I lost almost everything I had in the stock market crashes of 2008 and 2009.
The day that will live forever in my mind started watching CNBC for the congressional vote on the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).
Although it was expected to barely pass, Ryan's Republican colleagues and even a few Blue Dog Democrats began to vote against it, one by one.
When the bloody dust settled to the earth, the bill had failed and the market had lost 700 points.
As I watched in horror I thought to myself how lucky we were that the Bush Social Security Privatization plan went down to defeat in 2005.
Had a plan like that been in effect long enough for potential retirees to have had significant amounts of their social security retirement accounts in privatized accounts, the results would have been catastrophic.
If you want to understand the risks posed by timing and free market investing, ask anyone of the thousands of Americans who are postponing their retirements because their 401Ks have shrunk to nothing.
Remember when we were told 401Ks would allow more secure retirement than those stodgy old defined benefit pension plans of yesteryear? But that's another story.
When I heard that Representative Ryan's Road Map for America included yet another social security privatization plan, I could not believe how anyone could take this idea seriously.
Boy was I wrong.
Hailed as an up and coming genius within the ranks of conservative Republicans, Ryan's plan was met with much fanfare and far too little scrutiny.
I waited for the media to report on how Ryan's plan would deal with market crashes.
To my complete and total amazement and disbelief, I heard nothing.
With 401Ks losing 30% to 60% or more, shouldn't somebody out there be interested in how the Ryan plan would deal with inevitable downturns in free market investment vehicles? So I dug into the plan myself and I was speechless when I read his solution.
A government guarantee.
That's right.
The Treasury Department would guarantee the privatized social security account against any losses.
Isn't that a bailout? My purpose here is not to debate the statistics of rates of return offered by free market investments over long periods of time.
Nor is it to debate how much of a 2008 retiree's benefit would have been lost due to the market's crash.
It is simply to highlight one of the major issues I see with today's political discourse - the double standard.
The Tea Party rose to prominence and power in part due to public anger over bailouts for the banks and auto companies.
Recently, the New York Times pointed out that American taxpayers will actually net a profit from TARP funds loaned to banks.
But no matter; another problem we now have is that a significant portion of the population will no longer believe anything they read or hear from the "mainstream media.
" But that's another story.
In fact, TARP was a LOAN program - not a true bailout.
The banks got money in exchange for stock in many cases and are expected to pay back the loan.
But what Ryan's plan suggests is in fact a true bailout.
If you are a younger taxpayer, you will be paying to bailout Social Security retirees during market downturns and crashes far into the future.
I urge you to go to the Road Map website at: http://www.
roadmap.
republicans.
budget.
house.
gov/ Read it for yourself.
And to the millions of Tea Party activists and independent minded citizens outraged by federal government bailouts at the expense of taxpayers, where's your outrage on this one??
The day that will live forever in my mind started watching CNBC for the congressional vote on the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).
Although it was expected to barely pass, Ryan's Republican colleagues and even a few Blue Dog Democrats began to vote against it, one by one.
When the bloody dust settled to the earth, the bill had failed and the market had lost 700 points.
As I watched in horror I thought to myself how lucky we were that the Bush Social Security Privatization plan went down to defeat in 2005.
Had a plan like that been in effect long enough for potential retirees to have had significant amounts of their social security retirement accounts in privatized accounts, the results would have been catastrophic.
If you want to understand the risks posed by timing and free market investing, ask anyone of the thousands of Americans who are postponing their retirements because their 401Ks have shrunk to nothing.
Remember when we were told 401Ks would allow more secure retirement than those stodgy old defined benefit pension plans of yesteryear? But that's another story.
When I heard that Representative Ryan's Road Map for America included yet another social security privatization plan, I could not believe how anyone could take this idea seriously.
Boy was I wrong.
Hailed as an up and coming genius within the ranks of conservative Republicans, Ryan's plan was met with much fanfare and far too little scrutiny.
I waited for the media to report on how Ryan's plan would deal with market crashes.
To my complete and total amazement and disbelief, I heard nothing.
With 401Ks losing 30% to 60% or more, shouldn't somebody out there be interested in how the Ryan plan would deal with inevitable downturns in free market investment vehicles? So I dug into the plan myself and I was speechless when I read his solution.
A government guarantee.
That's right.
The Treasury Department would guarantee the privatized social security account against any losses.
Isn't that a bailout? My purpose here is not to debate the statistics of rates of return offered by free market investments over long periods of time.
Nor is it to debate how much of a 2008 retiree's benefit would have been lost due to the market's crash.
It is simply to highlight one of the major issues I see with today's political discourse - the double standard.
The Tea Party rose to prominence and power in part due to public anger over bailouts for the banks and auto companies.
Recently, the New York Times pointed out that American taxpayers will actually net a profit from TARP funds loaned to banks.
But no matter; another problem we now have is that a significant portion of the population will no longer believe anything they read or hear from the "mainstream media.
" But that's another story.
In fact, TARP was a LOAN program - not a true bailout.
The banks got money in exchange for stock in many cases and are expected to pay back the loan.
But what Ryan's plan suggests is in fact a true bailout.
If you are a younger taxpayer, you will be paying to bailout Social Security retirees during market downturns and crashes far into the future.
I urge you to go to the Road Map website at: http://www.
roadmap.
republicans.
budget.
house.
gov/ Read it for yourself.
And to the millions of Tea Party activists and independent minded citizens outraged by federal government bailouts at the expense of taxpayers, where's your outrage on this one??
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