Joel Belz of World Magazine conducts a semi-annual survey at, where else, Wal-Mart, to get an idea of what average people think about the topic he has on his mind that day. His most recent survey has to do with Social Security and his target demographic was people under twenty-five who were walking out of his local Wal-Mart, that is his local Super Wal-Mart. He interviewed sixty people and had some interesting results:
Two thirds of the respondents thought that they paid 3% of their income in SS taxes. The other third thought it was about 10%. The correct answer is 6.2%, with another 6.2% being contributed by the employer. Most respondents thought their employer contributed around 13%.
Eighty percent of the respondents thought "that the money goes into a government bank where it earns interest until my retirement." Only twenty percent answered correctly that "The money is credited to my account, and then spent on other government needs."
Only 10 out of the 60 realized that if they die before becoming eligible for Social Security Benefits they and their families will receive nothing. Only eight out of the sixty realized that Congress does not participate in Social Security, but that they have their own, more lucrative plan.
These people are voting, but they frequently have no idea about the issues. Well, perhaps if we are lucky they aren't voting.
Read the entire article by clicking on the title above. Yeah, you have to register, but World Magazine is worth it. I pay about $50 bucks a year for the hard copy; you can read it online for free....
---Katie
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