Jim, wrote:
Remember that SS is for more than retirement. Should you get hit by a
truck tomorrow, and are unable to work, you get to collect. If the
truck kills you, your wife and kids (assuming you have any) also collect.

A big part of Bush & Cheney's strategy is to create a public perception
of what Social Security is *not*, so they can attack it (sort of like
they did with Kerry).

The Bush-Cheney cheerleaders here will not acknowledge any of this,
since their "knowledge" of Social Security (hey, if you're collecting,
it's not even socialistic!) is based on this spin-meistering (which of
course depends on ignorance).

Besides, this newfangled Social Darwinism (disguised as 'compassionate
conservatism') assumes that any worker stupid enough to be in a low wage
job, thus unable to afford good insurance, and dies young, deserves to
have his family suffer in poverty.

DSK