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August 31st, 2005More on Both Parties are to Blame
August 31st 08:18:02 PM
As we wrote before, both parties are responsible for the Social Security Crisis. This chart from the Ways and Means Committee clearly shows the growth in "mandatory" spending over the years. The only way to slow the growth of spending is to reform the programs doing the spending. Both parties helped create the problem. Both should work to solve it.
Special thanks to Willisms for finding the chart.
Posted by Chris Schrimpf| Comments (3)
Telling It Like It Is
August 31st 02:42:52 PM
After reading Erin Robert's article "A dose of realism is needed" S4 received a great email from a reader in San Diego. He wrote: "Let us just tell it as it is; my generation (I am 55) is currently ripping off your generation for better than 12% of your earnings in order to make those
of us who have failed to provide adequately for our own retirement. Worse yet, an enormous portion of FICA revenues merely go tosupporting the bureaucracy that administers the program, or are sucked up for unrelated programs...
In another four years, I will be eligible to begin collecting benefits, but I for one would consider it a great deal to give up all of those benefits if the program were just ended today, and the Feds stopped taxing me and my 18 year old son."
Posted by Chris Schrimpf| Comments (2)
August 30th, 2005How Steadfast Should Bush Stand On Reform?
August 30th 10:07:57 PM
There's been a fair about written about Jack Kemp's op-ed "To Grow the
Majority". Rock the Vote naturally totally mis-analyzes it.
I have to take issue with it for another reason. Security faces two problems. First is the CongressionalRaid on the trust fund, which Kemp rightly notes GROW accounts would fix. But the problem is also demographic. Without substantive reform Social Security will not be solvent and GROW accounts do nothing to address solvency. President Bush advocates solving the two-fold problem of Social Security at the same time. He should be commended for tackling both the popular reform, stopping Congressmen from selling our retirement on the Congressional floor, and the more difficult reform, changing the inherent demographic problem of Social Security.
Personal Accounts address both issues and they bring instruments of wealth creation to all Americans. That's something to be commended. Bush should stay strong in demanding comprehensive reform until the last possible moment.
I'm really interested in what others think about how comprehensive reform should be and how strong and for how long Bush should stand for complete reform, so please leave comments.
Posted by Chris Schrimpf| Comments (14)
The New Republic: Washington we really do have a problem
August 30th 11:30:18 AM
They write, "Consider what happens if we allow the status quo to continue: Either (a) government deficits reach an intolerable size in the eyes of financial markets, forcing a sudden collapse of the system via spiraling interest rates; (b) the proportion of income that has to be taken from the young (i.e., people who enter the workforce in the years ahead) and given to the old (those who have retired) rises to a point at which the young have to use literally all of their after-tax savings to purchase government bonds and, thus, are unable to accumulate physical capital; or (c) the United States becomes so dependent on foreign capital to finance investment and consumption that the U.S. capital stock becomes foreign-owned and all income from capital flows abroad."
Unless they believe in the Leninist principle--"the worse, the better"--Democrats need to come up with a better strategy than just waiting for one of these things to happen to Republicans. Instead of being relentlessly negative, Democrats need to recognize the magnitude of the problem we face and come up with some credible solutions of their own, sooner rather than later.
Posted by Chris Schrimpf| Comments (5)
Bernie Sanders on Board for Reform?
August 30th 11:27:25 AM
"Sanders said he supported increasing contributions from wealthy Americans into the fund and placing it in a lock box so that the taxes are not used to support the general fund.
In other words, Sanders wants to stop the raid on Social Security."
Read more here.
Posted by Chris Schrimpf| Comments (0)
August 29th, 2005Apparently, gay marriage has something to do with Social Security.
August 29th 07:04:30 PM
It looks like Rock the Vote is making their true political views more and more obvious by the day (views which Chris managed to explain rather well here). Rock the Vote's newest blogger, Terrence Heath, is either making no concerted effort to try to mask his political affiliation, or he is really bad at hiding blatant partisanship- partisanship that is rather obvious given the sources he cites in his RTV blog entries. In fact, let's just take a look at Terrence Heath's last few blog entries, and the sources he cites for his arguments:
- The Daily Kos; the most popular liberal blog on the Internet.
- The Left Coaster; another liberal blog.
- Suburban Guerilla; yes, another liberal blog.
- The Huffington Post; I think you get the idea by now.
- Noted liberal New York Times columnist Paul Krugman.
- The AFL-CIO, an anti-personal account union that donates heavily to Democrats.
- Media Matters, a liberal "media watchdog" group.
- The Washington Post; hey look, finally a source that isn't blatantly liberal!
- Fox News.
WAIT! Fox News, you ask? Well, he didn't actually cite Fox News, he just accused it of wanting to "kill Social Security." Apparently, according to Mr. Heath, discussing reform is the equivalent of launching a Jihad on Social Security.
But none of this compares to Mr. Heath's latest gem: apparently, according to Mr. Heath, gay marriage is now related to Social Security reform. I kid you not.
