UPDATE: Commenter Kathy G. notes that Geoghegan proposes an eventual raise to 65% of past income from the current level of 38% to 39% of past income. This is only a 70% increase, not actually doubling it which would mean a 100% increase. I apologize for the error. - Sandra
Earlier Jeff Wegerson did a nice summary of the yes/no questions on the IVI-IPO questionnaire, but there are also several essay questions. One of these is:
What changes, if any, do you support regarding Social Security?
The boldest answer to that question is given by Tom Geoghegan, and in fact it is one of the signature issues of his campaign:
I want to expand Social Security, our public pension system, to replace, not overnight but in stages, the private pension system which has collapsed. Social Security now pays about 38 to 39 percent of your working income. In other developed countries, it averages 65 percent. That's where our fiscal stimulus should be: a commitment to reach this goal, a public pension that ordinary working people can live on.
A preposterous idea?
I decided to take a look at my own W-2 form to see how much I currently put into Social Security versus how much I am spending on private retirement funds. What I found out is that last year I (and my employer) put an almost equal amount into my various pension plans as we did into my Social Security taxes. And those private pension plans are not looking so good right now. The reality is that a big chunk of my life savings is now gone. Ironically, if all that money had been in Social Security it would be still be there. So, just looking at my personal situation, the idea of doubling my Social Security in exchange for getting rid of my private retirement accounts seems like a pretty good deal.
Gheoghegan also has the experience of his lifetime of legal battles against companies trying to deny workers the pensions that they have earned. How many times do we hear news stories about pension funds being looted or underfunded or bankrupt? I am sure he has seen every trick in the book for denying people's pensions; it is no wonder he is advocating for a different system.
Below are the other candidates responses to this question.
So taking the available and machine readable candidate IVI-IPO questionnaires (awaiting corrections from Mike Quigley, n No entry from Jan Donatelli and Charles Wheelan's was not machine readable) where do the candidates differ on the issues. At least as far as the yes/no answers go. Here's a table. Warning: I have not checked these for accuracy. Computers allow me to make many more mistakes much faster. :-(
OK so lets move the table to after the jump!
Update: I just looked at some of the non-answers from Feigenholtz and in them she has extended replies. That is, of course the big drawback from looking only at yes/no.
Below is a series of questions for members of Congress on the proposed Bush administration bailout package of the financial sector.
I request you make suggestions improving the list of questions. I also request that members of the community help get members of Congress and congressional candidates to answer these questions.
Spending $700 billion is a big deal. I hope to use blogs to engage our members of Congress. Insiders got us into this mess. And if John Q. Taxpayer is going to provide the credit card for this project, it would be considerate if members of Congress engaged people besides insiders on this matter.
Having participated in writing a few of these in the past and having answered a few from the campaign side, I have my ideas about what makes a good questionnaire.
1. Prairie State Blue should not ask questions that will be redundant with questions asked by other organizations.
2. The questions should separate good candidates from better candidates.
3. Questionnaires should not be unrealistically long.
Below the fold are a draft set of subjects and questions. Please make suggestions about how to make it better.
Here is a general list of questions for candidates. Any candidate wishing to discuss their candidacy with those of us here on SoapBlox/Chicago might start by creating a diary answering these questions. Readers of SoapBlox/Chicago are encouraged to leave additional questions (or comments on existing questions) in comments. Also please comment regarding the ordering of the questions (as well as their relative importance).
(The questions below are taken from our converstation with John Laesch. Additional questions will be added from comments as I get around to it.)
