Democrats: Bush Social Security plan is 'dead'

[tuvor]

President Bush's plan to partially privatize Social Security is dead, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada said in a visit to Pittsburgh yesterday.

Reid along with Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, chairman of the Senate's Democratic Policy Committee, and Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, came to Coraopolis for a town meeting about Social Security.

Afterward, Reid told the Post-Gazette editorial board that he had enough votes in the Senate to block President Bush's proposal to introduce private savings accounts as an alternative to the existing federal retirement plan. "It's dead," Reid said. "The president just hasn't acknowledged it yet."

The minority leader also told the editorial board that the Pennsylvania Senate seat held by Republican Rick Santorum is the Democratic Party's principal target in the 2006 elections. Reid also expressed concern that if Senate rules are changed to put an end to filibusters to delay action on judicial nominees, a vital protection for minority-party rights would be lost.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05113/493250.stm

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. Best news in weeks

Little by little, we are winning some major battles with *.

[wtmusic]

4. Hasn't been a lot of news coverage on the SS front lately, has there? n/t

[cliss]

16. LOL! That shampoo bottle is so funny!

I saw it on another thread, and I had tears running down my cheeks from laughing.

Notice, Court Jester Lieberman is actually looking at Bush. Bush doesn't notice Holy Joe, just smiles & looks straight ahead. Joe looks worried, though.

[NYC Liberal]

2. Bush will blame Democrats for a bill killed by a Republican Senate

Watch for it

[flaminbats]

8. just let him try..

like Clinton wanted to blame Republicans for a health-care bill killed by a Democratic Senate in 1994.

[w4rma]

11. I hope Dems do get the "blame" for stopping him from destroying SS. (nt)

[KittyWampus]

3. This Makes Me Think Of Two Things... A Dead Parrot & T. Schiavo's Parents

both emphasized absurdity. One on purpose and the other incidentally.

[LiberallyInclined]

22. beautiful bird, the norwegian blue...

nt

[Jandar]

39. Norwegian?

Are you suggesting that Parrots migrate?

[Hissyspit]

35. "He's pining for the fields!" n/t

[lovuian]

Blowing Taps!!!

There is a God!!!

[Megahurtz]

5. I certainly hope so!

THIEF!!!:argh:

[FourStarDemocrat]

6. kudos to Reid!

Now let it be true...I don't want to find out about any bullshit "partial compromises" by the dems on this issue.

[rodeodance]

7. santorium to be target in '06--yup, i like the sound of bringing down this

scumbag!!


The minority leader also told the editorial board that the Pennsylvania Senate seat held by Republican Rick Santorum is the Democratic Party's principal target in the 2006 elections. Reid also expressed concern that if Senate rules are changed to put an end to filibusters to delay action on judicial nominees, a vital protection for minority-party rights would be lost.

[AuntiBush]

15. More like the Sanitarian

Like to see all those Re-Thug's end-up in one!

[AzDar]

9. "it's dead..the pResident just hasn't acknowledged it" .....Much like his

brain.

[hatrack]

10. Plan? Was there a plan? Haven't heard many details from Chimpmeister . .

I mean, other than his little admission that "personal accounts" :puke: wouldn't do anything to solve the problem.

[fortyfeetunder]

12. Dead? Methinks it's premature

I want to hear some Republican leaders pronounce it dead before I am thoroughly convinced there no chance this issue will come back. I don't think it will die quietly.

[AuntiBush]

14. Good Point. How about the 1 Finger Salute Held-Up By All

Rethugs in both Congressional Houses w/blood trickling from those fingers. That is, if they can keep um' out of our American $$ pies.

[fortyfeetunder]

19. You got it

:applause:
When I see bipartisan agreement this is a dead as a doornail, then I will rejoice!

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:
:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[Knight of Ni]

34. I want to see the body!!

First rule of fiction:

Don't rule something or someone dead unless you see the corpse.

