Then Again, Maybe Not...
Of course, there's always a chance that they'll try a placeholder, so they can come back to it later.Prospects that the U.S. Congress will pass an overhaul of Social Security this year have vanished, leaving Republicans to debate how best to walk away from the centerpiece of President George W. Bush's second-term domestic agenda.
Lawmakers in the House and Senate said a comprehensive proposal had no chance of being acted on this year, even though Republican leaders such as House Speaker Dennis Hastert, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and Representative Roy Blunt haven't publicly abandoned the effort.
"It certainly doesn't appear to me it's going to happen,'' said Representative Jim Kolbe, an Arizona Republican and a supporter of Bush's proposal to create private investment accounts using Social Security funds.
[...]
Polls have shown that almost two-thirds of Americans disapprove of Bush's private-accounts proposal.
Stephen Wayne, a government professor at Georgetown University in Washington, said Katrina had provided Republicans with ``an exit strategy'' from an unpopular proposal.
"The Republicans are using the hurricane as an excuse for not proceeding with the politically dicey Social Security legislation,'' he said. "They can let it die a pleasant death'' by moving on to other initiatives and blaming Democrats for killing it.
Via Basie!
posted by Anonymous at 1:15 PM
26 Comments:
How can you say that 2/3rds of people don't support reform, when you're own poll shows otherwhise!?
http://weblog.secureourfuture.org/archives/2005/09/rock_the_vote_a.html
I'm hesitant to believe any poll about SS...they're all so different, it seems as though all of them must be somewhat biased.
That being said I do agree that SS reforms won't be happeneing this year. I personally think that's good. Maybe it's time to blanket this issue for a while and then come back to it later with different or new ideas.
Seems like there's only three ideas, raise taxes, cut benefits, or personal accounts.
Of the three, I think I'd take personal accounts.
Congratulations Theath.
So what's your solution? Raising taxes or cutting benefits?
Go ahead; pick one. You've already shot down the only other option, so go ahead, tell us what Rock the Vote wants to do for "our generation."
Theath,
Everyone knows that 2/3 of young people support personal accounts.
If RTV is really about "political power for young people," then why don't you actually represent the views of our generation?
B/C RTV is a shame. I am just glad that they have little to no influence. I read this site just to crack up and some of the postings. The Cheech and Chong posting made my week.
Found an interesting article in the Washington Post about SS being shelved for the time being - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/15/AR2005091502200.html
FRIGGING nuts!
How many young people REALLY care about social security?
NONE.
Hans Reimer, you're a terrible political director.
I thought the slogan 'MAKE THEM LISTEN TO US' was supposed to be what young people were chanting to other young people. -- Now I've come to realize that it means "Make Rock The Vote LISTEN TO US, because they have no friggin clue what young people care about"
Why don't you save this stupid ongoing tangent about social security for your fancy little Washington D.C. cocktail parties.
We're sick of this crap. There is so much more going on in this world that is propelling young people into action; the war in Iraq, the Patriot Act, the Katrina debacle, election reform...
ENOUGH WITH SOCIAL SECURITY, you weirdos!!!
ARGH
YOU SUCK, ROCK THE VOTE!
QUOTE:
Seems like there's only three ideas, raise taxes, cut benefits, or personal accounts.
Of the three, I think I'd take personal accounts.
/QUOTE
First of all, another option would be doing nothing and making our govt. go bankrupt. This is better than many things we could do. Second, the details of how "personal accounts" are implemented make such a huge difference that lumping that into one category is bad IMHO. I would split it into three categories:
1) SS equity accounts
2) SS treasury bond accounts
3) SS bank CD acounts
I'm the only one I know of who has proposed #3 and I think its the best solution. #2 won't fix anything but at least stops the SSA's dishonesty about treating the trust fund as an asset since the debt behind it would be on-budget. #1 is the worst option out of any, followed closely by raising payroll taxes.
So from best to worst:
1.) SS bank CD accounts
2.) SS u.s. treasury accounts
3.) Cutting benefits
4.) Doing nothing.
5.) Raising payroll taxes.
6.) SS equity accounts
Letting the government go bankrupt is a horrible idea.
You know as much as I do that Congress and our so-called representatives would never let that happen. It would eliminate their opportunity to engage in pork barrel spending and give free handouts to people through welfare state benefit programs. They rely on these things for votes. So what would they do if the government faced bankruptcy? Oh, that's right: raise taxes. Probably on everyone from the middle class up.
And by the way, anyone who thinks raising payroll taxes is a better option than personal accounts is a blind fool.
QUOTE:
And by the way, anyone who thinks raising payroll taxes is a better option than personal accounts is a blind fool.
