[RKC]

SS Private? Surely you're joking.....

Here's what would happen:

The Republicans would take part of it private - so far so good - though it is so far underfunded that this would save us no money.

Then, at some point, the economy would falter as it always does, and, just as the Democrats did in the 1930's and the Republicans are doing now, the government would bail out those who invested foolishly.

Those of us who were responsible? Our taxes would go up (or our kids') and we'd get to pay TWICE for the same benefits that SS promises now.

LOL - all we need is someone with balls enough to raise the retirement age a bit, tie it to a better index for inflation, and the problem is solved. We've known this for 15 years, but neither party has done anything. They are as short-sighted as most of our consumers and most of the players on Wall St.

Like it or not, this is what America is - boom and bust - no history (which is sometimes good - no ancient antipathies like the Middle East - but a pretty much guaranteed helter-skelter future).

Make peace with your nation and it's temperament. We couldn't have creativity and advancement without the ability to thumb our nose at the status quo (Old Europe, much of Asia), and we couldn't live securely with our rights and property if there was no safety net at all (Zimbabwe or almost any country in Central Africa).

Make peace with it, save well, and act like Warren Buffet - this craziness is (or soon will be) a buying opportunity.