Great news — the AARP is going head to head with Bush’s inane, insane plan to “privatize” Social Security. They don’t call this “the third rail of politics” for nothing, and Bush is about to get electrocuted. Once geezers get mobilized, there’s no easy way to fight them, and those who try usually do so at the risk of ruining their political careers.
December 30, 2004
The Discussion: 4 Comments
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1 By Devi
Sometimes I wonder if Bush is the world’s worst politician. From my Congress blog yesterday:
From The Canton Rep (Free subscription required):
President Bush is not about to take back his tax cuts, but in setting spending levels in the budget he will deliver to Congress early in the new year, he will single out a loser — perhaps several — for every winner.
To Congress’ deficit hawks, it’s about time. “It sounds as if the White House is serious about it now,” said Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. “We can only hope that’s the case. It’s going to take some presidential leadership, vetoing some bills.”
…
Medicare and Medicaid are prominent on Bush’s likely hit list.
Doctors who serve Medicare patients are threatened.
Under current law, they will absorb a 5 percent reduction in their government reimbursement for treating Medicare beneficiaries as of Jan. 1, 2006.
…
The ultimate losers, he said, would be the elderly who are insured by Medicare.
December 30, 2004 @ 1:14 pm | Comment
2 By JP
I’m all for privatizing Social Security. I can see it now – a rebirth of the dotcom economy by a bunch of old people investing in the scams … I mean stocks.
Google at $300 because people know the name.
Then, I also see a huge homeless population, since the average investor isn’t bright, so bring the SS quotient into that … well, I see a lot of lost homes, apartments, people being kicked out of assisted living facilities because of bad investments.
December 31, 2004 @ 10:18 am | Comment
3 By ACB
Could somebody explain in finanscial terms, what is wrong with privitising this, or what is right with it.
Everybody has an opinion but nobody appears to be willing to back it up.
What America needs is less litigation and less blame, litigation and blame are pushing the cost of private health care through the roof. If claims could be limited to a sensible amount and legal costs could be brought down, then there would be more money to go around for medical care and other esential aspects of the schemes.
January 1, 2005 @ 10:06 pm | Comment
4 By richard
Go to Josh Marshall’s or Kevin Drum’s blogs (links in my sidebar) to read about the situation. The very word “privatize” is propaganda, code for “eliminate.” Limiting liabilities might be a good idea, but it’s a whole separate issue and one that affects a relatively small sliver of the population.
January 2, 2005 @ 12:26 pm | Comment