This is gonna hurt

More than 1 way to fix Social Security
December 19, 2004

There's no free lunch when it comes to Social Security. With all the talk in Washington of personal investment accounts, it may seem that if we just tap the magic of the marketplace all the program's funding problems will evaporate, no muss no fuss and above all, no pain. It's not that easy.

The problem is clear: Social Security is obligated to pay more in benefits in the years to come than it will collect in payroll taxes. The difference- the program's $3.7-trillion, 75-year shortfall - will have to be covered. How? There are only four basic ways Washington can do it: Raise taxes, reduce benefits, borrow the money or use some combination of the other three.

Enter President George W. Bush. He has not put a detailed reform proposal on the table. But in spelling out his reform principles, he has insisted that any acceptable plan must include personal accounts, no tax cuts and no benefit cuts for current or near retirees.

"So with those principles in mind, I'm open-minded with the members of Congress," Bush said last week to chuckles from a hand-picked audience at a White House conference on economic issues.

In laying down those boulder-sized markers, Bush has all but ensured that the guaranteed Social Security benefit will be reduced for future retirees and that the federal government will sink trillions of dollars deeper into deficit and debt. While what's needed is an honest debate, Bush is stacking the deck so it seems the only real question is, do you want a personal account with that?

Reduced to those terms, the easy answer is yes. The prospect of having a retirement nest egg with your name on it that the government can't touch is attractive, particularly for younger workers convinced Social Security won't be there for them when they retire. Personal accounts could renew their faith in the system.

Unfortunately, it's not that simple.

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dp

Money was robbed, not borrowed! The apparent insolvency is more aptly described as pilferage!

I ask you, what government program or private fund can survive the level of pilferage, under the guise of borrowing, that the Social Security program has endured for the past 25 years of Republican leadership in the executive and legislative branches of government?

It is no wonder that the third branch, the judiciary needs to be taken over in order to prevent the American public from suing the federal government for theft of services and pilferage.

First, make sure that no GOP lives long enough to collect it.