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Privatizing
Social Security Overview
A
Financial crisis is coming which will rival any our nation has
seen in its history.
Seventy-nine
million baby boomers, fully one-third of our population, are
on an unstoppable march towards retirement, a retirement that
remains grossly under funded.
Here
is America's challenge: will we pull our act together in this
arena or let our retirees fall back to the bare existence of
pre-World War II retirees in this country or the present aged
populations of less wealthy nations?
America
capitalized on a unique set of circumstances to become the
economic powerhouse it is today. The United States emerged
from World War II as virtually the only industrialized nation
that was unscarred by the conflict. American GIs came
home to an industrial powerhouse capable of producing the
products greatly needed by the rest of the world to rebuild.
Thus began an era of economic growth and prosperity which set
the stage for the relative prosperity of today's retirees.
On
an individual basis, families contributed to and prospered as
a result of this post World War boom.
Not only did they prosper financially, but they birthed
the baby boomer generation, a move which anchored their Social
Security under the present generational transfer of benefits.
This
volume is not written for them: their retirement is secure.
Theirs is the generation which saw unprecedented gains
in the value of their real property; the fruits of the union
movement through wage growth and defined benefit plans; and an
unfettered opportunity to pursue the American Dream.
This
book is written for their children, who have become champion
consumers but a failure as savers.
More specifically, it is directed towards baby boomers
who have been bitten by the entrepreneurial bug, the
self-employed. It
is this group that faces not only the psychological barrier to
saving, but an unprecedented tax burden that leaves them
little left for retirement savings.
Today's
baby boomers have not populated our nation with sufficient
numbers of children to fund their retirement under today's
Social Security system. This
will cause inevitable cutbacks in Social Security in 20 to 30
years, if not sooner. In
a world of pensions weakening and becoming more
worker-controlled and funded, an ominous cloud can be seen
forming on the horizon.
For
those who begin to build a retirement nest egg now, safety and
prosperity is still achievable. Unfortunately, the majority of today's middle-aged have not
yet taken the situation seriously.
This volume is being written to sound the alarm,
suggest comprehensive and innovative solutions, and lay out
the blueprint for a secure retirement.
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