Worse Than No Reform

Posted by Reilly on 3/30/2005

The bad news is, Democrats do have ideas for Social Security

House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer dropped by our offices recently to talk about, among other things, Social Security. This was no dry, by-the-numbers discussion. Mr. Hoyer clearly feels passionate about the issue and fully understands that what’s at stake is not how large grandma’s check will be, but how the welfare state will be organized. In the process of making his arguments, he unwittingly demonstrated that the claim that Democrats have no reform ideas is flat wrong. By the end of the meeting it was clear that if Republicans fail to pass Social Security reform this year, they will deserve to lose control of Congress and perhaps even the presidency.

First what ideas do Democrats have for reforming Social Security? Mr. Hoyer wouldn’t put a clear plan on the table, saying that in this fight the side that puts out a detailed plan first will likely lose. President Bush is “tanking” on this issue, he said, and Democrats aren’t going to help him out by giving Americans something else to focus on and pick apart. He did say that Mr. Bush should consider as a model for compromise the deal President Reagan struck in 1983 to raise the retirement age. He also noted that there are several other options, chief among them raising the “wage cap” (so that Social Security taxes would be due on income above $90,000) and repealing Mr. Bush’s tax cuts for the so-called wealthy.

Mr. Hoyer also made a concession first reported last week in our premium e-mail newsletter Political Diary. The No. 2 Democrat in the House said that he is in favor of private accounts as an “add-on” to Social Security. He also said that Social Security trustees–one of whom is Labor Secretary Elaine Chao–should be given the authority to invest Social Security funds in the stock market and other high-yield financial instruments. Instead of personal accounts, Mr. Hoyer is envisioning public accounts controlled by the government and used to raise funds for Social Security, much the way Calpers invests funds to pay for California state employee pensions.

If you aren’t shaking in your shoes just yet then go ahead and give the rest of the article a read. HERE