Ah, those pesky annuities

One of the things lost in the recent privatization discussions is the annuity the President would like you to buy with "your" money once you retire. Once you purchase, it, however, that is money you no are able to pass down. And if you don't make enough in your private account to meet the cost of living, that means the inheritability factor is gone. That money stays with the insurance company and is called "profit." So it doesn't really sound like "your" money anymore, does it?

Meanwhile, the Timberjay News presents another problem:

...[T]he promise of an annuity is only as good as the insurance company making it. Most insurance companies do fine, but as we've all seen in recent years, even big, well-established companies can have problems. If the insurance company that issues your annuity were to be hit with large losses due to disasters or investments that went sour, they may not be able to make good on the promises they made to annuity purchasers.

The government could guarantee these annuities, but that puts the issue right back onto the laps of taxpayers, which sort of defeats the purpose of privatizing Social Security. The bottom line is that while most insurance companies are safe, none is ever going to be as safe as the U. S. Treasury, because the government has the power to tax.