On Tue, 4 Jan 2005 12:01:56 -0600, Gary Denton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Massive Benefit Cuts > Progress Report > http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/pp.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=280916 > http://tinyurl.com/56a3p > > The real impact of President Bush's Social Security privatization > scheme: massive cuts in promised benefits. The White House is expected > to propose a new system of calculating Social Security benefits called > "price indexing." The technical change would mean "cutting promised > benefits by nearly a third in the coming decades" â with even deeper > cuts in the future. For example, if the "price indexing" change is > made, "a retiree in 2075 would receive 54 percent of the benefits now > promised." David C. John, a Social Security expert at the conservative > Heritage Foundation called the proposal "very much like sticking your > hand in a wasp nest."
Bush faces a hard sell even within the GOP. http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-01-06-socsec-usat_x.htm David John, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, says a minority of House Republicans supports Bush now. "At least as many and probably more just don't know enough one way or another," he says, and some "are absolutely convinced that this is the wrong thing to do." Rep. Jim Kolbe of Arizona, a Republican who supports private accounts plus some tax increases and benefits cuts, says, "The prospects for actually getting something along those lines enacted are fair. I wouldn't call them great." Advocating changes in Social Security, particularly benefit cuts, can backfire. Bush won't face voters again, but most members of Congress will. They are concerned about more than the prospect of reduced benefits. Many oppose driving the federal debt and budget deficit higher. Setting up the bureaucracy to handle personal retirement accounts could cost up to $2 trillion over a decade. Bush faces other obstacles: â Not everyone thinks Social Security is in crisis. "Medicare is a bigger problem, but Social Security is easier to deal with," John says. â Opponents are powerful. The AARP, which has 35 million members ages 50 and older, has begun a $5 million ad campaign saying personal accounts amount to gambling with retirement savings. AARP says it may spend far more this year. Even Bush ally Tom Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, says his group has urged the White House to go slowly on Social Security and first try to complete easier legislative goals. "A mandate lasts 15 minutes in this town," Donohue says. â Democrats are fairly united in opposition, and there are fewer of the sort of moderate Democrats Bush might be able to recruit. â Although Bush says people who are already retired would not see their benefits changed, Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg says polls find only 53% of seniors favor private accounts. They also are more likely to vote than any other age group. Gary Denton _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
