Paul Wilczynski's Observations

Privatizing Social Security

Discussions on the President's plan to privatize Social Security are taking over the political blogsphere these days. Here's an article by Ryan Lizza in The New Republic Online - here's how it starts:

'It is getting increasingly difficult to find any Democrat who backs President Bush's plan for partially privatizing Social Security. Private accounts are now officially out of favor even among New Democrats, the most obvious source of potential administration support. The Democratic Leadership Council and a new centrist policy shop called Third Way both recently announced their opposition. Over in the House, many have been eyeing Adam Smith, the leader of the New Democrat Coalition, which has 67 members in the House. But, in an interview with The New Republic, Smith for the first time ruled out support for any proposal that includes private accounts funded through a carve-out of the Social Security payroll tax. "Social Security is a safety net. That's what it's there for. It's there to be the safest portion of your portfolio," he told me. "It's a guaranteed benefit for a reason, and, for that reason, I don't support private accounts." Smith doesn't speak for every moderate Democrat, but, he added, "I think there is broad consensus among New Democrats that you must not privatize the system." '

posted by Paul Wilczynski @ 8:07 AM