Outspoken Social Security critic gets key role in administering it

[Robbien]

Source: Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 04/11/07

How much damage can an ambassador to Belgium do? Probably not as much as an ardent antagonist of Social Security might unleash in a top policymaking position at the agency that millions of Americans depend on.

. . .

But the Fox appointment doesn't have nearly the insidious potential to harm average Americans as the recess appointment of Andrew Biggs to be deputy commissioner of the Social Security Administration. Biggs is more than just a proponent of Bush's failed proposal to change Social Security from a system of guaranteed government insurance to an investment vehicle dependent on individual savings. He is an architect of the libertarian project to undermine public confidence in Social Security to clear the way for dismantling it.

As Biggs sees it, Social Security is part of the broader "New Deal paradigm" of government supports for individuals that must be "overthrown." He has drawn a parallel to Margaret Thatcher's privatization of British industries, writing that Thatcher gave the British public an "incentive" to conclude for itself that state-run companies should be in private hands.

Likewise, Biggs wrote in a 1999 article, flagging public confidence in Social Security's financial outlook might help send this "liberal sacred cow to the slaughterhouse."

Read more: http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070411/OPINION/704110392/1030

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"You're putting a guy in as policy director who does not believe in social insurance," says Barbara Kennelly. . . "He can undermine the program from within."

[Bridget Burke]

1. Yet another Fox set to guard the Henhouse....

Every day, Bush does something worse...

[kiki]

2. Yeah, and that whole privatization thing in the UK has worked out SOOOO well...

Just ask any Brit who's had to pay for electricity, gas, water or a train in the last 10 years...

[tanyev]

3. Republicans constantly talk about how government is the problem.

Then the people who vote them into office are surprised when the government is broken and dysfunctional. Hello?

[Prophet 451]

4. I wish I had the energy to be outraged

...Sadly, all I can do is think it's par for the course. Bush has a pattern of putting people in charge of departments who don't believe they should exist. How many industry lobbyists has he put in positions of power now? This is Bush all over: Government should be run for the benefit of business and those parts which don't benefit business should be withered away. He wants the robber barons back and he's damn near achieved it.

Wake me in 2009.

[maddezmom]

5. ya have to wonder how he chooses these people

:eyes: I think the motto must be, let's just piss off the populace.

[sallyseven]

8. No its lets give a job to

a supporter even if he is a moron. No one can work for the bush administration that is smarter than bush.

[MountainLaurel]

19. This is fairly standard for the Bushistas

They fire DOJ attorneys in charge of environmental enforcement and replace them with industry shills who the month before had been depending the companies being sued by DOJ. They put a guy who believes you can pray away PMS in charge of women's health. They put man who believes contraception is a sin in charge of Family Planning programs. They install in the Education Dept. people who want to destroy public education.

This is all par for the course.

[brentspeak]

6. Pure and simple: Biggs is being made head of Social Security in order to undermine it

I hope the Democrats in Congress can find a way to get him kicked out. Unfortunately, there might not be anything they legally can do.

[MGKrebs]

9. But if the pattern holds, we will find

that he runs a prostitution ring, or helped drug runners dig a tunnel under the border with Mexico, or has written letters advocating support for white supremecists. Or something like that. I give him 6 months max.

[gratuitous]

16. It was a recess appointment

And while the Republicans were content to just let Chimpy's recess appointments stay on for as long as they could/would, the Democrats have signalled that they're willing to use the "seldom used" power of the Senate to hold an up-or-down vote on these recess appointees. Of course, the reason this power was seldom used in recent years was because of the GOP's refusal to contest Chimpy anytime or anywhere.

I think Mr. Biggs' tenure at SSA will be remarkably short.

[youngdem]

7. Shocker. He's there to kill it.

The damage this administration is doing to this country will take years to fully appreciate.

I hope Republicans are happy.

[Ignacio Upton]

10. That reminds me...

When is the next report due out on Social Security's solvency? For the past two years they have been manipulating...I mean "adjusting" the date in which SS will no longer pay out full benefits (FYI, it will NOT go bankrupt, because after this year it will still pay out 70%-80% of benefits, and this year is the most conservative scenario out of many that they use to plot the program's solvency.) Two years ago, they lowered the year from 2042 to 2041, and last year they lowered it to 2040. Wanna bet that they'll lower it again to 2039 this year?

[cyberpj]

11. How much MORE DAMAGE will Congress let King George do before they IMPEACH him? nt

Jesus H. Christ!

[donkeyotay]

12. An attorney general who doesn't believe in the law,

a president who doesn't believe in the Constitution, a Federal Emergency Management Agency that doesn't respond to emergencies, an Environmental Protection Agency that doesn't protect the environment...why not have an administrator of Social Security who doesn't believe in it?

Likewise, Biggs wrote in a 1999 article, flagging public confidence in Social Security's financial outlook might help send this "liberal sacred cow to the slaughterhouse."

[thereismore]

13. Do you think he can screw up the whole thing by year's end? Afraid so. nt

[gaspee]

14. This is why

Impeachment shouldn't be off the table. The damage that can be done in the next 21 months is incalculable.

[papau]

15. Not a major worry - except media will have him on air 24/7/365, and SS data will

be hidden beneath mountains of crap - the sata will still be there but impossible for the super lazy media to find - so they will do rewrites of his lying speeches.

[Megahurtz]

17. Fuck Privatization!!!

It - Does - NOT - Work!!!:argh:

Congress needs to keep a close eye on this guy and keep Social Security Intact!!!

I'm tired of hearing about these selfish Capitalistic Pigs being covertly planted by "The Decider".:grr:

[Doctor_J]

18. Key qualification to be a repuke pol is to consider government the enemy of the people

I wish our people would make this a campaign issue every two years.