq invasion.

It's all very simple, really. If the Democrats screw this one up, we'll KNOW FOR SURE that they suck. Of course, I'm already sure, myself.

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