Social Security Misdirection Misses Real Crisis
*** BREAKING NEWS: February 7, 2005 ***
Newsweek 2/14/05 on newstands today officially proclaims:
“THE NEW GAME” is here with their cover story:
The New Game of Retirement!
Newsweek focuses on the Social Security debate.
They say it’s, The New Game of Retirement.
I thank them for The NEW Game validation, but this
debate is misdirection that misses the real crisis.
Social Security is the old game.
We need to be talking about The REAL New Game.
There are three issues that loom much larger, more
ominous and far more urgent, any one of which can
alter the game of retirement forever.
There’s a new game of retirement, but Social Security isn’t it.
Based on estimates of how much of Social Security would
be “privatized” for your investing pleasure, this debate is
over a small slice of the retirement pie that would amount
to a few hundred dollars a month 20 to 30 years from now.
This is not likely to make much of a difference in quality
of life for most people.
Even a hefty return on your privatized investment would
add little to your retirement income. Many experts say
these changes would reduce benefits for the very people
they are supposed to help most.
This red herring turns our attention away from the real
crises the government and media are unwilling to discuss.
Selling a NEW Social Security fix is misdirection, a sleight
of hand designed to take our eyes off the big challenges
ahead.
Can you say debt?
We are the biggest debtor nation in history.
We mortgage our future for present consumption.
Consumer debt represents 90% of personal income,
the highest level in 50 years. Government debt is
so far off the charts, nobody is courageous enough
to tell the real truth about it or talk about the real
sacrifices and hard choices needed to correct it.
Can you say pensions?
You better say it now, because soon they will be
remnants of a bygone era.
According to Wilshire Associates, 79% of public
pension plans are under-funded. Accounts of the
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC), the federal
government-sponsored insurer of most pensions,
went from a surplus of $7.7 billion in 2002 to a deficit
of $5.4 billion in 2003. It is not likely to turn the surplus
corner again anytime soon.
Things can get worse. Why?
Can you say profits?
Corporate profits are being eaten up by compensation
and consumption. Fired CEOs get tens of millions.
Corporate raiders leverage assets to buy companies
then “borrow” worker pension money to fund their
high stakes game. Many over priced stocks have
no correlation to the real value of a company.
Chapter 10 of my book, The NEW Game of Business is
“Generate New Money: Profit is EVERYBODY’S Business!”
** You can download a digital copy at our home page here: TypePad **
I quote Porter Stansbury:
“The best businesses of an entire generation
aren’t producing long-term wealth. Instead,
they’re merely producing compensation and
consumption.
“Without a revolution in the boardroom,
the baby boomers will never retire. There
simply aren’t any profits where there should
be in the companies created by this generation
in the 1980s and 1990s.
“The baby boomers are heading into retirement
with no savings and no productive companies
to support them in old age. Generation debt is
a ticking time bomb with about ten years left
on the clock.”
We face a mountain of debt, under-funded pensions,
and a serious shortage of profitable companies. Add
to these obscene jumps in health care costs and the
trillion dollar impact of making tax breaks permanent,
and there is little surprise why the government and
media won’t talk about the real crises.
It is crystal clear that we need to…
CHANGE THE GAME!
It’s time to play a…
New Game of Business.™
NEW Game of Money.™
NEW Game of Life.™
Newsweek calls it, The New Game of Retirement.
But the Social Security focus misses the real story.
Debt, pensions, and profits are the real third rails
of politics. Nobody wants to go near them.
To win the game, we need to know the truth.
Those who know are afraid to tell the truth.
Our politicians and media talk a new game, but they
play the old game of misdirection and disinformation.
They do not identify the new challenges.
They do not explain the new rules.
They do not offer new solutions.
They do not use new, “No-Box” thinking.
They do not design a new game plan.
They do not have a new play book.
They do not show us any new plays.
You can play the game yourself.
You cannot win the game yourself.
Playing the game is your response-ability.
Winning the game is a team effort.
We are not playing a zero sum game.
There is plenty for everyone.
The name of the game is to create more pie.
If you want to be rich in money,
create opportunity for others to make money.
If you want to be rich in service,
seize every opportunity to serve.
If you want to be rich in love,
never miss an opportunity to love.
If you want to be rich in friends,
take every opportunity to be a friend.
You’re a player.
Step on the field.
Enjoy the game.
Mitch Axelrod
Mitch Axelrod is the creator of “The NEW Game” ™
CEO (Chief Encouragement Officer ™), The New Game of Retirement
P.S. In the spirit of NEW, I invite you to join us for a provocative
“No-Box” series of tele-seminars. We’ll announce these calls here
on the Blog, on our home page and in our NEW Game News letter.
Return here in often so you’ll know when these teleseminar.
We will speak the truth and set the record straight on…
The NEW Game of Retirement!
The NEW Game of Business
The NEW Game of Marketing, Selling, and Service…
The NEW Game of Coaching, Consulting, Speaking, Training…
The NEW Game of Money…
The NEW Game of Network Marketing…
The NEW Game of Spirituality…
The NEW Game of Personal Development…
Return here often for dates and times.
