New poll finds Bush priorities are out of step with Americans

By Adam Nagourney and Janet Elder, New York Times

Americans say President Bush does not share the priorities of most of the country on either domestic or foreign issues, are increasingly resistant to his proposal to revamp Social Security and say they are uneasy with Mr. Bush's ability to make the right decisions about the retirement program, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

The poll underscores just how little headway Mr. Bush has made in his effort to build popular support as his proposal for overhauling Social Security struggles to gain footing in Congress. At the same time, there has been an increase in respondents who say that efforts to restore order in Iraq are going well, even as an overwhelming number of Americans say Mr. Bush has no clear plan for getting out of Iraq.

On Social Security, 51 percent said permitting individuals to invest part of their Social Security taxes in private accounts, the centerpiece of Mr. Bush's plan, was a bad idea, even as a majority said they agreed with Mr. Bush that the program would become insolvent near the middle of the century if nothing was done. The number who thought private accounts were a bad idea jumped to 69 percent if respondents were told that the private accounts would result in a reduction in guaranteed benefits. And 45 percent said Mr. Bush's private account plan would actually weaken the economic underpinnings of the nation's retirement system.

For the whole article...
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/article.php?sid=20144&mode=nested&order=0

on the issue of Social Security reform, who do you trust? Chimp, AARP or Congressional Democrats? Congressional Democrats lead, with AARP a close second, and * only gets 21%.

I thought he was a corporatist king of the planet?

I'm glad * got only 21%, however!!!!!!!!!

Mr.bush is out of step and out of touch with Unitedstatesians and World Citizens. Oh please get this info out into the MSM.

passed. The man lives on some other planet. He just doesn't know what his budget cuts and his plan for social security would do to a large number of people. Now, every time I hear someone who voted for him complaining or acting scared of loosing out on the life they worked so hard to build, I tell the that they voted the idiot in when they could have had Kerry....at least he knows how to add and subtract because he earned his degree instead of having his daddy buy him one.

privatizing SS would do to people-- why? Because I think (I KNOW) he's a sadistic SOB.

He has abused and even killed animals for kicks. He made jokes about death-row inmates pleading for their lives. He gets off on torture. He has no compunction in sending our military personnel off to their deaths.

He-just-doesn't-give-a-damn.

He's as evil as they come.

His priorities are out of step with the rest of the world, let alone this country!

"And 45 percent said Mr. Bush's private account plan would actually weaken the economic underpinnings of the nation's retirement system."

This is where the Democratic Party needs to educate the voters. The concept is fairly simple:

The "economic underpinnings" problems are that in 2018 the system will begin paying out more than it takes in, and in 2042 or 2052 the trust fund will run dry.

If the payroll taxes that fund that system are diverted to private accounts, those dates will come much sooner.

If private accounts are implemented and Bush keeps his promise to older Americans that their benefits won't be affected, the government will have to borrow about $2 trillion dollars to finance the transition to private accounts.

This will be added to the already enormous debt that has resulted from Bush fiscal policies. The biggest problem with the economic underpinnings of our "retirement system" (actually an insurance program) is federal deficits.

The Bush plan will add to these deficits. He has already undermined the economic underpinnings of our government, and now he wants us to trust him with the future of our economic security.

any more than there were WMD's in Iraq. He's just good at whipping everyone up into a fear frenzy to rally support for an agenda that has been scripted by the right wing good-old boys club for decades. Chimpo is in the perfect position to just check one item after another off his list. The tax cuts for the rich, no inheritance tax, no taxes on dividends, the Medicaid give away to the drug companies, stopping overtime for mid-range wage earners,...The bankruptcy deal...slackening environmental protection, waging preemptive Imperial war..they knew just what they wanted, before they got there..and they are just fulfilling their partisan agenda, of Plutocracy.