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View Article  SENATOR TOM HARKIN ON THE SENATE CONFIRMATION OF CONDOLEEZZA RICE TO SECRETARY OF STATE
 SENATOR TOM HARKIN ON THE SENATE CONFIRMATION OF  CONDOLEEZZA RICE TO SECRETARY OF STATE


WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 26, 2005

“After much consideration of Dr. Condoleezza Rice’s nomination to be Secretary of State, I am unable to support her nomination.

I am very concerned about Dr. Rice’s role as the marketer of the inflated evidence leading up to what was called a pre-emptive war in Iraq. The Administration gave the impression to the American people that Iraq posed an imminent threat to the US and the world, often based on worst case scenarios and poor intelligence, which later proved to be untrue.

I have experienced first hand in my travels the loss of U.S. credibility worldwide which alienated many of our democratic friends and allies. Dr. Rice’s elevation to Secretary of State will send the wrong signal regarding our future diplomacy efforts and American interests.”

(Source)


View Article  Chile's Social Security Phase-Out Experience
 Chile's Social Security Phase-Out Experience


In the "talking points" that the GOP puts out about Social Security, one of the big examples they cite is the "success" that Chile has experience in privatizing their Social Security system.

Today, the New York Times takes a look at this so-called success.



 "What we have is a system that is good for Chile but bad for most Chileans," said a government official who specializes in pension issues and who spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing retaliation from corporate interests. "If people really had freedom of choice, 90 percent of them would opt to go back to the old system."

...

For those remaining in the government's original pay-as-you-go system, the maximum retirement benefit is now about $1,250 a month. The National Center for Alternative Development Studies, a research institute here, calculates that to get that same amount from a private pension fund, workers would have to contribute more than $250,000 over their careers, a target that has been reached by fewer than 500 of the private system's 7 million past and present contributors.


 This leaves many Chileans in a situation that has led to the coining of a phrase: "pension damage." There is now even an Association of People With Pension Damage, 157,000 members and growing, that consists of Chileans, mostly former government employees, who find that their pensions, based on contributions to the private system, are significantly less than if they had remained in the old system.

 "They come to us in desperation," said Yasmir Fariña, the group's president, "because those who stayed in the government system are often retiring with monthly pensions twice as large as everyone else's."



The article does discuss the investment capital that has resulted in capital investments in the Chilean economy, but overall the system has not benefited the population as a whole.

Something else to consider:  Chile's old system was being systematically looted by the corrupt Pinochet dictatorship - outside of snarky comments, is this administration seriously looking to the Pinochet government for inspiration?

Take a look at other experiences - namely the Thatcher-lead UK privatization schemes - in an earlier post.



UPDATE:   Another phase-out proponent tool, the Cato "Social Security Calculator" is a crock
.
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