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Clark Howard's Tips

December 3, 2007

If you're retired or over 50, you probably have nothing to worry about when it comes to Social Security. But people who are under 35 are more likely to believe in the dodo than Social Security.

The math simply doesn't work out; there are not enough people to pay into the system to make it sustainable. Yet very few politicians are willing to say this to the American public.

Fred Thompson is one who has. Thompson is proposing that Social Security be indexed to prices instead of wages. Right now, Social Security increases in lockstep with the average wage of the average worker. So this raises the question: Is the purpose of Social Security to keep people from starving or to give them a certain level of comfort in retirement?

The truth is that we can only do the former. So why not offer young people mandatory private accounts instead of Social Security? Thompson thinks this should be voluntary. But Clark believes young people will voluntarily choose not to save if given the option. Then they'll still have to lean on the government in their golden years.

Even though Thompson is running a lousy campaign, Clark salutes him for being one of the only candidates with the courage to tell the ugly truth about Social Security.

Consumer advice courtesy of