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<h3><b><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>Rick
Perry Proposes Letting States Opt Out of Social Security <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h3>
<p class=articledate><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Saturday 06 November 2010<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=jgasm><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><a
href="http://thinkprogress.org/2010/11/06/perry-channels-miller/"
target="_blank">by: Ian Millhiser | <b><span
style='font-weight:bold'>ThinkProgress | Report</span></b></a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=alignright><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><br>
Appearing on CNN’s Parker/Spitzer this past week,<a
href="http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/15/perry-texas-secession/"
target="_blank"> occasionally secessionist</a> Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R)
proposed <a
href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/texas-gov-states-opt-social-security/"
target="_blank">allowing states to opt-out of Social Security:</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=rteleft><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>“Here’s what I think would be a very wise thing,” he
began. “In 1981, Matagorda, Brazoria, and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Galveston</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Counties</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>
all opted out of the Social Security program for their employees. Today, their
program is very, very well-funded and there is no question about whether
it’s going to be funded in the out years. It’s there. That’s
an option out there.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=rteleft><strong><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>“So, you want to let people opt out?”
responded Spitzer.</span></font></b></strong><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=rteleft><strong><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>“I think, let the states decide if that’s
what’s best for their cities,”</span></font></b></strong> Perry
replied.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=rteleft><strong><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>“So the states will let people opt out of Social
Security?”</span></font></b></strong> Spitzer asked<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=rteleft><strong><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>“They should,” </span></font></b></strong>the
recently reelected <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Texas</st1:place></st1:State>
governor said.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=rteleft><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Perry should learn a little history before he raises up the 1981
experiment as a model for Social Security reform. In that experiment, three <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Texas</st1:place></st1:State> counties
“decided to opt out of Social Security and instead to provide their
public employees with a system of privatized accounts.” But this system
left participants <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/index.php?p=728"
target="_blank">worse off</a> than they would have been under Social Security.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=rteleft><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Moreover, Perry’s proposal closely resembles Alaska GOP Senate
candidate Joe <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/2010/10/04/miller-minimum-wage/"
target="_blank">“A Noun, a Verb and Unconstitutional”</a>
Miller’s <a
href="http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2010/08/31/miller-tenther/"
target="_blank">economically impossible</a> plan for a state takeover of Social
Security and Medicare. A workable plan to allow states to opt out of Social
Security would require draconian provisions, such as a mandate that everyone
must retire in the same state that they worked and paid taxes in. Otherwise,
workers who are too young to receive Social Security benefits would move to an
opt-out state to avoid paying Social Security taxes — and then promptly
move to a state with Social Security benefits the moment they became eligible.
Eventually, the entire system would collapse under the weight of too many
Social Security beneficiaries who had not paid into the system.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=rteleft><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>And this isn’t even the first time this week that Perry released
a completely unworkable idea whose only virtue is that it will poll well with
the Tea Party. Earlier this week, Perry released excerpts from his forthcoming
book that <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/2010/11/02/perry-sixteenther/"
target="_blank">attack the Constitution </a>for allowing a national income tax
and for requiring senators to be chosen through a radical process known as an
“election.” <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><em><i><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>All
republished content that appears on Truthout has been obtained by permission or
license.</span></font></i></em> <o:p></o:p></p>
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