Democrats Say Will Hold Bush 'Accountable'

[GHOSTDANCER]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top two Democrats in the U.S. Congress vowed on Wednesday to work with President Bush when possible, but ripped into him on two central issues -- Iraq and his bid to revamp the Social Security retirement program.

In remarks prepared for delivery as their party's response to Bush's State of the Union address, they described his call to allow workers to invest some of their Social Security taxes in stocks and bonds a dangerous gamble.

"The Bush plan isn't really Social Security reform," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat. "It's more like Social Security roulette

<http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=7518267[br />

[Inland]

1. For god's sake, pound and pound and pound away.

Bush isn't telling us his plan, so feel free to say anything you want.

[indepat]

2. We can really count on the Dems holding GWB accountable: yeah,

what a laugh, my sides are splitting.

[Career Prole]

3. Hold him accountable?

They do know the "statute of limitations" runs out in just under four years, don't they?

[edbermac]

4. Well, that doesn't mean squat when we don't hold the House & Senate...

I'm sure the Bushies are just shaking in their shoes over that type of rhetoric...:scared:

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

9. No, but they're shaking in their shoes

from the tons of letters from senior citizens and aging boomers like me. They realize a wrong move on SS could send their house of cards tumbling down. Congresspeople are the most vulnerable, of course, and my Conman, a Repuke from a solidly Repuke district, is very cautious when he talks about SS reform--in fact, he hasn't come out in favor of it at all. It would be interesting to see how many other Republicans have done the same thing.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

5. So far, seniors are up in arms

Our goal is to get the younger folks alarmed too.
I had a conversation with a twenty-something who was lauding the idea of getting to 'invest it himself'. My response was 'Would you consider it so great if I told you you'd have only about half of the money the government promises you right now in SS to invest? Because it will be cut. Tell me how that is a great thing!' Made him think a bit.

[JaneDoughnut]

12. That will be tough to do

I'm 24. I've had the vague impression from my first paycheck forward that Social Security was not going to be there for me by the time I retired, and if it was it wouldn't be enough to live on anyway. And this seems like a pretty common perception.

So to get young people on your side, you'll first have to convince them that the system we have now will be working in 50 years.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

15. It can

Simply make the ceiling for SS taxes be raised from $80,000 to, say, 200,000.

FYI, when I was 24, I figured that SS would be done for by the time I was able to retire. If Bush doesn't mess it up, it will be there for me.(I turn 54 this month)

[magellan]

17. "Crisis" is in the eye of the beholder

The system will be working in 50 years -- if we can get the federal government to pay off its IOUs to the Social Security Trust Fund, which come due in 2018. That would make SS solvent till 2042. Meanwhile small adjustments could be made to employees' deduction amount, which would get us past the baby boomer bubble.

From what I understand of the Republican stance, the "crisis" occurs in 2018 because the federal government has no intention of paying back its IOUs to the Trust Fund. Remember, this is your money and mine the government has borrowed over the years, and they are basically saying they intend to default on those loans in 2018. Instead they want to spend trillions setting up private investment accounts for people. The only ones who are sure to benefit from that are BushCo's friends on Wall Street. (And again, it's your money and mine that will fund their investment scheme, of course.)

Young people like yourself need to defend against Republican scare tactics and approach the Social Security problem logically. It has worked well for a long time without risk; there's no reason to overhaul the entire system and add risk just because the federal government refuses to act in a fiscally responsible manner and pay back the money it has borrowed. We should hold them accountable instead of letting them play us for fools.

Dang, there's that word 'accountable' again.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

19. Do you realize the goal is to eliminate at perfectly good plan?

The goal is to do away with Social Security and hand the job of securing one's old age to the markets. That means no security whatsoever.

What I find missing in the debate is the fact that market value goes up for a company when they cut expenses and that means jobs.

Think about that for a minute.

[whistle]

6. How are they going to do that, he slips by with evasion, lies...

...deflections and projections and never has to appear before any body and give any testimony. We just have to get hard facts and a stool pigeon to blow the whistle on the entire bunch.

[Blue Gardener]

7. I'll believe it when I see it

So far I have seen no indication that they are holding him accountable for anything he's done.

[VegasWolf]

8. Yeah, just like they held Cherkoff accountable!!! Ooops, wait a sec.n/t

[Spinzonner]

10. Cue Buddy Holly

That'll be the day ...

[stlsaxman]

11. Oh... right.

That's why we sign their paychecks.

[matcom]

13. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

i would have been happier if Dems actually tried to BEAT him on November 2nd :eyes:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

ummmmm. you all just MIGHT be a LITTLE late :eyes:

[readmylips]

14. Yeah, Accountable...

do democrats know the meaning of accountable. All we see is rubber stamped.

[Demeter]

16. To Hold \bush Accountable, Must First Hold Democrats Accountable

and together Democrats and and people must hold each other accountable to defeat the forces of greed, ignorance and brutaliity as embodied in the GOP.

[intheflow]

18. Riiiight. Just like we're holding Gonzales accountable.

:eyes: