Our LAST chance to save Social Security before we get F**ked again!

[BigBearJohn]

The President and the Republican Party are going to everything in their power to push through their destructive changes to the Social Security System. They will spend millions of millions of dollars on advertising campaigns to push even more destruction on an all-too-trusting citizenry. Now is the time for us to unite and do something about it. We may not get another chance. They lied about the Iraq war and now they are going to pull out their nasty bag of tricks to push this through too. Are we going to allow this?

From Salon: http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/02/02/social_insecurity/print.html

<snip>
“So how will Republicans press the issue with the public? The key to their argument, as outlined in a 104-page playbook that congressional Republicans were handed at their Allegheny Mountain retreat over the weekend, will be Bush's trademark simplicity. "Talk in simple language -- your audience doesn't understand financial jargon," advises the playbook, which was compiled by White House aides, pollsters and outside marketing consultants and was first reported on by the Washington Post (it later found its way online). Some other key bits of advice given to Republicans:

1 "Keep the numbers small: Your audience doesn't know how trillions and billions differ. They know these numbers are large, but not how large nor how many billions make a trillion. Boil numbers down to 'your family's share.'"

2 "Say it the way they can hear it: Your audience will reject some turns of phrase because of the connotations and associations. The responses are not universal, but they are much less personal than you might imagine. For example, to most Americans 'building wealth' sounds unattainable -- especially in the context of Social Security. But on the other hand, 'putting aside a nest egg' sounds like common sense. Another example: Calling the trust fund 'meaningless' will raise hackles. Taxpayers believe it is the source of the monthly checks paid out by Social Security. But, everyone agrees that it is an 'empty promise.'"

Stephen Moore, the president of the Free Enterprise Fund and a key proponent of the plan, estimates that supporters of the White House will spend between $50 million and $100 million to get it passed. "This is the big enchilada," he says by way of explaining such huge sums. "This is the biggest fight we've had in years and years about our future."

<Snip>


A letter I just received from the Democratic National Committee:

“Tonight, in his State of the Union speech, President Bush will use hard-sell tactics to try to build public support for his radical plan to privatize Social Security. He will try to create a sense of crisis -- even though Social Security is secure for decades to come. And he will disguise the risks involved in his dangerous plan to make Social Security a stock market gamble.

There's no better time than now for you to stand up against the Bush plan to dismantle Social Security. Help us launch our campaign to stop President Bush with your donation today.

https://www.democrats.org/support/

The President may be using hard-sell tactics. But the truth is, he's having a hard time selling his Social Security plan even to Republicans in Congress. They're getting skittish about the political implications of Bush's privatization plan. In fact, they won't even use the word "privatize" anymore.

We've got to make it clear that we will do everything in our power to defeat any Republican who stand with Bush in 2005 in favor of cutting benefits and adding trillions to the already exploding Bush deficit.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Republicans who have to face the voters in 2005 are demanding "political cover" from the Bush White House if they vote for the reckless Bush plan to undermine Social Security's future. We've got to make it plain to them that, if they vote to diminish Social Security, there will be no place to hide.

Make Republicans accountable -- help fund our "No Place to Hide Campaign."

[SaveElmer]

1. This is a litmus test for Congressional Democrats

If they roll over for this they can kiss my support goodbye. If they can't defend the most successfull government program ever devised against the corporate raiders, they are no better than the other side.
They have the numbers, but I fear do not have the will!!!

[Rocky Top]

2. bush looted $509 billion in Social Security surplus that was generated dur

http://www.mysan.de/international/article32407.html

Social Security Trust Fund Fraud May Become Bush & #039;s Watergate, Suggests Author of 'The Looting of Social Security '

WINTER HAVEN, Fla., Feb. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Economist and author Allen W. Smith, Ph.D., argues that the biggest obstacle to getting clear debate on the Social Security problem is the misinformation that continues to be spread by the AARP and others who argue that the trust fund holds real assets. "It is amazing how many people, including some Social Security experts, still just don't get it!" Smith said. "Weisbrot and Baker continue to spread the myth that, 'The Social Security trust fund will have more than $3.7 trillion in today's dollars in 2018.' Unless there is a change in policy, the trust fund will not have even $1 of real assets in 2018!"

Smith points out that David Walker, Comptroller General of the Government Accounting Office (GAO), while speaking at a Washington luncheon, co-hosted by Centrists.Org and the Alliance for Worker Retirement Security on January 21, 2005, said, "The left hand owes the right hand, and that has legal, political and moral significance. But it doesn't have any economic significance whatsoever. There are no stocks or bonds or real estate in the trust fund. It has nothing of real value to draw down."
"If the Comptroller General of the GAO says there is 'nothing of real value' in the trust fund, then there is nothing of real value," Smith said. "So what happened to the $3.7 trillion that so many people believe will be in the trust fund in 2018, or the $1.6 trillion that is supposed to already be in the trust fund today? The government has 'borrowed' it and made no provision for repayment of this debt."
The Social Security surplus generated by the 1983 payroll tax increase was supposed to be used to pay down the public debt. This would have been accomplished by purchasing regular marketable Treasury bonds in the financial markets. If this had been done, the trust fund would contain real assets and it would be able to pay full benefits until 2042. However, Smith maintains that President George H.W. Bush began using the money as if it were general revenue, and non-marketable special issue government securities were issued. Smith says that President Clinton continued this practice, so every cent of the Social Security surplus that flowed in under both Bush Senior and Clinton was spent. This misuse of Social Security funds became a major campaign issue in 2000, and both George W. Bush and Al Gore pledged to end the looting. President Bush repeatedly promised not to touch the Social Security money. Finally, in his first State of the Union address, delivered on February 27, 2001, Bush said, "To make sure the retirement savings of America's seniors are not diverted to any other program, my budget protects all $2.6 trillion of the Social Security surplus for Social Security, and for Social Security alone."
In casting their votes in the 2000 election, the American people, whether they voted for Gore or for Bush, were voting for a candidate who had solemnly pledged repeatedly that no Social Security money would be used for non-Social Security purposes. Smith argues that George W. Bush violated both that pledge and federal law when he spent every dollar of the $509 billion in Social Security surplus that was generated during his first term. "He continues to violate his pledge, and the law, each and every day as he spends the approximately $400 million in Social Security surplus that becomes available on a daily basis," said Smith.
Smith argues that the Bush privatization proposal is a Trojan horse to distract attention away from the looting of Social Security money. According to Smith, "Bush and Greenspan know that the government will face a major financial crisis beginning in 2018 when Social Security begins to run deficits, and the public discovers that there is nothing of value in the trust fund." Smith believes that "given the fact that Bush acknowledged the looting problem during the 2000 campaign, and made a solemn promise to the American people to end the practice, his misuse of Social Security money is a serious breach of the public trust," and Smith suggests that historians may refer to Bush's misuse of Social Security funds as "Bush's Watergate."
CONTACT: Barbara Rugel [phone] or Allen W. Smith [phone];
email: [e-mail]
Website: http://www.lootingsocialsecurity.com /
Available Topic Expert(s): For information on the listed expert(s), click appropriate link. Allen W. Smith, Ph.D. http://www.profnet.com/ud_public.jsp?userid=350721
Quelle: Allen W. Smith