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UE/Labor Party On-Line Social Security Workshop

 Hidden
and
Twisted
Assumptions ...


What Are the Hidden and Twisted
Assumptions Behind the
Privatization of Social Security?

Hidden Agenda ...

Assumption #1. Gloom and doom assessment when Wall Street wants us to think that Social Security could go broke... "Assuming that economic growth will only be 1.5% over the next 75 years, and no workers get wage increases, social security benefits will only be fully funded until the year 2034."

Assumption #2. Wildly optimistic predictions when Wall Street wants to get their hands on our Social Security... "The stock and bond market will continue to grow at 10 to 20 percent a year indefinitely."

FACT: Despite the great depression, economic growth has averaged nearly 3.5% over the past 75 years. Even during the past 20 years, when economic growth has been at its most sluggish, it has averaged more than 2.5% each year. When using a forecast based on these figures, the trustees found that Social Security would have no financing problem for the foreseeable future.

Source: 1998 Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the
Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Trust Fund

 

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