Personal Accounts Hit a Wall

LA Times reports Now that Bush had convinced many people that Social Security was a Ponzi scheme headed for collapse, Liddy wondered, why was he was having such a hard time selling his proposal to let younger workers open personal investment accounts? Yet as the clock winds down on Bush's self-imposed timetable for promoting his restructuring plan, some conservatives fear he has laid the groundwork for what they regard as the worst possible outcome — pressure for tax increases and benefit cuts to ensure Social Security's solvency, but a rejection of private accounts as part of the fix.

I doubt that very many conservatives think that, but I am certain that the Extremely Left Wing LA Times would love for people to think that.

"There is some worry that just for the sake of having a victory, we'll get a bill that tosses personal accounts over the side," said Stephen Moore, president of the Free Enterprise Fund, a conservative advocacy group. "We'll get a combination of tax increases and benefit reductions that won't solve what in our opinion is the fundamental problem, that people don't have individual ownership." The president and his aides say they are as committed as ever to personal investment accounts, a central element of the "ownership society" agenda regarded by some GOP strategists as a roadmap for ensuring Republican political domination for decades to come.

"I don't think they want to go into the midterm elections next year with the Democrats able to say they defended America against the undoing of Social Security," said one administration advisor who spoke on condition of anonymity. "They'd rather end up with a piece of legislation, even if it's flawed or not what they wanted."

That would be foolish. I suspect things will change before then, and there will be legislation with some level of tax increases and/or benefit cuts, but it will also have personal accounts, and the Republicans can say the Democrats (who love tax increases) forced us to include a tax increase so we could provide you with personal accounts the government can't steal.

Such concerns reflect the mixed signals being sent by opinion polls and other public feedback midway through the administration's "60 Stops in 60 Days" barnstorming tour to promote restructuring.

Surveys show majorities of Americans now agree with the president that Social Security faces a serious cash-flow problem, and some members of Congress say their constituents are expressing similar sentiments. "The president has made some headway," said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa). "People are seeing Social Security as something Congress ought to be dealing with…. That's quite an accomplishment in the sense of where people were three months ago."

Absolutely, and just wait to see what the situation will be at the end of the 60 days