(On Meet the Press this morning, the Hermanator said that liberals want to destroy America. Clearly, Paul Goldman must be one of those people, as he opposes the great Cain Chilean Model Plan, the upside-down mark of the devil or whatever it is. (snark) – promoted by lowkell)
Hopefully Lowell knows how to copyright this piece because I want all the “smart” people in Washington and the 24/7 Commentariat to have to have to acknowledge Blue Virginia when they get finally learn how to analyze something like Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 gizmo. All the analysis so far misses the basic building block of the GOP front-runner’s – he leads in the polls – “new” idea: it is based on Rick Perry’s old idea that we dismantle the Social Security system as we know it (but even Perry didn’t want to eliminate Medicare). Cain completely eliminates Social Security. Otherwise, his 9-9-9 plan suffers a fatal flaw, or should I say another fatal flaw in terms of his tax-cutting claims.
Fact: Tim Kaine and every Democrat running for office should ask their GOP opponent whether they support the GOP front-runners’ “Chilean Model” to destroy Social Security and Medicare and why they despise America so much, they want to turn us into Chile! Let’s see if the GOP will defend Cain or not; either way, it will give them a lot of trouble right now, given the guy’s popularity in the party’s base.
That’s right: The only reason the GOP front-runner can remotely make some of his tax claims is because the 9-9-9 thing eliminates the Payroll Tax, which for many people is onerous right now. They don’t see it as an investment, but as a cost. So he eliminates it, thus getting rid of the tax.
BUT: If there is no payroll tax, then there is NO SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM.
Knowing this, Mr. Cain is cleverly saying not to worry, he will offer all workers what he calls “the Chilean plan” after what was done in that small country – 1/16th our size – roughly two generations ago or so.
What Cain doesn’t tell you is this: it proved to be such a hoax on working families in Chile, it had to radically restructured so as not to benefit Wall Street fund managers so much at the expense of the working class investors!
In addition, the Cain Chilean “plan” doesn’t require any employer contribution as in our Social Security system. Instead, it requires working families to contribute the full 10% of each year’s mandatory contribution, which is 50% higher than under Social Security.
But Mr. Cain says: By allowing workers to put their money into private accounts they control, they will do better. Really? Then why is the average pension paid in the Chilean system 70% LESS than under Social Security, a mere $360 or so a month.
But, Cain says: Chile workers make less per capita and expect less in old age. Then why does he want us to emulate Chile? Yes, Chilean workers make less on average, but they also have far lower annual expenses than we do. Cain conveniently forgets to mention that.
When you get down to an apples to apples comparison, you know why the people of Chile demanded it be changed: because they were far worse off than they had been promised by the Herman Cains of Chile.
Plus, as best I can tell, in Chile, there has been real difficulty in terms of those who get disabilities, which can be any elderly person at any time for no fault of their own! The evidence is that Chile’s workers have had trouble making their annual contributions of 10%. Why does Cain think that Americans will have an easier time doing so right now, in the midst of a lousy economy?
By the way, has anyone ever asked whether Mr. Cain instituted the Chilean model, which he thinks is so great, for his workers at Godfather Pizza, and if not, why not? And if Cain did institute this plan, what is the average monthly check his workers are receiving?
The question is, why do Herman Cain and his tea party people despise America so much that they think we should be like Chile?
Chile’s model didn’t work for Chile, which is why they had to scrap and restructure it a few years ago. Sure, they now say it can work, although they are careful not to make the same grandiose claims. But ,since it failed the first time for working families: can we afford to wait another 30 years to see if it works any better?
But back to the basic point: Unless Mr. Cain dismantles Social Security, his 9-9-9 is an even bigger hoax than it is otherwise.
Look, obviously we need to simplify the tax code, reduce the cost of human and money capital, and make the adjustments needed – they are modest – to keep Social Security working as well for the next 75 years as it has since FDR and Republicans helped created it many years ago. But 9-9-9 is based on eliminating the payroll tax, and Social Security along with it; otherwise, Mr. Cain can’t make his claims.
And what about Medicare, isn’t that also eliminated under the Cain plan since it too relies on a payroll tax? Well, yes it is, although Cain he refuses to address that one. That’s a subject for another article here on Blue Virginia.
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