Bush: Americans Ready to Invest S.S. Funds

WASHINGTON -- President Bush said Wednesday that private investment accounts created from Social Security payroll taxes is an idea whose time has come as more Americans are comfortable with putting their retirement funds in the market, The Associated Press reported.

Bush told the Latino Small Business Economic Conference that ''people from all walks of life'' are investing in 401k retirement accounts offered by their employers.

''I went down to the Nissan plant in Canton, Mississippi, (Tuesday) and it was a very diverse audience, a lot of assembly line workers,'' Bush said. ''And I said, ‘How many of you all have got your own 401k?' I mean, the number of hands that went up was astounding.''

Bush wants to let workers under age 55 divert a portion of their Social Security payroll taxes into private investment accounts. He also announced last week that he wants to allow benefits to rise the most for lower-income retirees, but Democrats and some Republicans oppose the idea.

-- NYSSCPA.org News Staff

Posted on 5/4/05