Hacker News Reader

I'm curious why I've never heard a politician go with the argument that a tax cut today will ruin your social security benefits tomorrow. Why do they not make the argument that a tax increase would be more beneficial for your future?

View on HN

I don't trust the government to do much of anything, and that includes invest money. Their stewardship of the social security trust fund has proven that I'm right (it's essentially full of IOU's). Anybody who believes that giving the government a few thousand dollars is better for their retirement than putting the same cash in a 401k hasn't taken a hard look at the government's performance to date.

TL;DL: I don't think that argument would fly with informed voters.

Maybe because people are terrible at evaluating long-term vs. short-term benefits. Politicians need concrete things to point at to keep getting elected. Saying that "I voted for your life to improve in X years" won't help them that much.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com