Trust the private sector for social security retirement investments? That might not be a hard sell during bullish market periods, but recent market downturns have made this an increasingly unpopular idea. Where can John McCain be found on this issue? Both sides, of course.
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John McCain has certainly tried to avoid using the very unpopular "privatize" label to describe his plan, and he emphasizes that only young employees would be eligible to "have an opportunity to take a few of their tax dollars, a few of theirs, and maybe put it into an account with their name on it."
It's clear he's talking about starting to divert some money from the general Social Security fund into privately managed investments.
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Despite the fact that he's clearly had some plan in mind to move some Social Security funds to private investments, he will still deny that there's any sort of privatization in mind.
A quote from McCain makes it quite obvious that he will not acknowledge the obvious private elements of his social security plan: "I do not and will not privatize Social Security."