Galveston alternative to Social Security held up as model

[alp227]

In the late 1970s, county employees in Galveston, Tex., made an unusual and risky decision that they thought would help secure their financial future. They took advantage of a federal provision available at the time and opted out of Social Security.

Their decision was born out of a fear that the federal entitlement program, designed to keep elderly and disabled Americans out of poverty, might not be around in the future. After careful study, the county employees chose an alternative that allowed them to open personal savings accounts.

(...)

In Monday’s Republican debate in Tampa, businessman Herman Cain said that retirees in Galveston are “making at least 50 percent more than they would ever get out of Social Security,” a statement that the fact-checking site PolitiFact rated as only partly true.

For the highest-earning workers in the Gulf Coast county, the personal accounts have yielded nearly double what they might have collected under Social Security. But according to independent studies, the results have been less favorable to those on the lower end of the income spectrum.

In 1999, the Social Security Administration and the General Accounting Office (now the Government Accountability Office) separately examined the program adopted by Galveston and surrounding counties and found that its benefits depended on income and longevity: The lower one’s income and the longer one lived after retirement, the less advantage there was to participating in the program compared with Social Security. Also, Social Security payments increased with inflation, while payments under the Galveston plan did not.

full: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/galveston-alternative-to-social-security-held-up-as-model/2011/09/13/gIQArikIQK_story.html

[rurallib]

1. “For most people, it’s somewhere between ‘very bad’ and ‘not very good.’ ”

Why am I not surprised?
I do not see if there are comparable investments anyplace.

Put you money in the casino - some win, most lose.

[liberal N proud]

2. Facts will not stop the GOP lies.

They will repeat it enough that some of the people will believe it.

[Demeter]

3. Because the Weak of Mind Would Rather Believe a Thrilling Lie than an Ugly Truth

[xchrom]

5. +1

[SheilaT]

4. Every time I look at my social security

statements, and look at how very little I actually put in to the system, and how much I will eventually be receiving when I start collecting, probably at age 70 (since I need to work that long), I know without a doubt that had the money been invested elsewhere, my future would be far less secure.

[txlibdem]

6. Entitlement program??? --UNREC--