Retired Navy SEAL Commander Mike Lumpkin Says Stock Market's Wild Ride Illustrates Dangers of Privatizing Social Security

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Retired Navy SEAL Commander Mike Lumpkin Says Stock Market's Wild Ride Illustrates Dangers of Privatizing Social Security

Last Monday the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 504 points, or 4.42 percent of its entire value. On Tuesday it closed up 142 points. On Wednesday it plunged 449 points, and then rose 410 points on Thursday. The average closed at just over 11,000 on Thursday, down 3,000 points from its high of about 14,000 less than a year ago.

And yet in spite of these wild swings and our mounting financial crisis, Duncan Hunter Junior, who is running for his father's seat in California's 52nd Congressional District, supports diverting Social Security payroll taxes into the volatile stock market, thereby risking the economic security of America's workers and their families. Today more than 48 million Americans receive Social Security benefits, and for one in five of them it is their only income.

Privatizing Social Security would also involve the creation and tracking of many millions of personal accounts, adding enormous administrative costs and requiring new layers of federal bureaucracy.

"Seniors' ability to pay the rent or buy groceries cannot depend on corporate ethics and the financial weather of Wall Street. We must live up to our moral obligations to our seniors and fix the Social Security system in a responsible way. This week is a stark illustration of why privatizing Social Security is a bad idea," says retired Navy SEAL Commander Mike Lumpkin, candidate in California's 52nd Congressional District.

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