June 18, 2005
No Private Accounts for Farmers
The AP Headlines reads: Dems: Private Accounts Would Hurt Farmers. Huh? It is not, unfortunately, a joke, it comes from the Ds' weekly radio address:
"Farm families have tight budgets, and most don't have access to employer retirement accounts such as 401(k) plans. In fact, three out of four farmers fund their own retirement. They depend on Social Security when the crop yield is low or the weather is bad," Etheridge, a member of the House Agriculture Committee and a part-time farmer, said in the Democratic Party's weekly radio address.
My first thought was "I'm a political junkie, but at least I don't listen to the "Democratic Party's weekly radio address."
My second thought was "Why is it that Farmers would be unable to manage their own investments?" Followed by "can't we just give them bigger subsidies in the next farm bill?"
There are some serious and principled arguments against private accounts, though they don't dissuade me. This isn't one of them.
Has anybody told Willie Nelson about this?