I have been watching with great interest the ongoing debate about the president's call for Social Security reform and the reaction of the liberal left. It wasn't too long ago when it was the Democrats that were calling for reform and warning everyone of the impending crisis.
In August 2002 the Washington Post had an op-ed piece authored by non other than Bob Kerrey and Warren Rudman about the "Social Security Shell Game".
One paragraph in particular drew my attention: It is certainly fair to criticize reform plans on policy grounds. But it is fundamentally unfair to judge them against a standard that assumes the current system can deliver everything it promises. It can't. Today's Social Security system promises far more in future benefits than it can possibly deliver. The relevant comparison for any reform plan is with what current law can deliver, not what it promises.
So the question I pose today is this: What changed? What program was implemented after August 12, 2002, that so drastically changed how Social Security is operating that supports the complete 180 turn that liberals have taken since then?
I have actually been doing research on this because I clearly remember earlier times when one of the Democrat's mantra WAS that Social Security had a crisis and we'd better fix it NOW!
Clearly something huge changed and fixed that system that once gave the Dems free reign to scare seniors about what the Republicans were going to do to Social Security to make their benefits disappear into thin air...Right?
I must have been in a coma and just didn't realize it, because I sure as hell don't remember it!
In April 1998 in Kansas City, MO, President Clinton held what was called "The Great Social Security Debate", in which all participants spoke fervently about the need for Social Security reform.
Odd, isn't it that whenever one of their own sound the alarm, the liberal members of congress along with their compadres in the MSM rally to the battle cry. But just let that same message of the same crisis escape from the lips of a conservative and watch them do a 180.
It is an incredible thing to witness...and given the gravity of the situation and the real potential for disaster, I am shocked at what we are seeing play out on the national stage.
The Washington Times is reporting Democrats have assailed Republicans' call for Social Security reform, saying the program faces no serious woes for 40 or so years, but some analysts and observers say the system will face a real problem in barely more than a decade.
And quite frankly, nothing could be further from the truth.
Robert Bixby, executive director of the nonpartisan Concord Coalition, said, "2018 is when the system begins paying out more than it takes in.
"From the budgetary and economic perspective, that's the significant year," he said. "It clearly is a problem."
Obviously, the solution will have to be a thoughtful one, with models and worst-case-scenarios presented and worked through, but there is a need for fixing the Social Security system - and that fix needs to be put into place now, not 10 years from now.
John Palffy, president of JMP Financial, further explains the issue:
Privatization is fundamental to solving Social Security: It replaces the "pay-as-you" go scheme with a true savings program. By relying on savings, not unstable demographics, for retiree benefits, privatization will stabilize and secure future benefits and increase capital, productivity and wages.
Hopefully our representatives in Washington will step up to the plate and put aside their partisan politics to work on something as worthy and worthwhile as this.
Their constituents are depending on them to do what's right...to forget about their own egos and finally do something that is right for this country's citizens.
DR