/QUOTE
Nope. But if it makes you feel better, I'll say that SS equity accounts and raising payroll taxes are both such horrible ideas as to be equal in suckitude. I really hope neither happens.
But do you understand *why* SS equity funds are bad news?
QUOTE:
Letting the government go bankrupt is a horrible idea.
You know as much as I do that Congress and our so-called representatives would never let that happen. It would eliminate their opportunity to engage in pork barrel spending and give free handouts to people through welfare state benefit programs. They rely on these things for votes. So what would they do if the government faced bankruptcy? Oh, that's right: raise taxes. Probably on everyone from the middle class up.
/QUOTE
If they let SS continue as it is, tax increases will become useless in fixing the problem. No, I think that benefit cuts are the most likely option, which would be a mildly good thing. In fact, a little while ago, they phased in a raising of the retirement age which was essentially a benefit cut. I think that sort of thing is most likely in the future. Also, with each cut in benefits, future generations will be less likely to depend on the benefit and that is very important. The dependecy that the elderly have on the program is what makes it so difficult to deal with to begin with.
QUOTE:
And by the way, anyone who thinks raising payroll taxes is a better option than personal accounts is a blind fool.
/QUOTE:
BTW, 2 things.
1) No one is really proposing truly personal accounts. They're proposing government managed/controlled equity accounts. Big difference. Personal accounts would be them just giving me my goddamn money back.
2) Insofar as that is the case, I guess I'm cool with personal accounts.
So here, new rankings from best to worst:
Positive Steps:
1) Leaving me the f*$k alone so I can set up my own personal accounts.
2) SS bank CD accounts
3a) Cutting benefits
3b) SS U.S. Treasury accounts
Negative Steps:
4a) Raising payroll taxes
4b) SS equity accounts
I would be in favor of making sure that the goverment cannot use the SS funds for other government programs.
QUOTE:
I would be in favor of making sure that the goverment cannot use the SS funds for other government programs.
/QUOTE:
One good idea would be to force any surpluses to be used to buy back treasuries on the open market. But this would only be different from the current situation if congress was honest enough not to borrow more and issue more debt afterward. And if they were that honest, we wouldn't be in the current situation anyway. In other words, if they were willing not to spend away the surpluses and had the discipline to buy back their debt, that would be a positive thing but then this situation wouldn't exist to begin with.
Theath,
Did you hear Sen. Grassley (R-IA) on Kudlow yesterday??? He said it was far from dead...
...in fact, he suggested moving ahead with reform because it will save us $600 billion annually.
What do you have to say about that, you tool???
Social Security is lame.
The FBI and Alberto Gonzales are talking about adding a new obscenity department to the FBI.
Heather Wilson and the rest of congress went nuts when Janet Jackson flashed her breast at the superbowl. Yet hundreds have died in New Orleans due to a massive failure of government, and we haven't seen anything except for money and a disconnected president.
The war in Iraq wages on. The casuality count is past 1900, and sure to hit 2000 soon.
THESE ARE THE ISSUES THAT YOUNG PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT.
YOU'RE ALL IDIOTS.
IF YOU MIDDLE-AGED MEN WANT TO BLAB ON ABOUT SOCIAL SECURITY, DO IT WITH THE AARP, NOT ROCK THE VOTE.
I ALWAYS THOUGHT ROCK THE VOTE WAS INTERESTED IN PROTECTING FREEDOM OF SPEECH.
WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU GUYS?
boo on you.
Noid Said:
"One good idea would be to force any surpluses to be used to buy back treasuries on the open market. But this would only be different from the current situation if congress was honest enough not to borrow more and issue more debt afterward. And if they were that honest, we wouldn't be in the current situation anyway. In other words, if they were willing not to spend away the surpluses and had the discipline to buy back their debt, that would be a positive thing but then this situation wouldn't exist to begin with."
That's true. Whatever reforms the government decides to use, it would need to be one that could restore our faith in their decisions and proposals. For now I'll just keep saving money in my 401K.
Not really too related, but there's a new citizen initiative out there that basically require the President and Congress to listen to what people think about health care. Word is that they are getting a new website, thank goodness, but the link is the same.
www.citizenshealthcare.gov
Not too related, but a new initiative is out there that basically requires the Prez and Congress to listen to what people are saying about health care....supposedly they are getting a new website and launching all this in a couple weeks (www.citizenshealthcare.gov)
So...why was the Prez of RTV fired? Why don't you guys know how to handle your money? Just curious. Free country right? Can ask anything.
Social Security conversations aren't going away because we're not going away.
who the heck are you, Adam Cahn?
who the heck are you, Adam Cahn?
just because a group of monkeys sit here in their own little bubble discussing social security doesn't mean that it's a relevant issue to young voters.
Dead site. Please remove.
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