Have Your Cake, And Eat It Too

Man, pulling this off and whatnot, them guys is good. Bloomberg (03.28.05):

"President George W. Bush, promoting his plan to set up private Social Security accounts, is betting that stock returns will remain strong even as economic growth slows. Economists and equity strategists aren't so sure. Bush is using forecasts from the Social Security Administration that say the economy will expand less than 2 percent a year -- the slowest sustained rate since the 1930s -- after 2020 as population growth eases. At the same time, the agency projects that stocks will return an annual average of 6.5 percent after inflation." Stock-Market Returns May Not Meet Bush's Social Security Hopes

Oooops!! Fly in the ointment: "Thirty-nine of 58 economists and strategists surveyed by Bloomberg News say that if the economy slows that much [only 2% a year], Bush's stock outlook is too optimistic." That's only two-thirds. What the hell? So what happens if the economy grows even close to what the Privateers claim it will? "'A 6.5 percent real equity return is not realistic' at the growth rates being projected, says Thomas McManus, chief investment strategist in New York at Banc of America Securities LLC. 'If it were, we will not have a Social Security problem in 2050 because shareholders will be so wealthy they could easily fund the shortfall.'" So economic growth will only be 2% for my plan, but at the same time, it'll be 6.5% for yours. Is this like a parallel universe thing? Oh and by the way: "A Bloomberg analysis shows a strong correlation between investment returns and economic growth over the last 50 years. Gains and declines in the S&P 500 index preceded corresponding gains in gross domestic product and losses by about a year. The correlation coefficient was 0.92, with 1 being a perfect correlation."