Mr. Heath has decided to try to launch a smear against USANext, a pro-personal account group that opposes the AARP- the anti-personal account group that Rock the Vote is working with to oppose Social Security reform. USANext- a conservative leaning group- also happens to oppose the AARP's stance on other issues, such as gay marriage. Mr. Heath uses a USANext ad that attacked AARP's gay marriage stance, and somehow manages to bring it into the Social Security debate as a way to smear USANext's stance and credibility on Social Security. I still haven't figured out what exactly gay marriage has to do with Social Security. Maybe Mr. Heath can enlighten us.
As with anything created by a blind partisan, Heath also manages to commit stunning acts of hypocrisy. He attacks USANext for using "misleading mailers," which is humorous given the fact that, during the 2004 elections, Rock the Vote touted a fake "draft card" on its website to promote unsubstantiated fears of the military draft possibly coming back. Heath should perhaps fix RTV's website if he's going to attack others for using misleading material.
One has to wonder why an organization that claims to be so "non-partisan" is going ridiculously out of their way to show that they're as partisan as it gets. The youth of America deserve true representation, not disingenuous representation from political hacks who blindly tout one particular side's views while smearing, distorting, and misrepresenting the other side's views.
On the bright side, at least we now get to laugh at hilarious arguments from RTV bloggers like Terrence. You can't argue with a little bit of entertainment!
Posted by Sundeep Sidhu| Comments (9)
"The Deal?" No Deal.
August 29th 10:54:34 AM
An editorial in the Dallas morning news yesterday called for President Bush to back Senator Robert Bennett's (R-UT) plan to reform Social Security by changing the formula by which benefits are calculated. They call it "The Deal," in that it would force Democrats to come to the table and back a reform - which they have refused to do, thus far - and give Republicans a way out of a sticky situation before the midterm elections.
The problem is that under Senator Bennett's plan, everyone misses out: the opportunity to create wealth, to pass on an inheritance to one's children, and upward mobility for America's low-income workers are forgone.
Senator Bennett's plan, indeed, would address the pressing solvency issue. It is important that Social Security promises to pay out only the benefits it can afford; calculating benefits by price-indexing as opposed to wage-indexing will help to accomplish that goal. However, changing the manner by which Social Security benefits are calculated fails to address the structural problems the program faces.
Personal Retirement Accounts offer an alternative to the pay-as-you-go system, forcing the Social Security system to save for the future. Though it is certainly prudent to address the solvency problem, it is just as important to examine how the current system functions, and to provide a program that provides more advantages than just an income stream.
Social Security needs serious help, but Americans simply cannot afford to pass on the opportunity to create wealth.
Posted by Erin Robert| Comments (3)
AARP asks a Good Question
August 29th 10:51:50 AM
From a story about the RTV Awards
Tom Nelson, chief operating officer of AARP, summed up the night for everyone from Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama to "American Idol" judge Randy Jackson and R&B singer Mya gathered in the National Building Museum's Great Hall:
"You were probably wondering, as you sat down at your table, 'What the heck is the AARP doing in a Rock the Vote event?' "
The awards, though, took a back seat to the message Rock the Vote was sending: We want to be the AARP for the iPod-obsessed, ring-tone-changing, PSP and Nintendo DS-carrying generation.
The Bush-Kerry matchup was a landmark election for young voters, drawing nearly 21 million people under the age of 30 to the polls, Rock the Vote President Jehmu Greene said before the dinner. Citing a recent report -- by the Center for Information and Research on Civil Learning and Engagement at the University of Maryland -- that the increase in voter turnout among 18-to-24 voters was the highest of any age group, Greene went on, "This is the perfect time to ask for a seat among power brokers here in Washington."
There's the NAACP for black people, the Chamber of Commerce for business people, the National Rifle Association for gun-keeping people.
"Young people don't always pay attention to inside-the-Beltway politics," Greene said, "but with the ongoing war on terror, the threat on Social Security, the state of the economy on their minds, the times sure have changed."
Changing times make for changing partners: Last winter, AARP and Rock the Vote, both against the privatization of Social Security, locked hands in a campaign to defeat President Bush's plan.
Taped to the rails of the steps leading up to the red carpet last night were posters proclaiming "I {heart} Social Security." A cheering squad of Rock the Vote volunteers -- many of them political science and prelaw students at Fort Hays State University in Kansas, here for a school trip -- carried the posters, too, as they greeted McAuliffe, Kemp, McCain and Obama.
Posted by Chris Schrimpf| Comments (1)
August 27th, 2005Who is Rock The Vote?
August 27th 11:44:26 AM
I did some quick research on who was leading Rock the Vote and here is what I could find.
RTV is led by Jehmu Greene. She worked for Clinton/Gore, Ann Richards, the DNC and the Texas Young Democrats.
Ivan Frishberg has worked for the state PIRG and the New Voter's Project.
Hans Riemer founded the 2030 Center an anti-personal account group. He also used to work for the Institute for America's Future a progressive research and advocacy group. It's now part of the Center for American Progress.
Lastly, their most recent blogger Terrance Heath is a self-described liberal.
Posted by Chris Schrimpf| Comments (3)
Galveston, oh Galveston
August 27th 11:06:55 AM
Government workers in Galveston Texas were able to opt out of Social Security in the early 1980's. The results speak for themselves.
Who doesn't want reform?
Posted by Chris Schrimpf| Comments (3)
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