New Social Security Privatization Proposal Doesn't Solve a Thing

What kind of intellectual vacuum do you need to live in to make this case? Here it is.

1. Social security will go bankrupt when the social security trust fund is depleted.
2. The trust fund is really just a pile of IOUs anyway.
3. To save social security we need to privatize it and let folks invest their social security payments in the stock market.
4. Privatizing social security costs a lot of money.
5. The solution is to fund privatization by using the social security trust fund surplus - the money represented by those IOUs.

Did you follow that? We need reform because the trust fund isn't solvent and it's not real money anyway so let's use the money represented by the  trust fund to pay to privatize social security. And the privatization would end when the surplus ended, providing a very short window for the program (although we all know how much the Republicans like passing laws that expire as a strategy for permanent laws - they just extend the expiration date again and again).

And note, this plan does nothing to address the actual solvency issue - it just redirects the spending of surplus dollars from other programs. The "solution" doesn't solve anything except the impasse over how to fund privatization. Of course, we'd see huge cuts in other programs that are currently funded with the surplus, but hey, who cares? It's not like the money is going towards essential programs like health care for the poor or anything.... except it is.

This proposal has all the hallmarks of a political maneuver designed not to solve any real problems, but to support an ideological position (privatization) and to undermine the opposition (Dems opposed to privacy and Pubs concerned about the deficit).

We'll being hearing grand announcements about the willingness of Pubs to compromise and great condemnations about the Democrats unwillingness to propose solutions. But the bottom line here is that the Pubs aren't compromising - they're still chasing privatization without addressing solvency. And the Dems aren't oppositional simply because they won't propose a program that supports the conservative ideological demand to privatize social security.

If the Republicans are serious in their claims that social security faces insolvency or bankruptcy, that there's a crisis,  they'll propose a solution to that problem instead of ignoring while they chase their ideological dream of privatization.

Comments

[carla]

It's a great big deluxe circle jerk, isn't it?

[Matthew C. Aycock]

Being a strong Republican, you would think I support Bush's plan. In reality, I feel it is a better system, but it still sucks.

My bigger issue with anyone that challenges the system and talks about how it won't work is that they are completely incapable of drafting a system that WILL.

Social Security is one of those things that we never should have started...at least not in the way that we did. It has made people lazy and irresponsible. It will inevitably bankrupt. It is about as bad of a return on investment as you can find.

Being that this is the problem that we are facing, I welcome any solution that doesn't include ignoring the fact that our Social Security system is a horribly designed money pit.

The privatization under Bush's plan is primarily elective. I don't like that. I feel that it should be mandatory that you utilize the system.

Alternatively, it should be completely eliminated. There is no need for a system to exist that is this poor that so many people depend on. It makes more sense to allow the money to be poured into our economy now, than to hide it in a shoe box in the backyard. If people cannot make certain that they have funds to survive at retirement, they should be able to get welfare benefits under other programs.

I do welcome any discussions on SOLUTIONS that you guys may have, as this is definitely something not of my expertise. It also doesn't directly have an effect on me or any of my family, although it will inevitably affect me indirectly.

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