Making tomorrows Military today: Lets play a familiar song... Social security!

Lets play a familiar song... Social security!

Today was a long day of driving trying to put people in the Military. I started thinking about this whole Social Security problem that people of my age face in the not-so-distant future. I hear a lot of people that are the "airheads" (politicians that care about being on air than in the trenches of policy) of the Congress talking about social security like it ok and nothing needs to be done about it. I for one, do not believe them and I am here to prove them wrong with their own words.

#1-Here is a link to a 1997 report chaired by Dr. Edward Gramlich, of the Federal Reserve Board. Basically he said that there were issues with the way Social Security was ran and the way that the Baby Boomers were going to do when they hit the retirement ranks. Very dry, even the executive report was very dry. This report basically mirrors what President Bush is saying present day.

#2- 10/27/98- a report was introduced by John Breaux (D-LA) and Judd Gregg (R-NH) that listed Social Security reforms and retirement security enhancements. S 2313 and HR4256 were the two bills that tried to make part of social security (2% of the 12.4% Social Security tax-it makes sense to me 2% of your income, not 2% of 12%) into... well basically the Thrift Savings Plan that the Militant Pundit puts money into and most federal Employees follow my lead. As you can see, both of these bills were lost in committee. If you notice... this all happened right around the time of the impeachment buildup (Jan 7,1999 was the start of the trial- right about this time the judiciary Committee was investigating him hardcore.)

#3- President Bush was talking Social Security reform infront of a Joint Session of Congress February 28, 2001 stating:

Seven years from now, the baby boom generation will begin to claim Social Security benefits. Every one in this chamber knows that Social Security is not prepared to fully fund their retirement. And we only have a couple of years to get prepared. Without reform, this country will one day awaken to a stark choice: either a drastic rise in payroll taxes or a radical cut in retirement benefits. There is a better way. This spring I will form a presidential commission to reform Social Security. The commission will make its recommendations by next fall. Reform should be based on these principles: It must preserve the benefits of all current retirees and those nearing retirement. It must return Social Security to sound financial footing. And it must offer personal savings accounts to younger workers who want them. (Applause.) Social Security now offers workers a return of less than 2 percent on the money they pay into the system. To save the system, we must increase that by allowing younger workers to make safe, sound investments that yield a higher rate of return. Ownership, access to wealth and independence should not be the privilege of the few. They are the hope of every American, and we must make them the foundation of Social Security. (Applause.)
So here we are. Bush is taking on the same talking points from the Previous administration. Well then the times changed, we stopped talking about Social Security and started talking about Enduring Freedom and placing bombs on time on target.
In 2002, your friendly Militant Pundit has found Bill Clinton Supporting, in a way, changing Social Security. He even comes out and says to turn 1 or 2 percent away from the SSA and to the TSP! Holy Crap what a concept!
The next point I'd like to make is that I think we have to face honestly some long term reform issues. Maybe there ought to be a special commission the Democrats put together with people beyond our elected officials. When I left office, there was enough money to keep Social Security going till 2053, enough money to keep Medicare going tail 2027, through half the life of the baby boomers. I don't know what the latest numbers are going to show but they won't be good. If we don't modify the tax cut to have more tax cuts now but we reinstate fiscal responsibility over the long run, we're going to be in real trouble there. So, what's our option? If you don't like privatizing Social Security and I don't like it very much, but you want to do something to try to increase the rate of return, what are your options? Well one thing you could do is to give people one or two percent of the payroll tax, with the same options that Federal employees have with their retirement accounts; where you have three mutual funds that almost always perform as well or better than the market and a fourth option to buy government bonds, so you get the guaranteed social security return and a hundred percent safety just like you have with Social Security. Wow. I found that little Gem at the Massage Parlor's (AKA Clinton Library) website here. It was delivered 12/3/02 to the Democratic Leadership Council. Ok, I must admit, he is pushing for raising taxes, but at least he is saying that something needs to be done.
#4-Here is a long list of Democrat senators/reps saying that reforming Social Security is a good thing. These free republic guys get more money for research than I do...
More later...