Economy

If another government or another bank or another "investor" buys "securities," as has been stated before in this thread as well as others, those voluntary investors are protected. What we've seen recently, however, is representatives for those investors (aka pukes in government and some dems, too) attempting to hijack/steal/whatever you wanta call it, our "investment" in Social Security. We have no say in whether or not we contribute to it, nor do we have any control over its, well, its control.

Not only that, but we don't even own that investment. By that I mean we cannot pass it along to someone else, sell it, trade it, nothing. If we die and have no surviving spouse or dependent children who qualify to receive benefits on our behalf, our investment just stays in the kitty. That's not true of "securities," which exist in and of themselves as something the "investors" purchased. When my husband died, I became eligible to receive benefits based on his earnings, which were higher over our working lifetimes than mine, but MY FICA contributions will go to pay someone else's benefits. I'm not saying this is wrong, because in fact I think that's the way the system should work if it's to be a safety net for the retired, the disabled, the dependent. But it is different from an investment purchased and owned and potentially disposable/redeemable at will and/or at face value.