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How A President’s Insatiable Lust For An Intern Killed Social Security Reform
IBD ^ | 02/05/2016

Posted on 02/05/2016 8:24:43 AM PST by SeekAndFind

The U.S. came very close to having private retirement accounts as part of a sweeping Social Security reform. And, no, it wasn't under President George W. Bush, who put forward a workable plan that went nowhere. It was under President Clinton.

That surprising bit of news comes 18 years after the fact in a reminiscence by Cato Institute senior fellow Jose Pinera, who once upon a time served as Chile's secretary of labor and social security, and who designed that country's highly successful pension reforms in 1980. Pinera says that Clinton began thinking in earnest about privatizing part of Social Security back in 1995, after a discussion with former Colorado Gov. Richard Lamm, an ardent advocate for Social Security reform and, like Clinton, a moderate Democrat.

According to Pinera, Clinton saw private accounts as a way to cement his presidential record as a reformer. And the model for doing so that he had in mind was from Chile, where Pinera and a group of reformers created private retirement accounts that helped fuel that nation's decade-long growth boom. It was a rousing success.

Clinton even sent his former chief of staff, Mack McLarty, to Chile in 1996 to see how private personal accounts worked. In a letter to Pinera, he talked about how impressive Chile's program was, calling it "the mother of all reforms," adding: "We can learn a great deal from your country's bold initiative, which is widely envied throughout the hemisphere."

Three years later, in December 1998, Pinera attended a White House conference on Social Security reform. There, he outlined simple elements of the Chilean Model: "Every Chilean worker has a pension passbook -- I always carry one of them. The worker has his money put here in the passbook, and they know every month how much they have."

(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: clinton; monicalewinsky; socialsecurity
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To: MUDDOG
RE: The money goes in a "lockbox."


21 posted on 02/05/2016 8:49:08 AM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Before global warming, Mr. Lockbox.


22 posted on 02/05/2016 9:02:54 AM PST by MUDDOG
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To: Vigilanteman

It was all about priorities. Bush the Younger had two priorities. First, establish a permanent Republican majority with compassionate conservative programs like Medicare Part D, No Child Left Behind, steel tariffs, switchgrass ethanol mandates, and an Ownership Society that would give a NINJA loan to any adult capable of signing a fraudulent mortgage application. Second, establish modern democratic republics in Iraq and Afghanistan.


23 posted on 02/05/2016 9:26:30 AM PST by Skepolitic
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To: SeekAndFind
[H]is subsequent impeachment for perjury and obstruction of justice derailed his plans. Despite being found not guilty,...

What? Not guilty? I would have sworn that WJC was found guilty and subsequently lost his license to practice law in Arkansas.

This looks like one of those wormy little "factoids" with which liberals spice an article so as to cloud history and pervert the current narrative on a "beloved" figure, such as Grandpa Billy.

24 posted on 02/05/2016 9:40:04 AM PST by Thommas (The snout of the camel is in the tent..)
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To: mrsmith

“Blaming it on Monica is just distraction.”

And let’s not forget that Monica herself was the distraction from Clinton’s real crimes. It was those crimes, not Monica, that resulted in the vote to impeach.


25 posted on 02/05/2016 9:52:51 AM PST by dsc (Any attempt to move a government to the left is a crime against humanity.)
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To: Go_Raiders

What’s a few trillion dollars among friends? (-:


26 posted on 02/05/2016 10:22:34 AM PST by MeganC (The Republic of The United States of America: 7/4/1776 to 6/26/2015 R.I.P.)
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