Posted on 04/28/2005 7:14:14 PM PDT by crushkerry
On Social Security the President was fabulous. We have been saying for months that the President needed to highlight the VOLUNTARY nature of personal accounts, and he did so tonight. You could tell the word "voluntary" will be preceding "personal savings account" in the future. He also did a great job of allaying the fears of those who may be uneasy about investing in the market and highlighting the fact that you could invest in savings bonds. If people stuck around to the end they heard a great justification for PRA's when one spouse dies before retiring - the ability to pass it on rather than getting nothing from the SS system.
As to the "new" proposal of means testing future benefits it was a good political move. The Democrats may now have to face questions about why they're standing in the way of something that will assure the poor an income above the poverty level from social security. As political ju-jitsu goes it was pretty good. However, you can bet the Dems will be screaming about "cuts" in social security and saying "What about the middle class". When they do - turn it around and say "OK, what about the middle class when we do nothing and their benefits go down 27% and don't even have a PRA to help them out?".
As far as the substance of means testing goes I'm generally in favor of it, especially with regard to entitlements. I'm aware of valid criticisms that ask why should someone be "punished" for being successful. But here, the system is going bankrupt and it may be the 'least worst" option that has a realistic chance to get somewhere.
But the best thing is that by means testing social security you get away from a mentality of a "universal entitlement". Once you put a dent in the fact that someone is "automatically" entitled to a certain benefit level, then you undermine support for the program.
To me, that's a good first step. The more you can do to get people away from a government "entitlement" line of thinking, and make them realize that they are responsible for their own retirement security I'm for it. This means testing idea won't solve that problem right away but it's a start. Plus, people of my generation don't think they're getting social security anyway, and are used to saving for retirement outside the system so it's no big deal. It will be funny to watch the Democrats defend Bill Gates getting the same social security benefits as a guy who worked in a manufacturing plant for 40 years.
On other issues - the pitch for the energy bill was OK. Expect the press to jump on the fact that he admitted that he can't do anything about gas prices immediately. People like us know that but expect the left to be talking about his desire to pass an energy bill as a reward to his "oil buddies".
The discussion about North Korea was more of the same, and he again laid out a great justification of liberating Iraq.
Surprisingly, the President had kid gloves when it came to criticizing Democrats on his judicial appointments, even disavowing the argument that Democratic opposition to judges was based on hostility to religious people. I don't know how some of the people who attended "Justice Sunday" are going to feel about it, but I would imagine the President didn't want to go down that road if the Senate is going to invoke the "Constitutional option" anyway and he didn't want the Dems to have ammuntion to accuse him of aligning with the "Jesus Freaks".
You could tell how passionate he was when talking about the No Child Left Behind law, and his disdain for those teachers unions who don't like to be tested. While we admire the President's commitment to education, this was a bad law from the start. It spent way too much money on what has been a rat hole for funds, and he didn't even get school vouchers out of it. The law, along with all the money being spent on it, are best left by the wayside.
Finally, the negative tone of the questions was pretty bad, though not surprising. Perhaps the worst one was the guy from the LA Times wanting him to take blame for the partisan atmosphere in Washington. WTF?!!! I don't see the President comparing his opponents to Hitler or pretending to assassinate them.
Since I was watching on Fox News, I didn't know till just now that the networks cut off the President in mid-sentence to show Paris Hilton's Simple Life, Donald Trump's The Apprentice and Survivor. Think about that for a second. I love football, but after the "Heidi Game" the rule is that you can't cut off NFL games till they're over no matter how big of a blowout the game is. Yet they have no problem cutting off the President. I wonder if they'd have done that to Bill Clinton.
Bottom line is that the President did a good job tonight, but how many watched. We hope that some actions follow the words.
Ping
I know I now have a better understanding of his PLAN. Let us not forget it is not a done deal yet, since the SCUMBAG LIBERALS will surely obstruct him. He needs to fight hard, and put the cockroach Dems in the limelight when they obstruct his plans. The stinking Dems do not want to let go of OUR MONEY. Bush is effectively trying to keep SOME OF IT out of Washington's hands, in our control.
President Bush is showing his socialist bent, again.
I don't like it.
Not to put too fine a point on it,but, what about the illegal immigration and borders? All these points he touched on wont mean squat with another 9-11 or being swamped by illegals.
He did pretty good with Soc Security, but since he was asked about the judiciary, he should have had more ammo ready to use.
Instead of just saying he opposes judges legislating from the bench, he (and all on our side) needs to start reeling off a list of the most outrageous examples of judges acting like kings and imposing for the Left what would be or already has been rejected by the people.
Judged on style, he was pretty good: animated, prickly when misrepresented, funny and well-studied.
I noticed that too. Canada's Pension Plan is more what the President is suggesting. Our system is more of a welfare system. The lowest amount is $250 and highest is $750 per month. A person can have worked one day in their entire life and still get $250.0. And then, since they will be poor on retirement get a supplement. The most anyone would ever get is $750, even if they grossed $100,000 per year
It will likely follow the lead of the Thrift Savings Plan (the 401K type plan for federal employees). They have a choice of 5 broad based index funds to choose from. Social Security will likely do the same thing. The main reason is that the govt. isn't going to want people taking too much risk, and they have to be broad based to keep the fees down.
Funny how Democrats who would be the first to attack pyramid schemes, won't dismantle this one - I guess because they built this one.
I also heard some murmering about allowing SS funds to be used to pay down federal guaranteed student loans?
My main fear is MEANS TESTING WITHOUT PERSONAL SAVING ACCOUNT. Look for the dems to push this.
Funny how Democrats who would be the first to attack pyramid schemes, won't dismantle this one - I guess because they built this one.
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I know I won't see it in my lifetime, but the system (IMHO) will be eventually dismantled and phased-out. Why does the government have to run a welfare program WITH YOUR MONEY? It is just big-government socialism - installed by FDR, our great father of socialism. He wanted the socialist control, and so do our socialists of today. But it is not needed. The government in Washington has proven that it cannot manage OUR MONEY at all -- they are the last place any sane person would want to "save money" (chuckle) -- we just have a government that is drunk on our money and wants to stay drunk!!!
I didn't care for it either but then I realized that if personal accounts exist this will serve to drive people out of the system since they will see that they will be even less likely to get anything from it. I think crushkerry is implying this.
"Good job" OR "snow-job"?
NO mention of the illegal invasion through the gaping hole called the "MEXICAN BORDER"??
No, Ill NOT give Dubya a "good job" score.
Try a "D" for "Disingenuous Drivel."
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