Latest rightwing talking point on Social Security

[antigop]

See? Clinton claimed there was a crisis.

http://www.ssa.gov/history/clntstmts.html#Gaston


>>
And all of you know to a greater or lesser degree of specificity, every one of you know that the Social Security system is not sound for the long-term, so that all of these achievements -- the economic achievements, our increasing social coherence and cohesion, our increasing efforts to reduce poverty among our youngest children -- all of them are threatened by the looming fiscal crisis in Social Security.
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[RobertSeattle]

1. Hmmm. Funny how RUSSERT brought this up yesterday

But the SOLUTIONS to the "crisis" are completely different. Didn't Clinton/Gore want to use the "lock box" approach rather than give it away approach?

[madfloridian]

2. But its true, he did.

And our folks talking for the party yesterday said so as well.
We need to be honest.

We are not going to get the support of our Democrats at all on this issue. They want the private accounts. I posted earlier today on this, but it dropped.

[rinsd]

3. He did, so did quite a few Democrats, so did Krugman for that matter.

And that's why the "what crisis?" meme followed by Dems (started by Krugman)was stupid. When you spent the 90's telling people something has to be done and 5 years later pretend nothing is wrong, you look like a fool.

One can argue against privatization without claiming there isn't a problem that needs taking care of.

[louis-t]

4. Clinton said "looming"

shrub-fer-brains says "immediate". Freepers, please consult a dictionary.

[madfloridian]

5. I am no freeper. Clinton wanted private accounts as well.

I have a post on front page on this right now. GD Politics.

[flobee1kenobi]

6. Yes he did

And the republicans of the time said he was wrong

We've always been at war with Eurasia........

[lancdem]

7. It was an idea he floated

but his goal wasn't the dissolution of the whole damn program, as Bush's is.

[madfloridian]

10. The goal was to divert the money to private accounts.

What would happen to the system without money. Wake up. The words are different, the end would be slower coming, but the goals are the same.

[papau]

13. Clinton did not say he wanted private accounts - what he wanted was

Social Security Trust funds invested real assets - not government bonds.

In order to get the GOP to discuss Soc Security, he would say that private accounts was one of the options.

HE NEVER SAID HE WANTED TO CARVE OUT PRIVATE ACCOUNTS FROM THE PAYROLL TAX!

[louis-t]

17. Wasn't accusing, just saying Clinton didn't say it was immediate

just 'looming'. He also didn't say we have to dismantle the system at a cost of $2 trillion. By the way, lots of Clinton's ideas are being usurped by *. Remember the "volunteerism' drive? Repubs ridiculed every aspect. In 2001, shrub-fer-brains came up with a similar plan and was hailed as a genius.

[nodictators]

12. Notice in the linked SocSec article that President Clinton said...

...that the system would run out of money in 2029.

Now, the flawed Seocial Security estimate is that date will be 2042.

The non-partisan CBO says the Trust Fund is good until 2052.

Actually, Clinton's full-employment economy solved the "crisis."

Please go to the Social Security website,
http://www.ssa.gov/

Get the Trustees' Full Report. It's mostly a piece of Repub crap. The Repubs cooked the books.

Can anyone believe that illegal immigration will stay constant at 300,000 per year? Social Security does.

Can anyone believe that the average life expectancy of people reaching 65 will go up by 4 years in the next 75 years? Their own data shows there was NO NET CHANGE in it from 1990 through 2003!

This is a Bush Scam, just like the WMD
Bush wants your Money

[LiberalFighter]

15. Don't you mean shit for brains?

[EVDebs]

8. Everybody's walking past the Medicare/Medicaid graveyard

whistling ! We need single payer healthcare and Bush & co are dancing around with this Social Security circus crapola.

What is it now, something like 15% of GDP is for healthcare now. We are behind the freakin Cubans in infant mortality ... and we're worrying about granpa's hernia...

[MichiganVote]

9. The problem with Social Security is that it is a program that HAS $$

And they all want it. Clinton's private accounts were intended to be an additional savings account to the present system, not a replacement of the present system.

There were no WMD's and there is no crisis with SS.

[madfloridian]

11. His goal was to divert money to the private accounts.

$700 for each $350 saved by the individual. Sounds fine on the surface, but that money would be coming from the pockets of the elderly on traditional social security.

[papau]

14. Clinton's goal was a "higher return" so as to have more monies later

The where of that Higher Return was never mentioned.

The 1998 speeches that the SSA has up on their site and are feeding to NBC and Russert do not endorse private accounts - but they do beg for no tax cut since 98% of the next 10 years of surplus was to come from Social Security payroll tax surplus - so it would be unfair to give that money back to the rich in a tax cut for the rich.

But Tim Russert Lies on cue.

[lawladyprof]

16. Buchannan (spelling?) used the same quote tonight.

N/T