FactCheck: False attacks over “windfalls” to Wall Street

New information turned up by FactCheck.org shows that the type of private Social Security accounts being proposed by President Bush would yield very little profit to the securities industry, contrary to persistent claims of a potentially huge "windfall" to Wall Street.

What we have discovered is that the model for Bush's accounts -- the Federal Thrift Savings Plan for federal workers -- actually paid securities firms a net total of only 16 cents for every $10,000 in workers accounts. The TSP had refused to make that information public -- until now. It shows that fees actually being paid to Wall Street are hundreds of times smaller than some critics had assumed.

For that reason and others we find that ads run in Louisiana by the liberal Democratic group Campaign for America's Future are grossly misleading. The group is accusing Republican Rep. James McCrery, who is chairman of the Social Security subcommittee and a supporter of Bush's private accounts, of "corruption" for accepting campaign donations from Wall Street, which it falsely claims will "profit most" from private accounts.

Read the full analysis. The “Wall Street fat cats” angle has always been cynical demagoguery aimed to denigrate personal accounts. What does it matter if financial firms take a small fee as long as they return a profit far and above the paltry payback Americans receive with Social Security? I’ll take my chances with Wall Street, along with the millions of workers who put their faith into 401(k)s.