Bush Paints Dire Picture of Social Security Future (Reuters via Yahoo)

[pinto]

Bush Paints Dire Picture of Social Security Future

52 minutes ago

By Caren Bohan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites) warned younger workers on Tuesday of a grim future for their Social Security (news - web sites) benefits in a bid to counter increasingly vocal opposition to his plan to add private accounts to the retirement program.

As he launched his campaign to sell the issue in Congress amid wariness of even some of his fellow Republicans, the president did not offer any new details on how he would revamp the 70-year-old retirement program.

The president used the word "bankrupt" five times to raise alarms about the finances of Social Security decades into the future.

Critics contend he is exaggerating the program's woes, which some say could be fixed with relatively small adjustments and without a shift to private accounts.

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http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=615&u=/nm/20050111/pl_nm/retirement_bush_dc&printer=1

[central scrutinizer]

1. Just like the warnings about WMD in Iraq

with exactly the same amount of truth

[eaprez]

2. He's going to do with Social Security what he did with....

...Iraq and the run up to the war. He is going to keep repeating the same lines over and over and over again and it will just be accepted as fact. It's not like the news organizations are investigating anything - just being a mouthpiece for him.

[Just Me]

3. He's trying to scare the shit out of young adults yet accuses Democrats

of scaring the elderly. What a freakin' hypocrite and LIAR, LIAR, LIAR!!!

[Canuckistanian]

4. Whenever you get *Bush repeating something endlessly...

.. it's time to watch for a disaster.

[pinto]

8. that's probably a good, general rule of thumb. if it's repeated endlessly

we're all in trouble. (see "staying the course in Iraq")

[nodictators]

21. Also see "Mein Kampf"

Hitler wrote about the "Big Lie" in that awful book. He explained that the repetition makes people believe that there must be some truth to the Lie, since it is repeated so often.

The TV network "news" Liars are also well experienced with the Big Lie. See their Whitewater attacks, all of which were false, on the Clintons.

[Just Me]

25. Seriously, THAT SHOULD BE REQUIRED READING!!!

Perhaps it would force the overly self-involved to face reality.

[Stinky The Clown]

5. Liar Liar Pants on Fire

Fuck you George Bush. Fuck you for screwing old people and workers. Fuck you for screwing young people. Fuck you for trying to dismantle the social safety net. Fuck you for trying to kill the bedrock of our society. Fuck you for your disrespect of the elderly.

Just go FUCK YOURSELF, George Bush!

[Massachusetts]

13. Husb2Sparkly, I couldn't have said it any better, Thanks.

[Canuckistanian]

20. Won't win any points for eloquence, but...

the point is made effectively and sincerely. Well done!

[Emboldened Chimp]

6. Here's the media push mentioned a couple weeks ago...

They warned us the Asswipe would begin making a media push and here it is. We need to counter their spin with our facts--Social Security is solvent to 2042, administration costs will suck up account funds, profits made from private accounts will be limited with any overages being seized by the government, and most people will end up on the losing side of the ledger.

[noshenanigans]

7. Could you explain..

"profits made from private accounts will be limited with any overages being seized by the government"

I've been trying to become more concrete on the Social Security issues so I can argue it properly, and I've heard a little about this, but could you help me out by going into a little more detail about that specific point? (or point me to an article)

[Emboldened Chimp]

9. It's part of the Lindsay plan when he was in the adminstration

According to his proposal, a person could only earn a certain rate of return; if their stocks peformed above the accepted percentage, the money would be kept by the government to 'fix' the SS gap--at least, that's my understanding...correct me if I'm wrong.

[nodictators]

23. There is an excellent article now on the the front page of DU

http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/05/01/11_pirate.html

Bush's "Piratization" of Social Security
January 11, 2005
By Vermeer

[denverbill]

10. "alarmist" "Chicken Little". Bankrupt my ass. n/t

[CatWoman]

11. Judging from the way Bush has handled all of his business ventures

and the presidency, and sElection 2000, and sElection 2004, and the war in Iraq, and the anthrax scare, and the 9/11 investigation, and the energy shortage, and the relations with world leaders, and the Plame allegations, and, oh well -- you get the idea.

[sarcasmo]

12. The sky is falling, the Repukes M.O.

This is how they won the election by scaring everyone. Kerry wouldn't keep you safe. Social Security is going to collapse. Do you see a sick pattern here, let's win on fear. 08 isn't here quick enough.

[MasonJar]

14. We must hit the newspaper (LTTE) with this; what a moron! Sorry!

It is so difficult for this English teacher to misspell "moran."

[DakotaDemocrat]

15. It is "destruction" of SS, not privatization...

They want to use a softer word than what it really is...

