In other words: A discussion of The Bush Administration
It's Challenging lying to the American public about social security.
Typical Bush Fact Checking:
Anyway, don't let Bush reward his campaign donors. Check out: Privatize This!According to the Social Security actuaries, the trust funds currently carry enough reserves to pay full benefits to all who are eligible through 2042. The Congressional Budget Office projects that the trust funds are even stronger than that, carrying enough in reserves to pay full benefits through 2052. At that time, the trust funds will still have enough in revenue to pay 73 to 81 percent of benefits, according to the actuaries and CBO respectively.The threat of Social Security's immediate demise is about as real as Saddam's WMDs. Yes there is in the future a problem that needs to be dealt with now, but as with Iraq Bush's solutions are... umm... not so hot.The president has suggested that a plan put forth in 2001 by his handpicked Social Security commission would be a "good blueprint" for reform. Under this plan, one-third of a worker's contributions to Social Security would be diverted from the trust funds into private accounts. As a result of this plan, the trust funds would lose almost $2 trillion in the first 10 years alone.But putting aside the fact that Bush's plans for America hurt Americans, it is a nice little gift to Wall Street.
This diversion weakens the trust funds so significantly that the date by which they are no longer able to pay full benefits is moved up by more than two decades - 21 years - from 2042 to 2021. Expediting insolvency is an odd way of shoring up Social Security.
Worse yet, these losses will not stop after the first decade. These so-called "transition costs" continue for 50-60 years. Although the plan claims it will find additional money to put into the trust funds so current beneficiaries can continue to be paid, it resorts to accounting gimmicks to hide trust fund deficits. For example, the plan relies heavily upon deficit financing - more than $200 billion a year until 2054. But, it never tells us where this money comes from or how we pay it back. Borrowing of this magnitude would mean that our national debt will rise to unprecedented levels. This new debt alone - debt in addition to what is already projected under current law - would grow to equal 24 percent of gross domestic product.
These staggering "transition costs" will force substantial benefit cuts. Private accounts are touted as voluntary - if you want to remain in traditional Social Security, proponents claim you will be free to do so. However, even those who opt not to participate in a privatized system will see benefit cuts. For example, if you are in your late 20s today, when you retire at age 65 in 2042 your benefits will be 25 percent less than they would have been under today's Social Security system.
- rob 11:51 AM - [PermaLink] -
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