New Tack On Social Security

WaPo reports Key Republican lawmakers, scrambling to keep President Bush's Social Security proposals afloat, plan next week to embrace an idea that many have avoided thus far: funding personal retirement accounts with surplus revenue that now pays for other government programs. The strategy is controversial because it would create new budget problems. Either the diverted money would have to be replaced with new taxes, or Congress would have to slash programs now funded by Social Security's excess payroll taxes.

Those programs now funded by Social Security's excess payroll taxes are not being saved for future social security purposes, but by taking them out of the government's control, and putting them into private accounts, would mean they would be saved for someone's social security.

Republicans said yesterday that they will address those concerns later. First, they said, they want to create momentum and enthusiasm for Bush's proposed private accounts, which are so unpopular with congressional Democrats and with many Americans that some supporters privately consider them in deep peril. "This is an opportunity to get the ball rolling, a step in the right direction," said a Senate GOP leadership aide who spoke on background because the plan's official outlines are scheduled for a Capitol Hill news conference Tuesday.

Steve Soto from LeftCoaster blogged Never estimate the stupidity of Senate GOP conservatives. Next week, three GOP senators will hatch one more plan to sell voters on private accounts. How do they plan to do it? By convincing voters that the trust fund surpluses that Bush is currently squandering to pay for his upper income tax cuts and Iraq war should instead be redirected to finance the private accounts. Gee, won't this create even larger deficits or require immediate tax increases? Sure.

No it could result in shrinking the government, which is what Republicans are supposed to be for.

Does the GOP care about this? Nope. Will they be able to convince voters that private accounts are such a good idea that we need to slash spending hundreds of billions a year on health care, education, homeland security, law enforcement, and even the Pentagon to make up for the trust funds that are currently financing Bush's deficit spending?

Health care, education, and law enforcement are primarilly the job of state or local government.

Probably not. But the whole exercise will allow Democrats to show voters plainly that Bush is paying for his upper income tax cuts and Iraq war with Social Security taxes that were to be lockboxed for the system's solvency which are instead holding down his deficits.

No it will show that there is no lockbox, but that this approach will create a true lockbox, where the money is in personal accounts and out of the government's control. It shows why the Ponzi scheme is destined to fall eventually. The only question is when.

And tell me again how taking billions of Social Security taxes from the trust fund and sending them to Wall Street addresses the system's solvency without also requiring massive benefit cuts?

Jesse Taylor blogged The writer doesn't make this clear, but the idea is to use the surplus Social Security money that's not only keeping a significant portion of the government afloat, but likely also some of the money that's keeping Social Security solvent...to destroy Social Security and push the entire government further into debt. To be fair, though, they're just making the massive spending that will be required to finance private accounts explicit, which was the goal all along. Right?

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