[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/09/16/art.bull.gi.jpg caption=" Social Security could be privatized."]
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, AIG, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The crisis on Wall Street is enough to rattle any investor... Let alone one who is about to retire or who's already living on a fixed income.
401(k)s and pension plans - many of which have exposure to these troubled companies - are taking huge hits as a result of this mess.
Luckily we have the safety net of Social Security to fall back on... For now.
You may remember just four years ago President Bush made a big push to partially privatize Social Security... You know so we could individually invest our future with the great minds on Wall Street. It failed back then, but that concept could still become a reality. See John McCain also supports supplementing Social Security with private investment accounts. His opponent Barack Obama does not.
Here’s my question to you: In light of the failures of large financial institutions, is privatizing Social Security a good idea?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Juliana writes:
You're delusional to think about dismantling our nation's only financial safety net for retirees, during this time of economic instability. Privatization is a capitalist concept driven only by avarice and greed. I already highly suspect my very hard earned 401(k) monies are a pyramid scheme for the rich, so please don't give them our social security dollars to squander on risky investments, too.
Jonathan writes:
Social Security is just that, social “security”. By privatizing social security, it does nothing more than remove that fundamental principal it is based upon.
Gale from New York writes:
Given the level of ineptitude, deliberate blindness and general lemming tendencies of most Americans, no. We're just too stupid to do this on our own.
Grace writes:
If it wasn't for FDR and Social Security, I would be living with my Republican children. Enough said.
M.J. writes:
Why don't we just give McCain and Phil Graham all our money and they can just put us in camps, where they can ration our food and blankets? No, I don't want them gambling with my social security. Haven't they done enough?
Steven writes:
If you like all the excitement we've seen in our economy, culminating in the last few days' excitement on Wall Street, you're going to “fundamentally” love the excitement to your retirement plans brought about by the privatization of social security.
Jan from Illinois writes:
Jack, I just received my first Social Security check last month. After 45 years of working it's not much, but I need every single penny. If there's any chance of privatization – well, I can't take the risk of not having this money. $581 a month isn't much, but it beats the HECK out of nothing!