[ashmanonar]

40. even then you can be mistaken...

sorry, old dune hand here. :D

[sandnsea]

44. Claim it dead, excellent strategy

In part, because I suggested it a week ago! :) They were trying to push the story that Dems were caving. Ha. Didn't work. Fucking AP. Privatization is dead. Make people start demanding answers to shore up social security and make Bush be the one to say "raise taxes". Hahaha. Absotively.

"For some reason, I don’t quite buy this AP story about a sudden Democratic switcheroo on Social Security. Maybe it has something to do with the AP’s recent report that Senators had outed a CIA operative, when the truth was that the analyst’s name had been reported on many occasions. More to the point, I just don’t think Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are going to reverse course, over night. Democrats backing off of a fight they’re winning sounds more like wishful thinking from Karl Rove.

What I do think is that Pelosi and Reid understand that it is time for Bush to admit what many in his own party have already admitted, he lost the privatization fight"
http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/default.asp?view=plink&id=737

[AuntiBush]

13. And alone came the "Sunset Commission"

Did you catch that earlier under "Latest/Greatest?" Don't have the link but it's was out here an a few hours ago.

With that said...

:bounce::bounce::toast::beer::bounce::bounce:

Next...!

[barb162]

17. I hope he tells Bush

[Boo Boo]

18. Reid must be feeling quite

confident. You wouldn't make that kind of remark if you weren't darn good and certain.

Poor Bushie! I guess it never occurred to him that the problem with not really being elected is that the people don't really support you.

[VegasWolf]

20. Good riddance to a bad Booze idea. n/t

[kurtyboy]

21. "It's dead," Reid said. "The president just hasn't acknowledged it yet."

Ironically similar to the Schindlers--Terri was dead, they just couldn't accept it....

[Zhade]

23. That's a pretty bold statement.

He better be right, and there better be no backroom deals.

[jfern]

24. If it looks dead

Throw an anvil at it. Don't let the issue go away.

[ozone_man]

28. Can never be sure enough.

I've seen too many zombie flicks to know that just because it looks dead, doesn't mean that it is.

[Athame]

33. Or hit it on the head with a silver hammer

:woohoo:

[NeoConsSuck]

25. I don't share Reid's enthusiasm..

I spend a lot (too much) time on financial and business websites. Those with a vested interest in privatizing SS haven't cried uncle yet. They're still pimping and pumping this idea. And until I hear those capitalist whores throw in the towel, I'm still concerned.

[lancdem]

42. No, I'm sure they haven't given up

But Reid knows this goes nowhere if the Dems in the Senate are unified against it.

[wryter2000]

26. This is wonderful

:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

Bush's plan would have been the final nail in the coffin for the middle class. Fight back, Dems! :yourock:

[sellitman]

27. Won't bush be able to use the Sunset Commission to end SS ?

If he passes the bill as written then he wind defacto. Right?

[charlyvi]

30. If he wants to destroy the Republican party for 50 yrs.

There's a reason his SS plan (or lack of one) is dead. The same people who disapprove of it are the same people who would vote out the party that was responsible for ending the most popular Democratic program ever. Acutally, SS is so populare that most poeple can't conceive of it not being there; it transcends party affiliation. The most rabid red-stater probably doesn't want it to end. Just my thoughts.

[sellitman]

36. He is still going to fuck with it.

Mark my words. And FUX News will be behind him 100%.

[charlyvi]

37. Many red staters have SS or SSI as their only income.

I don't care how much you watch Faux news, fuck with someone's only income and you'll have a fight on your hands.


:mad:

[Rainscents]

29. Thugs are worry about '06 if they mess with SS... I think, this is why,

SS is dead.

[maxanne]

31. private accounts

may be dead, but they'll move on to the issue of solvency - and that's where they'll win. The Dems have been solid against private accounts, but they'll fragment on the solvency issue.

