Social Security and the "Mess" that We're In.

I've been trying to keep up with the Presidents push to "reform" Social Security. I'm not surprised that this administration would wish to privatize the program and let younger Americans invest some of their benefits into the stock market. Mr. Bush has accepted over the years millions of dollars from mutual fund companies to finance his and his associates campaigns. In fact, of his top ten political contributors (lifetime) half of them are mutual fund companies like Merryl Lynch. He certainly must feel that he owes his financial backers this golden opportunity. The problem I have with this particular idea is that it doesn't really solve anything. For one thing, I am already able to invest funds in the stock market for retirement if I wish. This is through something called a 401k. If I don't have a 401k offered through my employer, I can go to a bank and invest in an IRA. Most people know that they have these options available if they are worried about (and my generation, you should be worried) not having enough money for retirement. The second thing I worry about when I think about this plan is stock market crashes. What if I'm someone who participates in this plan, and I'm 67, freshly retired with a nice little nest egg of.... oh who knows, biomedical stocks? And suddenly the market crashes because who knows why, but we know these things happen! So, do I then have to go beg Wal-Mart for a job as a greeter making minimum wage, which will probably still be six dollars an hour? What I wanted to say when I started writing this, was I've been reading that the President is having a hard time getting support for his plan from within his own party. This makes me glad, I'm glad that congress is questioning the validity of his suggestions on both sides of the line. It gives me back a little faith in our political system....for now.