Virginia Democrats are pressing Governor McDonnell to clarify his stance on Social Security … a day before Texas Governor and Presidential candidate Rick Perry is scheduled to attend a Richmond event with the Governor. Perry has claimed that the current Social Security system is flawed and is a “Ponzi” scheme that must rely on new donors to pay out benefits to previous contributors.
Leading the charge is former DNC Chair Tim Kaine, who is also running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Senator Jim Webb. Kaine spoke to a group of elderly residents in the Richmond neighborhood where he resides …and called one Republican proposal to privatize Social Security a scare tactic. Kaine said the current system has worked just fine and will continue to do so.
“The way the program works is you contribute that six-point-four percent and the employer contributes the same out of the paycheck, that goes into the trust fund, and the trust fund is then used to pay the retirements of the retirees at the time, and then by doing that, there’s an expectation that, hey, when I’m a retiree, people will be doing the same for me,” he said.
Kaine says Social Security is often the only source of income for the elderly, and to privatize it would mean possibly risking their money in the stock market. Democratic leaders in Virginia have asked Governor McDonnell in a letter to explain whether his luncheon with Perry Wednesday is an endorsement of Perry’s controversial plan to change the current system.
–Tommie McNeil
Virginia Public Radio 