The Republi-CON I'd Be a Millionaire If It Wasn't For Social Security Myth

UPDATE V: A repost after a rebroadcast of the original show.


UPDATE IV: "Attacking Social Security is cruel and unnecessary, and it has to stop." Read The New York Times, Raising False Alarm.


UPDATE III: "You can save all your life, but those last years before you retire will determine the result." Read The New York Times, With Retirement Savings, It’s a Sprint to the Finish.


UPDATE II: For "[a]nnualized returns for the S.& P. 500., for nearly 4,000 periods," see The New York Times, In Investing, It’s When You Start and When You Finish.


UPDATE: Still think private retirement accounts are the panacea? Read Time, Why It's Time to Retire the 401(k).

Yesterday our great Master Bates spend two hour perpetuating The Republi-CON "I'd Be a Millionaire If It Wasn't For Social Security" Myth. I tried to call in to challenge him on several points, but he wouldn't take my call. No surprise, because he doesn't want to acknowledge the following:

• Social Security is insurance, not an investment,
• We don't live in Lake Wobegon, where everyone saves for retirement and make some fabulous (and fictional) rate of return,
• If everyone was a millionaire, then millionaires wouldn't be rich, and
• Before social security, the poverty rates among senior citizens exceeded 50%.

But if you want to touch the flame . . .