Bush Loses a Key Democrat on Social Security -NYT

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 - Senator Max Baucus of Montana, a Democrat whose support was essential to the enactment of President Bush's tax cuts in 2001 and his Medicare legislation in 2003, said on Thursday that he would oppose the president's Social Security plan this year.

Mr. Baucus's position will make it difficult for the White House to obtain the Democratic votes necessary for the measure to get through the Senate.

"I seriously doubt I'm going to be the linchpin this time," Mr. Baucus, the senior Democrat on the Finance Committee, said in an interview.

Although the Social Security system has difficulties, Mr. Baucus said, "it is not a crisis," as Mr. Bush asserts. The president's plan to allow workers to divert part of their Social Security taxes into private investment accounts would "exacerbate the problem, not solve it," the senator said. And the suggestion that benefits could be cut "by 40 percent 50 or 60 years from now," he said, "is simply unacceptable."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/07/national/07social.html?oref=login

[Isere]

1. Maybe the Dems are getting the message

that some issues are baseline principles that can't be chipped away.
Good for Baucus.
Let him lead the way to a unified Democratic opposition!

[Bono71]

2. I don't think Bush even has the repuboican votes he needs. n/t

[Osamasux]

4. He does. They are going about it in their usual slick way.

They are floating extreme positions on both reduced benefits and the amount that workers are allowed to piss away on these investment accounts. (Of course no mention of means-testing, just flat off the top cuts.)

They will later have a "big compromise" at a plan they would have taken all along. Lots of credit to go around. They will claim to have "saved social security". Remember all that talk about 'we don't care about reality, we run the place and make our own reality'? Well, here it comes again.

Prediction: AARP will cave in and do nothing about what should be there number one issue.

[Bono71]

6. You might be right about that...not sure about AARP...

they need to make amends with their members after the prescription drug benefit fiasco.

[KalicoKitty]

13. I cancelled my membership because of that fiasco.

But, the other day I got a notice to remew my membership. I pitched it because I saw no reason to be a member.

[Bono71]

14. I remember reading that a lot of members left...I can't imagine

the association would jeopardize losing more people, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.

[jdj]

16. Seniors are a huge part of their base.

This issue and the guest worker visas are dangerous territory for repukes, they are going to have to tread very carefully.

[tsuki]

18. No I don't think he does. He has lost the Rockefeller, and even

the Reagan Republicans on this one. He has only his corporate and fundie base.

[NVMojo]

23. I will never forget when, about 6 years ago, a local Republican Party

person was showing me a list of goals for the Republican Party take-over to set America straight ...top of the list was dismantling Social Security and how it was a bloated welfare program of the liberals....

[saltpoint]

3. Thank you for posting this.

I didn't think ol' Max had it in him, but happily, I'm wrong -- he does.

Go, Max.

[stevedeshazer]

5. Good job, Max

Take SS off the table, period.

[spotbird]

7. The Republicans should be thrilled to own this!

What do they need Democratic support for anyway?

[LynnTheDem]

8. Arlen Spectre also says HELL NO to bush's plan to gut SS.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2005_01_02.php#004350

FACT: Social Security is NOT in a "crisis".

FACT: bush's plan will make matters WORSE.

FACT: In 1978, bush said SS would be bankrupt by 1988 if it wasn't privatized.

FACT: bush was LYING in 1978. bush is LYING now.

FACT: This is NOT A PARTISAN ISSUE. If CLINTON LIED about SS the way BUSH IS LYING about SS, it would STILL be just a pack of LIES.

[damntexdem]

9. I'll be impressed ...

when he starts losing key Republicans.

[MindPilot]

10. Bush shouldn't have a had dem on his side in the first place n/t

I say again: n/t

[girl gone mad]

11. Thanks Baucus, and thanks to those

who have been keeping the pressure on. I'm sure many weak-kneed dems have been hearing from their constituents.