[54anickel]

32. I won't bet on it. It's been a long-term plan - shored up in the 80's.

The end goal is to kill the beast. This was a trial balloon to see how much progress they've made with the public in getting them to buy into the "crisis" mantra. The idea of a crisis and "big gubbermint" stealing your money has been swallowed hook, line and sinker. BeelzeBush has actually been quite successful in his role.


http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/020705F.shtml
snip>

Influenced by Ferrera, Cato published a second paper in 1983 that served as a political manifesto for turning over at least some of Social Security to the private sector.

It recommended:

- Consistent criticism of Social Security to undermine confidence in it.

- Building a coalition of supporters for private accounts, including banks and other financial institutions that would benefit from them.

- Assuring "those already retired or nearing retirement that their benefits will be paid in full."

- Legislation making private savings plans such as individual retirement accounts more available and thus more familiar.

Making it easier for more Americans to set up accounts, authors Stuart Butler and Peter Germanis said, would make "it in practice a small-scale, private Social Security system that can supplement the federal system ... we will meet the next financial crisis in Social Security with a private alternative ready in the wings, an alternative with which the public is familiar and comfortable and one that has the backing of a powerful political force."

At another point, they said that expanding the IRA accounts "is purely political. Expanding the IRA system in this way would make it a private prototype of Social Security."

One thing they couldn't plan, but which benefited them greatly, was the bull market of the `80s and `90s. Soaring stock prices drew more people into the markets and made investing very attractive. In the 20 years after 1983, the percentage of eligible employees investing in private 401(k) retirement accounts soared from 38 percent to 75 percent, according to the Profit Sharing/401(k) Council of America.

more...

And I won't bee so sure that bull market wasn't "planned". Greenspan and his nurturing of liquidity through margins and derivatives did play quite a role in that bull market and the "new economy" mantra. The following article is from 2000.

http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/Issuebriefs_Ib136

snip>

Much of the recent overvaluation of U.S. stock markets has been fueled by excessive credit. The share of "margin debt" to the capitalization of the stock market is now at or above the heights reached just before the 1987 market crash. The ratio of margin debt to the gross domestic product (GDP) is now double what it was at that time.

A number of market observers, including financier George Soros and Stanley Fischer, deputy director at the International Monetary Fund, have recently advocated that the Fed let the air out of this credit boom by raising margin requirements. But Alan Greenspan has consistently refused. When asked about this at his confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, Greenspan said that he did not want to discriminate against individuals who were not wealthy enough to have other assets against which to borrow in order to play the stock market. Given that people who use margin leverage to buy stock are typically wealthy by any reasonable standard, this is a rather weak rationale for favoring higher interest rate policies whose costs will largely be felt by lower- and middle-income working people.

To the extent that Greenspan is concerned about irrational exuberance in the stock market, raising margin requirements should certainly be the weapon of choice.

Wages - the Fed's real target
Given the absence of inflationary signals, the lack of historical precedent, and the Fed's disinclination to target the stock market bubble directly, it does not appear that preventing an outbreak of inflation - at least as most Americans would understand the term - is the root motivation behind the Fed's recent interest rate increases. Rather, it seems to be aiming at preventing wage increases.

more...

They are just planting another seed in the public's mind. While I'm sure they would have loved to have the idea of piratizing SS take off, it's no major set-back to their ultimate goal. I'm sure 401Ks and IRAs will again be tinkered with to allow more money to be invested by those who can afford it. Down the road there will probably be some sort of means testing as to who will get SS payments and how much. When working folks find they won't be getting what they thought they had coming from putting into the system all those years they'll scream for it's end.

[paineinthearse]

38. Good for Harry, now let's see

if he can keep the votes organized.

[Mechatanketra]

41. Bah.

Count no criminal's plan dead unless the planner is. And then it's 50/50.

[tex-wyo-dem]

43. Something Rove never counted on...

The power of the people and the minority in congress.

Good job Ried!!!

We've got your back!!!