The coming attack on Social Security

[DaveinMD]

Frightening article from the Washington Post.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A39791-2004Dec31.html

[Leilani]

1. Most things about this Administration are frightening.

EOM

[kentuck]

2. And we know their plan on selling it....

""The beginning stage will be focusing on the crisis, the need to act and the cost of delay," Max said. "

The Democrats have been pushed to the edge of the cliff with this issue. Will they fight back?

[StephanieMarie]

3. Educate you public. Be the media.

Here's the letter I sent to my newspaper:

I would like to share some thoughts with those who are in favor of the privatization of Social Security. President Bush wants you to take part of your Social Security taxes and invest it yourself in the stock market.

If you think this is a good idea, I ask you this: Have you given any thought to the fact that putting several trillion dollars of new money into the stock market in short time period will cause a bubble and crash that will make the 1929 crash look like a dress rehearsal? Do you have the faintest idea what that much new cash would do to valuations? Remember the 1990’s when everyone decided that P/E ratios were no longer relevant? Well, they were wrong, and the market crashed.

The operative word in Social Security is “SECURITY”. There is no security in the stock market. Any private investment can go to zero overnight. It is required by law that all mutual funds and other investment advertising tell prospective clients that “past performance is no guarantee of future returns.” The operative phrase there is “no guarantee”. There is no guarantee in the stock market, and in general, people are pretty bad at investing their own money. It would be immoral and irresponsible to take the only secure old age income most Americans have and put it into an insecure vehicle.

Finally, do you have the faintest idea what the additional borrowing of $1-$2 trillion will do to our financial markets? Already, foreign governments are the major holders of U.S. Government debt. Already, the dollar is plunging because that debt is so high. Do foreign governments really want to loan us another trillion or two? Probably not. Most likely they will lose confidence in the fiscal responsibility of the U.S. altogether, pull out the money they’ve already lent us, and cause our financial system to crash before the private accounts can even be set up!

Franklin Roosevelt instituted Social Security to protect senior citizens who had lost everything in the 1929 stock market crash. Do we really want to take that same money now and put it back into the stock market? Those who refuse to learn from history are forced to repeat it. Let’s not repeat that lesson, please. I urge you to contact your congressman and tell him NOT to privatize Social Security.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

4. Kick, Kick, Kick

:kick: :kick: :kick:

[kentuck]

5. A snip from the article....

It's in a "crisis"! It's in a "crisis"! The sky is falling! The sky is falling!
================================================================

<snip>
President Bush's political allies are raising millions of dollars for an election-style campaign to promote private Social Security accounts, as Democrats and Republicans prepare for what they predict will be the most expensive and extensive public policy debate since the 1993 fight over the Clinton administration's failed health care plan.

With Bush planning to unveil the details of his Social Security plan this month, several GOP groups close to the White House are asking the same donors who helped reelect Bush to fund an extensive campaign to convince Americans -- and skeptical lawmakers -- that Social Security is in crisis and that private accounts are the only cure.

...more

[SpiralHawk]

6. Waterloo on the horizon?

I say the American public will watch this SS debate with keen interest, since it is a personal pocketbook issue of crucial importance. No interest like self-interest. And I suspect that in watching this debate, many will be awakened to the very many harsh financial (and other) realities which are -- ultimately -- Bush's fault.

In the SS debate, Bush may well meet his Waterloo. Mote it be so.

[SharonAnn]

7. Why are we without an organization to buy ads and counter this?

What is moveon.org doing? i'd contribute, wouldn't you?

We have lots of creativity. We have some 527 organizations, we can contribute the money?

Why, oh why isn't something being done?

The public is going to get "sold" by the Bushistas that they need to support the "fix" on Social Security. And if the public doesn't get a different message from someone else, they'll thing it's true!

[DaveinMD]

8. the AFL-CIO

AARP and other progressive groups will be doing ads. I would think Move ON would do the same. Money will be spent on our side as well.

[American Tragedy]

9. From a historical perspective, this is kind of ironic

since the entire point of Social Security was that the funds are not subject to dangerous fluctuations of the market.