Rukeyser ‘town hall meeting’ attracts fans

Wednesday, May 8, 2002 | 11:05 a.m.

Loyal viewers of financial commentator Louis Rukeyser's television shows say they've watched him Friday nights for the last 32 years because they think he has an unparalleled grip on the relationship between world events and financial markets and because he takes a common-sense approach to investing.

So, to no one's surprise, it was the same Rukeyser loyalists who were willing to shell out an extra $50 to attend a one-hour question-and-answer session billed as a "Town Hall meeting" with the 69-year-old host of CNBC's "Louis Rukeyser's Wall Street."

About 50 people attended the wide-ranging session Tuesday that was part of the 14th annual Las Vegas Money Show, sponsored by Sarasota, Fla.-based InterShow. About 10,000 people and dozens of financial advisers are attending the four-day investment conference that ends today at Paris Las Vegas and Bally's hotel-casino.

Rukeyser answered questions about investments, the economy, world events, market movement, Social Security and his controversial move from public television to the cable network in the specially ticketed event. Proceeds from ticket sales are going to a Sarasota charity, organizers of the show said.

Rukeyser takes the same upbeat and witty perspective in person as he does for millions of television viewers each week.

"He's got a great historical perspective," said Jim Cunningham of Cedar Grove, N.J., who attended the event.

"And he speaks with intelligent optimism to combat the pessimism you see with so many analysts," added Lewis Goodman of East Northport, N.Y.

Goodman and Cunningham say they're Rukeyser fans because he has the ability to generate debate about important financial issues.

Tuesday night was no different. Rukeyser gave his views about how the federal government could successfully phase out Social Security. Goodman's wife, Judith, said she fears any attempts to privatize Social Security while Thaddeus Zylka, of Colorado Springs, Colo., said he'd like to make his own decisions on how to invest for retirement and would welcome the opportunity to stop paying into "a collapsed system."

Rukeyser said the American Social Security system was modeled after a German system that banked on life expectancy being less than the age of retirement.

"When the American Social Security system began, the average U.S. worker was dead by age 65, but that changed," Rukeyser said. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad it did. I much prefer that to the alternative."

He said when Americans began living longer and lawmakers "began hanging Christmas ornaments" on the program, Social Security began to collapse. In order to maintain the system, payroll taxes must be raised, which he said could lead to an ugly "age war" pitting different generations of Americans against each other.

Rukeyser's solution: don't reduce payments, don't change any of the rules for paying into the system -- but allow anyone the opportunity to opt out of the system and liberalize individual retirement account rules to allow people to set aside more for retirement than what currently is allowed by rules governing IRAs.

"Young people would take that opportunity in a heartbeat," Rukeyser said, because individuals would be able to save more money than they could get through Social Security.

The tax rate eventually would fall, he said, there would be more private investing and allowing people the chance to make their own choice "is the American way."

Rukeyser said his Social Security solution has been floated for years, but never embraced by politicians who fear the political backlash would prevent them from being re-elected. He said he was surprised the plan has support from the American Association of Retired Persons after a colleague suggested the group would give him "the geriatric equivalent of tarring and feathering" when he discussed it with them.

Other Rukeyser observations: