Ever wonder why Social Security is in such bad shape? How many times has the government taken money out of Social Security to pay for other programs and then never put it back into the fund? Are we going to continue to throw good money in after bad or suck it up and pay for the mistakes of the past and reform Social Security in a way which will give each individual a little control over their retirement stipend. I work for the government and they have a retirement fund that we contribute to. You have a say in how the money is invested so when the market is depressed you can put the money into funds that will do better during those times and when the market is bullish you can put money into high risk-high yield funds. I believe if you privatize Social Security, in the long run you'll have a better system with more control in the individual's hands. You just have to be willing to bite the bullet and pay the cost of making the transition.
There really never was a "fund". As best I understand it the government's funding of social security is as follows; I decide to set up a retirement fund, every payday I take a portion of my pay and put it in my top desk drawer, then I write out an iou for that amount and put it in the top desk drawer, remove the money and put it back into my wallet and spend it on whatever. I then repeat this every payday and go merrily on my way secure in the knowledge that I owe myself enough money to retire on, when I reach retirement age I pull out my iou pile and present them to myself, whereupon I realize that I must continue working until I am dead to earn money to pay the money I owe to myself.
Bush has slowly been opening the eyes of Americans who've been walking around with their hands out.
He's telling them to LOOK! Government does not do things well, they do not spend your money properly.
He's telling people, "Keep your money!" He wants them to see they are better suited to make those choices.
With No Child Left Behind, Bush has parents asking public schools what in the world have we been paying for?
He's checking off the list and showing the voters the truth.