What is your opinion of an ownership society?
The News Leader - www.newsleader.com - Staunton, Va.
President Bush is a proponent of an “ownership society” where workers put aside their own money in health and retirement savings accounts. What is your opinion of such a system, and how would you ensure minimum wage workers could afford adequate coverage?
George Allen
I support the idea of an ownership society. That is why I supported the creation of the new lower 10% tax bracket to help Virginians keep more of what they earn so they can save, invest or spend on what they choose. I have introduced legislation in the Senate to increase the amount of money an individual can contribute to his or her Health Savings Account each year, which gives families more control over health care choices. I also strongly support retirement and education savings accounts and was able to expand Education Savings Accounts to allow for the purchase of computers and educational software.
Gail ParkerEveryone in America - not just Americans - should have ready access to affordable health care insurance. We can help minimum wage workers plan for retirement by keeping the cost of transportation low, through providing rail transit, and by encouraging a healthy lifestyle and food supply.
We believe the best way to increase the wages of Virginians is to create good paying jobs, such as those that would be created by building Rail, and providing rapid transit, i.e., high-speed rail transit, to widen access to good paying jobs and to higher education and training opportunities.
Jim Webb
I do not support privatizing social security. The social security benefit is one of the most important programs run by our government. Allowing workers to reduce their contributions into Social Security and divert those contributions to private accounts can only hurt the existing Social Security program.
I also oppose health savings accounts. These programs do not benefit the majority of Americans; HSAs are for the healthy and wealthy. I think we should allow all Americans to participate in a pooling system based on the federal Employees Health Benefits Program. This can reduce the cost of health care and ensure greater portability in the coverage people can afford. It is also important to help ensure access to insurance for many of the 46 million uninsured Americans. That is why I think the government should give assistance to people earning up to 300% of the poverty level. These steps would help make it easier for low income Americans to afford health coverage.
I also support raising the minimum wage from its current level of $5.15.
An ownership society is what this country was founded upon, and it is what we need to get back to. Freedom and responsibilty go hand in hand. Without one, you won’t have the other. It is not the governments job to provide either retirement funds or health care funds to the American people, it is their job to provide them for themselves. The minimum wage laws need to be abolished, and the government needs to keep its nose out of a contract between two private parties over what one is going to pay the other.