The more we learn the worse it gets - Bush S.S. plan

[stray cat]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/06/opinion/6sun1.html?th

"The more we learn, the worse it gets.

Last Wednesday, as President Bush prepped for his State of the Union address, a White House official gave reporters a background briefing on some of the details of Mr. Bush's Social Security privatization plan. Almost point for point, whatever the president said that sounded good sounded bad when the details were filled in"

"People whose private accounts steadily earned three percentage points over inflation throughout their working lives would wind up with exactly what they would have gotten if Social Security remained untouched. Anyone who earned less than that would end up with less than is offered by the current system. When asked what would happen to the people who would not have enough income to avoid poverty, the administration official said, "I'm not sure if I'm understanding your question.".

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. "I'm not sure if I'm understanding your question."

Even my young teenage daughter figured that one out on her own.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. Luckily, I think most Americans understand

I live in Arkansas and visit Missouri regularly. The papers in both states are conservative, but even they have had to admit that there is a groundswell of opposition to changing SS-only saw one pro Bush SS program in the LTTE, and that person was on a rant about how 'socialistic' SS was.

[papau]

3. Not quite - not with what SS untouched gives - only with SS after cuts

under old system would give - and with the possibility of even less than that.

There is no real safe place - no upside.

[dbeach]

4. occupant bush and the repuke gangsters may target SS

but next could be Medicare,medicaid and pension system...
SS is a live wire issue and bush will shrill up his rhetoric as Dems duck for cover on other issues while they fight to save SS..
Divide and conquer..repeat..
Its classic rover bait and switch..keep em guessin and when in doubt start a war..Iran, N. Korea
But SS is about the hottest issue possible..repukes arrogance continues to soar higher and higher...


http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05037/453093.stm
"As a result, Medicaid also is expected to be targeted for cuts when President Bush delivers his budget to Congress this week. One clue came last week, when Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt proposed scaling back access to nursing home care and reducing drug repayments to pharmacies, measures he said could reduce the program's budget by nearly $60 billion over the next decade.
But the president's sense of urgency has puzzled many members of Congress, advocacy groups and scholars, who note that other safety net programs for older Americans face far larger and more urgent financial problems -- especially Medicare, Medicaid and, to a lesser extent, the quasi-governmental corporation that insures private pensions?

[stray cat]

5. It continues to be a Bush Co. war on working Americans

[chaumont58]

6. I'm retired and have watch this thing play out as it has so far

I get my info mostly from 3 web sites(NYT, LAT and WaPo) and the left leaning blogs. Josh Marshall and Atrios have really been on this topic. I couldn't figure out how Bush could win this fight. Even repuke congress critters are afraid of the direction its going. I have now come to the conclusion that Bush does not even hope to win this year. He wants to get the subject out into the open, but is looking to victory in 2007, depending on how badly his party beats the remaining Dems in the Senate, in the 2006 elections. It wont take many more victories to get a filibuster proof majority.