{"id":4976,"date":"2005-08-15T12:26:33","date_gmt":"2005-08-15T16:26:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/63.247.129.141\/~sebenen1\/archives\/4976.html"},"modified":"2005-08-15T12:26:33","modified_gmt":"2005-08-15T16:26:33","slug":"gop-sees-a-privatization-comeback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/gop-sees-a-privatization-comeback\/","title":{"rendered":"GOP sees a privatization comeback"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paul Krugman noted today<\/a> that Bush’s drive privatize Social Security “flopped so badly that the topic has almost disappeared from national discussion.” That’s true, of course, but it’s part of a political problem for Dems. The whole debacle fell apart so quickly, there’s a real fear that voters might forget about it. Thankfully, Republicans are anxious to try the whole thing over again<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers and interest groups are gearing up for a fight this fall over Social Security, each side hoping to use the retirement and disability program’s 70th birthday to build momentum. […]<\/p>\n

The White House says Bush will renew his focus in early September after returning from a month of vacation. While he has succeeded in alerting the public about Social Security’s problems, polls show that most Americans don’t like his solution.<\/p>\n

Republicans still vow to produce legislation, but Democrats confidently predict it’s too unpopular to pass.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Apparently, the White House hasn’t gotten the hint yet. A New York Times editorial<\/a> on Friday noted that Bush met with his top economic advisers at the ranch last week and they focused on “redoubling efforts to privatize Social Security.”<\/p>\n

And what is it, exactly, that leads the Bush gang to think this is a good idea? Apparently, they think passing CAFTA and an energy bill will translate<\/a> into success on Social Security. No, they’re not kidding.
\n<\/p>\n

Basking in a series of legislative victories just before Congress broke for its August recess, Republicans are now claiming momentum for President Bush’s other agenda items, including his plan to overhaul the nation’s Social Security system. <\/p>\n

These sources suggest that July’s successes show that Bush remains a formidable political figure who should not be underestimated for the remainder of the legislative year. <\/p>\n

“I don’t know what the odds of getting a Social Security bill through are, but they are better than they were in June,” said Charlie Black, a Republican lobbyist with close ties to the White House. […]<\/p>\n

With those victories [on trade and transportation] in the bag — and despite continued public wariness over the idea of allowing younger workers to invest a portion of their retirement savings in the stock market — Bush and the Republican majority in the House seem determined to move legislation on Social Security when Congress returns after Labor Day.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Talk about overreach — these guys barely passed a few bills that most Americans had never heard of and now they think they can privatize Social Security?<\/p>\n

I didn’t think Dems could be this lucky.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paul Krugman noted today that Bush’s drive privatize Social Security “flopped so badly that the topic has almost disappeared from national discussion.” That’s true, of course, but it’s part of a political problem for Dems. The whole debacle fell apart so quickly, there’s a real fear that voters might forget about it. Thankfully, Republicans are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4976\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}