It is going to destroy it and cause MORE problems than what is going on now...They are drawing the water in Grover Norquist's bathtub...

It is destruction of Social Security, not privatization.

I'd like to get a perspective from UK DUers regarding how well their privatization has gone since Thatcher did pretty much the exact same thing that bush wants to do...

He will destroy Social Security, not save it.
It is destruction, not privatization.
He will siphon Social Security, not improve it.
It is destruction, not privatization.
He will bankrupt Social Security, not solve it.

[Just Me]

28. There was NEVER a danger to the option of voluntary investment.

Now, there IS 'cause this administration seeks to FORCE young adults to invest in a higher-risk (profiteering venture for corporatists) which they really have little to no contol over. Moreover, the neoCONimperialists seek to ADD to an additional national debt for which no American can escape responsibility (another two freakin' trillion bucks on TOP of the profiteering already imposed upon the backs of the American people).

This neoCONimperialist plan is the absolute epitome of an abusive wealthy elite profiteering off "the people's" treasure. The depths of evil heartlessness pursued by these DESPOTS never ceases to amaze me,...particularly considering the lenghths to which they will go to deceive and betray the masses.

Disfuckingusting!!!! :mad:

[Megahurtz]

16. Lying Sack!!!

:mad:

[MADem]

17. The TV ad is flat out disgusting

It basically tells young people that they are FUCKED, and to ignore the worries of the doddering old bastards who want to go slow on this issue. It ends with the chimp signing something...like he can write!

[pookieblue]

18. lyer lyer, pants on fire!

He is going to run over this country and his supporters will be eating this up. When will they wake up???

[mbperrin]

19. Lying thieving

bastard!

[damntexdem]

22. Yeh, Social Security is only better off fiscally than ...

Dubya's version of the Federal Government, most states, and much of the world. It's projected to be 2018 before payouts exceed revenue -- until then, it will still be building a surplus. That's under current rules. Increase the salary level taxed, or take off all caps on that level, and the system will be solvent much longer. That's more than can be said for the U.S. Government as a whole, and many states.

SS faces a dire future only if the Bushista wrecking ball is allowed to "reform" it.

[bagnana]

30. It bothers me to increase the salary level taxed.

We already increased the salary level taxed, when Greenspan recommended it as a means to keep SS solvent through the baby boomer retirement. Paul Krugman wrote a great article about this. Greenspan you fucking liar! The surplus generated by the last increase was supposed to be used to pay out for the forseeable future. Now because of Bush we need to increase SS rates on workers? Who's to say he isn't going to use that money to pay for another war or another round of tax cuts for his buddies? This is a working class tax bill and it really pisses me off. Why should workers be taxed more when Bush spent the freaking surplus on his war and his tax cuts for the rich? It is just so despicable.

[ally_sc]

24. more big fat lies...eom

[stepnw1f]

26. What A Sick Lying Douche bag

Sorry but I have to vent. This man is evil. I convinced that he is a traitor to "We the People". What makes me disrespect the man so much is his dishonesty in what he says he stands for. And his followers exhibit the same cowardice by calling themselves "conservatives", when we know they nothing but a bunch of sociopathic fascists.

The rest are just stupid!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

27. It's easy to paint a grim picture

when you're robbing the till to pay for an illegal war!

[driver8]

29. No worries...at least Iraq is going great!!

Who in their right mind would believe anything that Shrub or anyone in his administration has to say? It appears to me, based on previous examples, that Shrub and Co. know absolutely nothing about managing money.

It also seems to me that everytime Dubya's lips are moving -- he is lying!

Are Americans this fucking stupid? He is going to keep repeating this and repeating this until people believe it. Wake me up when these next four years are over...

[ignatius 2]

31. Wall street is salivating at all the money to be made by "privatizing"

social security. That is money the brokers and fund managers will make,not the poor schmucks who think their investments will multiply like loaves of bread. Wall streeters need new porsches,rolexes and condos in Vail,don't 'cha know?

Isn't it ironic that the stock market crash in 1929 spawned Social Security and now the Bushkies want to put SS funds into the stock market? What Roosevelt giveth the Repugs taketh away.

What's next, 4 year olds working in factories?

[BoristheBewildered]

32. So, who's "scaring our seniors" now, George? Gore? Kerry?

[grahamhgreen]

33. SOCIAL SECURITY IS INSURANCE...

THE STOCK MARKET IS GAMBLING.

[paulk]

34. I watched a few minutes of his SS townhall on C-Span

I couldn't find my channel clicker. :)

My God!!!

To be condescended to by that ignorant asswipe is more than I can take!

It's like having the skull removed from your forehead and then being punched directly in the brain. How could anyone possibly take this stupid man seriously?