Josh Marshall has a list of those deemed most likely to vote Bush's way, with links to their contact information. Everyone should look through the list and take the time to call or write their representative if he or she is mentioned:

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2005_01_02.php#004347

[Gloria]

12. We should also support Baucus and Spector and anyone

else who dares defy the junta.

[chomskysright]

15. 10 reasons why Bush's SS plan SUCKS...

TEN REASONS WHY PRESIDENT BUSH'S PLAN FOR SOCIAL SECURITY IS A BAD IDEA

1. WHO WANTS THE CHANGE? Wall Street wants privatization in order reap a windfall profit. Everyone else should be very suspicious. If the stock market goes down, your benefits go down.

2. WHY DOES WALL STREET WANT THE CHANGE? In the background, beyond private accounts, are various proposals to cut guaranteed Social Security
benefits in the future.

3. BUT WE WILL NEVER HAVE ANOTHER DEPRESSION AS IN 1929: wrong: In 1973-74, the stock
market lost 48 percent of its value. The stock market is a very dangerous place to put money

4. WHO DOES NOT WANT THE CHANGE? AARP, the nation's largest seniors organization, is coming out
strongly against President Bush's plan to allow private individual accounts
within Social Security.

5. HOW MUCH WOULD IT COST TO PRIVATIZE SOCIAL SECURITY? transitioning to private accounts could cost $2 trillion.

6. WHERE WOULD THAT MONEY COME FROM? our taxes will have to be increased to make Bush's proposed plan work.

7. HOW EFFICIENT IS THE SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM NOW? More than 99 percent of Social Security's revenues go toward benefits, and less than 1 percent for overhead.

8. OTHER COUNTIES MUST HAVE SOCIAL SECURITY AND MAYBE THOSE ARE BETTER? wrong: Chile's system, management fees are around 20 times as high. A privatized system will take money from your Social Security check.

9. SHOULD YOU BE WORRIED THAT YOU WILL NOT HAVE SOCIAL SECURITY? Nothing is going to change, in terms of benefits, for people near your retirement age.

10. WHO TAXED SOCIAL SECURITY TO BEGIN WITH? Ronald Reagan, a Republican, began the taxation on Social Security in 1983.

There is no Social Security crisis, just as there were no weapons of mass destruction. Social Security has provided a lifeline to millions of Americans with
millions of checks, and in more than 60 years has never missed a payment—and this track record can continue. Social Security is basically a sound system
that can meet 100 percent of its obligations for the next 39 years, and with responsible changes it can continue to do so indefinitely

[Osamasux]

20. There was a recent study of the Teamsters' Pension Funds

that says a lot about the danger here with Chimp's SS dream. Control of the pension funds was taken away from the Teamsters' leadership as part of the racketeering clean up.

The money managers hired to manage the California Teamsters pension funds invested them very conservatively in bonds. They have performed well and are solvent. The money managers hired to run the Midwest Teamsters money, on the other hand, put them in equities instead and churned the accounts, generating lots of research fees and commissions for themselves. The portfolios performed poorly and the Midwest Teamsters are now looking to cut pension benefits because they can not meet their obligations.

If the choice is left to people, most will either chase the big gains and invest inappropriately, or invest over conservatively in money market funds and still not have enough for retirement.

All they need to do is channel the FICA payments into the Trust Fund, let the Trust Fund earn interest at the Treasury rates and the system should come out fine. But the conservatives don't want to fix SS, they want to end SS.

[Newsjock]

17. Good grief, at this rate

... perhaps I should think about moving back to Montana.

[aquart]

19. Well, well, well.

But what about George's "political capital"?

[struggle4progress]

21. kick

[Judi Lynn]

22. So what did Max Baucus get for his support of tax cuts & Medicare reform?

Assurance of safe plane trips? He surely didn't get help for his Cuba trade initiatives.

Very happy to see he's stepping away from the "uniter, not a divider." Hope the distance increases.

[MaineDem]

24. Kick for the morning crowd (nt)