Posted on 06/22/2005 2:13:45 PM PDT by RWR8189
THE DEMOCRATS are positively giddy over their success in foiling President Bush's Social Security plan. As a political matter, perhaps they have reason to cheer: Polls show Americans dubious about his proposed changes, and the president appears suddenly open to solutions that do not include his signature personal accounts. Yesterday he blessed a plan by Sen. Robert F. Bennett (R-Utah) to introduce a Social Security bill that tackles solvency and does not offer personal accounts. (He'll do that in a separate measure.) But after the confetti settles, Democrats need to ask themselves: Now what? Having beaten back private accounts, as it appears they have, is it enough to keep sticking their fingers in their ears while saying "no"?
Certainly Republicans, with their reckless tax cuts and blithe dismissal of deficits, cannot claim the high ground of responsibility. But Democrats have yet to lay any claim to it either, given their resolute negativity on Social Security reform. The only Democratic proposal on the table, from Rep. Robert Wexler of Florida, is a lopsided measure that would address Social Security solvency solely by raising taxes. Responsible proposals from Democratic economists that would blend benefit cuts and tax increases have gotten nowhere with Democratic lawmakers.
Mr. Bush, by contrast, has deviated from no-new-taxes orthodoxy to the extent of signaling a willingness to increase the payroll tax ceiling. And he took the political risk -- a risk Democrats gleefully exploited -- of endorsing a progressive indexing proposal with benefit cuts. That's a route that, in a less partisan climate, many Democrats would have endorsed
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
It may take until after 2006, but I think in the end, Bush will be victorious on private accounts.
I hope so. What the Democrats offer is more of the same: more and more Americans with only one option -- suckling off the teat of big government. How 1960s.
What puzzles me is... What is the point of taking political flak for cutting benefits just to prolong the program as is? If there is no reform of the system, why prolong it? And why should we as the party of reform spend political capital to do the Democrats dirty work?
Misunderestimation, and waiting on the Strategery to kick in prior to a nice helping of Schardenfreude.
The proposed privatization is opposed because it is RISKY yet Public employees are allowed to join private plans and they are not RISKY, pure logic.
The only good thing about the Social Security we now have is that Kofi Annan is not running it.
The tax cuts that have massively increased the revenue to the Feds, you mean?
The Warshington Compost has never heard of Arthur Laffer 30 years on.
We could propose a benefits increase and a tax cut simultaneously, and put SS out of its misery sooner. At least our Grandchildren wouldn't be burdened, then.
"We could propose a benefits increase and a tax cut simultaneously, and put SS out of its misery sooner."
Exactly my point! The Dems are the ones who want the system as is, and yet they're criticizing the Republicans for any attempt to save it. They're having it both ways.
The only way to push them to the bargaining table is to threaten the system in a politically popular way, such as cutting payroll taxes. When the Dems don't want to do that we can be like "oh... well then what's your proposal?"
"The only rational explanation for Americans being against private accounts is they've succumbed to the constant lies fed to them by the Media-Democratic-Socialst Party Complex"
Yep. People generally fear change, and many are not intelligent enough or simply don't have the time to examine the realities of social security. So it's easy to demagogue the issue. That's why I think we should play demagogue to force the Dems to the table.
That's their name - the DEMOgogue-bureauCRATS
As someone on FR said,why do dead people vote democRAT
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