The Sideshow Lives On

[Guest guest]

A

Fri, 20 May 2005 16:51:21 -0700 (PDT)

Bush's DOG & PONY Show on Social Security goes on, and on,

and on....

 

 

SOCIAL SECURITY

The Sideshow Lives On

 

On day 78 of what was originally billed as a 60 day roadshow,

President Bush visited Milwaukee yesterday to keep forcing down a

Social Security plan that the public has thus far refused to swallow.

Once described as a " sideshow, " the whole Social Security tour now

" has the feel of a past-its-prime Broadway production. " Unfortunately,

some of the key actors in the whole debate are having trouble keeping

it together.

 

CHERRY PICKED CONVERSATION PARTICIPANTS: It is not a surprise that

participating in the president's Social Security conversations is an

" invitation-only " honor. Just look at what happened in Holland when

they didn't get to screen the questions first. But a recently

discovered memo for an upcoming Social Security event in New York

shows just how far the White House will go to get the " right " mix of

people in the audience. Circulated by the group Women Impacting Public

Policy, the memo didn't just announce the president's visit but " went

on to solicit several types of people 'who he would like to visit

with' –including a young worker who 'knows that [social Security]

could run out before they retire,' a young couple with children who

like 'the idea of leaving something behind to the family' and a single

parent who believes Bush's proposal for individual investment accounts

'would provide more retirement options and security' than the current

system. " Wait a second; it seems that the people solicited each

represent " various arguments that Bush has been making for why Social

Security should be overhauled. " The memo ended by asking for " an

immediate response " since they " [needed] to get names to the White House. "

 

POZEN BACKS AWAY FROM BUSH'S SOCIAL SECURITY PLAN: In addition to

private accounts, the president has incorporated progressive

indexation into his Social Security overhaul. Robert Pozen, a former

member of Bush's 2001 Commission to Strengthen Social Security, is the

" man credited with inventing " progressive indexation and is the

" investment executive President Bush lauds while selling his Social

Security overhaul. " Earlier this week, Pozen gave President Bush some

more advice on Social Security: " 'back away' from…the insistence that

individual investment accounts be created in the program. " In a number

of " public appearances in Washington, " Pozen criticized the

privatization proposal and argued " the president's insistence that

individual accounts be 'carved out' of Social Security's payroll tax …

[threatens] passage of a Social Security restructuring that would deal

with the program's financial problems. " Furthermore, Pozen called the

president's continued " talk of an 'ownership society' " as " 'a weak

basis' for arguing for an overhaul. "

 

THE SNAKE THAT ATE ITS OWN TAIL: There's another reason Pozen could

give for why the president should " back away " from privatization:

private accounts eat up half the gains made by the benefit reductions

part of his plan. The White House fact sheet on progressive indexation

boasts that " this reform would solve approximately 70 percent of the

funding problems facing Social Security " but " that statement refers to

a single year … and omits the effect of private accounts. " According

to a recent analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities,

the benefit cuts actually " close about 59 percent of the Social

Security overhaul ... but the private accounts would undo about half

of that gain. " Looking at the president's plan in its totality, the

proposal " would accelerate " both the point at which Social Security is

paying out more than it is taking in and also when the trust fund is

exhausted. And trillions of dollars would still be needed to close the

rest of the Social Security shortfall. For more on Bush's middle-class

benefit cuts, see our Rebuttal of White House Spin on Benefit Cuts.

 

BUT I CAN SEE HIS LIPS MOVING!: Derrick Max is the executive director

of two supposedly independent, nonpartisan groups: the Alliance for

Worker Retirement Security and the Coalition for the Modernization and

Protection of America's Social Security, founded by the Business

Roundtable. As the head of organizations advocating for a Social

Security overhaul, Max was invited to testify at a hearing before the

Senate Democratic Policy Committee. But when the panel received his

e-mailed testimony, it became quite apparent that the White House had

already had its hands all over the document. Max had forgot to turn

off the " track changes " feature in his word-processing program and the

testimony " included editing comments made by an associate commissioner

of Social Security [currently] on loan to the White House. " There has

now been a call for an investigation into whether this " ventriloquist "

act " violated statues requiring the Social Security Administration to

be 'nonpolitical and nonpartisan.' " Max's defense? " The real scandal

here is that after 15 years of using Microsoft Word, I don't know how

to turn off 'track changes,' " he said.