No worker may cast a `typical' ballot

What difference will it make to the typical worker whether it's Al Gore or George W. Bush with his hand on the Bible next January?

Psst. Don't answer. It's a trick question.

Who's a typical worker?

Look at just one issue important to workers: Social Security. Now think of all the individual variables: income, lifetime savings, life expectancy, inheritance, length of time in and out of the workplace, health, marital status, disability and so on.

So who's a typical worker?

If the question were easy, you'd find human resource experts trumpeting the candidate with the better plan to make retirement funds available. (Hint: There's no consensus.)

And even if you think candidates' campaign promises come true, you can only go with the guy who seems to best connect with your self- interest.

Back to Social Security. Both candidates say they're against cutting benefits. Great, says the "typical" near-retired worker who has planned his or her retirement around the expectation that the check will be in the mail.

Not so great, says the "typical" younger worker, who may never work anywhere long enough to get vested pension rights. What about a needs test? Why should that Cadillac-driving country club member get money he doesn't need when there may be none left for me?

Except for some on the political fringe, the "typical" worker agrees with both candidates that the Social Security trust fund must be supplemented to handle the retirement tidal wave.

But what's the best supplement for the "typical" worker?

Gore wants to give individual workers refundable tax credits to help create private, voluntary, tax-free savings accounts independent from the Social Security fund. The $2,000 annual accounts would be built partly with individual savings and partly with tax credits, with lower-income workers getting a larger government share.

Bush's plan would give workers a choice to invest part of their Social Security payroll taxes in private, personally controlled retirement accounts. Individuals would make free-market investment decisions for some of the money that now is managed by the government.

Does the "typical" worker want to manage his or her own retirement money?

Financial surveys often indicate that when it comes to savings and investments decisions, many U.S. workers aren't educating themselves and aren't making wise decisions now.

They're spending more and saving less. They're not enrolling in company employee stock ownership programs. They're letting valuable stock options expire unexercised.

So does the "typical" worker understand the Social Security debate and know its individual implications?

Remember, too, the candidates' Social Security platforms cover much more ground than how to supplement the trust fund. And Social Security is just one among many workplace issues.

Will "typical" workers do more than listen to sound bites about which candidate is better for them?

That's a question you can try to answer.

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