The Usual Suspects

SANTIAGO , Chile - Nearly 25 years ago, Chile embarked on a sweeping experiment that has since been emulated, in one way or another, in a score of other countries. Rather than finance pensions through a system to which workers, employers and the government all contributed, millions of people began to pay 10 percent of their salaries to private investment accounts that they controlled.

Under the Chilean program - which President Bush has cited as a model for his plans to overhaul Social Security - the promise was that such investments, by helping to spur economic growth and generating higher returns, would deliver monthly pension benefits larger than what the traditional system could offer.

But now that the first generation of workers to depend on the new system is beginning to retire, Chileans are finding that it is falling far short of what was originally advertised under the authoritarian government of Gen. Augusto Pinochet…

Even many middle-class workers who contributed regularly are finding that their private accounts - burdened with hidden fees that may have soaked up as much as a third of their original investment - are failing to deliver as much in benefits as they would have received if they had stayed in the old system…

Over all, Chile has spent more than $66 billion on benefits since privatization was introduced. Despite initial projections that the system would be self-sustaining by now, spending on pensions makes up more than a quarter of the national budget, nearly as much as the spending on education and health combined.

So, it’s pretty sucky. Like England’s privatization, as well. It blows. Everybody knows that. This is no news at all.

But--ready for the money shot? It’s classic!

[Katherine] Harris hasn't fully endorsed Bush's concept, saying she wants to see more details. Harris says she's already begun researching the issue, though. She has traveled to Chile, where the state-run social security system turned to private investing in 1981.

"It's really worked well there," the Longboat Key Republican said.

Yeah, that Katherine Harris.

Comments

[Scott]

Yes, that Katherine Harris sure has some INTEGRITY. Such a thorough evaluation of Chilean policy could not possibly have been accomplished by just calling the ruling elite on the phone to ask if the situation turned out alright for them. So, she selflessly gave her time and energy (though probably not any of her own money, that would just be silly), to actually GO to Chile to be wined and dined by the rich. And yeah, sure enough, she was able to find many people who will confirm that its a really good policy. Guess what else? She didn't find one single person that thought it was a bad plan. Not one at all. Of course, she might've just not looked very hard. Or at all.

Katherine Harris - woman of integrity. A true Republican.

[Donna]

Katherine Harris is salt on the wound.

[Ellen]

In this state, Katherine Harris IS the wound!

[=AnnA=]

Does. Not. Compute.