Social Security - McCain Proposes Another 9/11 Style Commission!

[Median Democrat]

Obama has been out and about hitting McCain for his prior proposals to privitize social security, which McCain now denies despite comments during the campaign in which he referred to social security as a disgrace. Here are articles and ads discussing Obama focus on social security:

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/09/20/1428937.aspx

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/20/campaign.wrap/?iref=hpmostpop

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/us/politics/21campaign.html?ref=us

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aM4H2N9uvWBY&refer=home

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Social Security Debate

Obama and McCain addressed the AARP's annual ``Life@50+'' conference separately, both by satellite.

Obama, 47, said he would in about a decade lift the cap on Social Security payroll taxes on those making $250,000 a year or more. That tax is now capped at $102,000 in annual income.

McCain has been less specific about how he would extend the program's solvency. He has said he opposes increasing taxes even as he vowed to leave ``all options'' on the table.

McCain also has called for the creation of a bipartisan commission to propose solutions to extend the solvency of the federal retirement program.

Obama criticized McCain's proposal to create personal accounts, which would allow workers to divert a portion of their Social Security payroll tax to privately held accounts. That approach is similar to a plan President George W. Bush touted in 2005, which Congress refused to enact.

Private Accounts

``Privatizing Social Security was a bad idea when George Bush proposed it, and it's a bad idea today,'' Obama said.

``It would take the one rock-solid, guaranteed part of your retirement income and gamble it on the stock market,'' the Illinois senator said. ``That's why I stood with AARP against this plan in the Senate, and that's why I won't stand for it as president.''

Obama said under the current approach, ``most middle-class families pay this tax on every dime they make, while millionaires and billionaires only pay it on a very small percentage of their income.'' Hence, he said, he would lift the ceiling in about ``a decade or more from now.''

In his remarks to AARP, Arizona Senator McCain did not specifically address Obama's Social Security proposals. Rather, he said he would ``change Washington and stop leaving our country's problems for some unluckier generation.''

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As a reminder, back in 2005, Bush/McCain's effort to partially privitize social security was heavily promoted by the private sector and financial industry:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A39791-2004Dec31.html

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Both sides say the fight could eventually become the most expensive lobbying campaign Washington has witnessed because the stakes are so high for businesses and taxpayers and the issue is so complex for most Americans.

"As an issue, Social Security has not really been out there in front of the public," said David Certner, director of federal affairs at AARP. "It was less of an issue in this past election than it has been in any election in the past two decades."

Consequently, both sides are rushing to define the problem and potential solutions just as most Americans start tuning in to the debate over overhauling the 65-year-old program.

The only point they agree on is that Social Security faces a long-term financial problem because the U.S. population is growing older, living longer and, sometime next decade, will be taking more out of the system in benefits than it is paying in taxes that fund it. Democrats are divided over how to fix the problem. Some want to raise taxes; others want to cut benefits or delay the retirement age.

Bush and his GOP allies want to change the system by allowing some workers to put a percentage of their payroll taxes into private investment accounts. The president plans to detail his Social Security plan late this month to coincide with his State of the Union address, which GOP officials say will place the issue at the top of his domestic agenda.

Republicans inside and outside the White House said Bush plans to ask Congress to allow younger Americans to put at least one-third of the 6.2 percent payroll tax into private accounts, which will offer a set number of investment options similar to the thrift savings plans provided to federal workers.

The president has vowed that benefits will remain untouched for those at or near retirement.

Republicans said Bush is leaning toward cutting benefits for those who opt for the private accounts. Once he announces the plan, Bush will campaign as if it is an election, holding rallies and town hall meetings to promote the plan. A senior White House official said the president will tell Congress he wants the plan enacted by the end of this year.

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Corporations will do much of their work through a group called the Alliance for Worker Retirement Security, which operates out of the National Association of Manufacturers headquarters here and was once headed by Blahous. Derrick A. Max, executive director of the alliance, said the group will probably run its own ads and help fund other efforts.

"The beginning stage will be focusing on the crisis, the need to act and the cost of delay," Max said.

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