Social Security privatization — still on the table

June 28, 2006

Earlier this month, House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee Chairman Jim McCrery (R-La.) raised a few eyebrows when he told a conference of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that he’d like to see lawmakers take up [tag]Social Security[/tag] [tag]privatization[/tag] again next year. Apparently, he’s not the only one — Bush wants another round, too. From a presidential speech in DC yesterday:

“Now is the time for the [tag]Congress[/tag] and the [tag]President[/tag] to work together to reform Medicare and [tag]reform[/tag] Social Security so we can leave behind a solvent balance sheet for our next generation of Americans. If we can’t get it done this year, I’m going to try next year. And if we can’t get it done next year, I’m going to try the year after that, because it is the right thing to do.”

I’m delighted he thinks so. I was afraid Republicans had learned a valuable lesson when privatization became an embarrassing debacle for the GOP machine. What’s worse, I was concerned that voters would have long forgotten about the fiasco by the time the November elections come around. But lo and behold, Republicans are not only helping remind the public about their privatization scheme, they’re also intent on losing the same fight all over again.

Even WH chief-of-staff Josh Bolten has “stressed his interest” in paving the way for a renewed push on Social Security.

Do Republicans not realize that Dems are anxious — almost desperate — to use this issue in the midterms? Do they not realize that shifting public focus back on to one of the bigger policy debacles in recent memory is more than Dems could have hoped for?

I don’t mean to look a gift horse in the mouth, but I didn’t think Dems could be this lucky.

I wouldn’t even mention privatization.

I’d just write the Ads to say: “In 2007, President Bush is going to once again try to reform your critical programs of Social Security and Medicare.

Don’t you want a Democratic Congress to work with him?”

  • Nothing keeps these guys from their relentless task of transfering wealth to the already wealthy. Let’s give that windfall to Wall Street! That’s their reason for being. And, you know, if poor old people don’t have anything to live on, well, they just oughta die and decrease the surplus population. Extra bonus: if this measure keeps failing, Bush-lovin’ historians can use this lack of “reform” as the reason the country’s economy went into the ditch. Couldn’t be the cutting taxes while spending on wars policy, ya know. But yeah, bring it on. This is where arrogance trumps incompetence and the Dems can reap the benefits.

  • With the way the stock markets and home sales markets have been, I think a great many people are well aware of how much they can stand to lose when their plans go awry. Security is a really nice concept as we all watch what market volatility is doing to our investments.

    The “reform” the Repubs seek is probably a cover-up of their profligate spending of the Social Security surplus.

  • It is too bad that the President isn’t as concerned about passing on the disaster in Iraq to future generations.

  • It really is comical to watch the so-called Conservative mind at work. Since they’ve lost all touch with reality, none of the facts in this (or any other) case can penetrate their sloganeering fog sufficiently to show them that they’re shooting themseves in the foot.

  • This gang does one thing much, much better than the Democrats: Winning.

    They are masters of political calculus. The Democrats are pathetic, and getting worse. They never stand up. They simply triangulate themselves into oblivion.

    You can bet that Rove’s thinking on this is far ahead of ours. We think about policy, about the general welfare of the people, nonsense like that. They think about politics and winning.

    So I feel uneasy about this. They know what they’re doing, and you can bet the Democrats don’t – they don’t know what the Republicans are doing and they don’t know what they themselves are doing.

    Trojan horse, not a gift horse.

  • Ed Stephan, are you sure you didn’t mean “the conservative so-called mind”?

    Hark, Rove isn’t infallible. The Republicans didn’t win on this issue last time. It was a disaster for them. I’m nervous too, but Republicans make mistakes all the time. Bush’s current approval ratings aren’t an intended result of some Rovian master plan.

  • I am not for privatization, but the dems better come up with some better reasons to oppose it than the half truths they used last time. I’d like to see the dems use the real date when the program is going to start encountering problems — more like 2015 than the 2040 they cited last time around. This is when the program will have to start tapping into the trust fund. And guess who will be taxed to repay what was so convenienty “borrowed” by both parties? They may have called Bush on his statements that the IOU’s represent nothing tangible, but the way both parties act this is exactly the truth. When the dems have enough huevos to propose taxing the wealthy to refund the IOUs then they will get more respect from me. My god damned double taxation (self employment tax) on social security is paying for the tax cuts on the wealthy (and for the war in Iraq)! Do the dems even realize that we are pissed about this bullshit? They sure as hell don’t act like it!

  • The line here is:

    “Bush wants to end Social Security as we know it.”

    Essentially Bush want to end social security as we know it today and replace it with a government run 401k type benefit. You go from a defined benefit to defined contribution. From a gauranty to a roll of the dice.

    Don’t most people already have a 401k? Why should we give up a good thing for another 401k plan.

    Bush has already gambled away much. Do you really trust him with this gamble?

  • The Dems have 2 points they must stress.

    First, there is the political angle; they have to bludgeon GWB and the (richie-rich) GOP like Bill Frist et al over their boiler-room approach to the safety net of SS.

    Secondly, they have to point out that GWB’s math just doesn’t work. The numbers look terrible using the fudge that GWB put into his reports. The Dems have to know the numbers up and down, back and forth and all around to smother the spin that the Bushies are putting out.

    Do you know what the Federal TSP program is and how it is used as a basis for their privatization scheme? If not, you should and then see why their analysis and comparison is faulty and bordering on fraudulent. The nerds have to disseminate the key rebuttals to the Dems and then it has to be distilled into the appropriate sharp attack on the dubious Bush claims.

  • Lance, reform shoiuld never be used to describe what Bush and his fellow Republicans want to do to Social Security.

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