Does everybody remember the "Lock Box?"

[Demoiselle]

If memory serves (and it does) there was general hilarity and snark about Al Gore promising to keep Social Security funds safely tucked away in a Lock Box.
Just saying.

[Cleita]

1. Well, most of us didn't snark. We thought it was a great idea.

It was our wonderful media who delivered the snark and made fun of Al Gore. Too bad Al, didn't have the wit to slam them with a proper riposte as I'm sure Bill Clinton would have.

[Cooley Hurd]

6. in all fairness to President Gore...

He was waylaid by his advisors who kept telling him to not attack Bush.

[Cleita]

7. A big mistake it seems.

Too bad. Even though he did win as it turned out. The Bushbots staged a coup and installed their unelected leader instead.

[Cooley Hurd]

8. agreed. I spent many hrs in front of my TV in 2000...

...begging him to fight, but he was more worried about the non-existant "Clinton fatigue" than anything.

[joeybee12]

9. Those advisors inclued Joe Scumbag Liar-berman...

Off the ticket, the election wouldn't have been close enough to steal.

[MADem]

2. I LOVED Al Gore's Lock Box. I said it then, I'll say it now--the man was right. nt

[byeya]

3. The only thing laughable about Gore's use of "lock box" was that he seemed to use it in every

sentence at one debate. Keeping hands off SS was, and is, a good idea.

[Blue Owl]

13. and the way he said it was kind of funny, as lampooned by SNL

But the lock box itself -- no joke there!

[Samantha]

25. Al Gore had a terrible lisp for years

He had to work extremely hard to overcome it. That is why his speech sounds so stilted sometimes. It always bothered me that so many people ridiculed such a smart man over such a small point when it stemmed from a problem not of his making.

I really try not to think what those eight Bush* years would have been like if Al Gore had been sitting in the Oval Office, as he should have been. It is just too sad to do so. This Country would not be in the mess it is in had it not been for that tragic Supreme Court decision.

Sam

[HereSince1628]

4. People laughed because it was already pilfered...

the idea was fine, but too late

And now we have TPTB looking for a way to stiff American retirees in order to avoid contributing taxes to pay for the money they borrowed

[still_one]

5. Fuc*kn media lying to us, and propagating the ridicule of Gore when he was right. They were wrong

And still are

In fact most are just proxies for the GOP

[Jack Sprat]

11. The MSM aided and abetted the theft of the 2000 election

This is why they have always avoided all challenges brought forth by those who have presented evidence of the theft. They realize how complicit they were.

[City Lights]

10. I do, and often bring it up in conversations I have with people

regarding Social Security.

[ProfessionalLeftist]

12. Yes. It was a good idea that should have been implemented. n/t

[leveymg]

14. I remember that Blue Dogs were trying to privatize SS, and almost did. Their moment is here.

Unfortunately for all Dems, Obama is one of them in his neoliberal economic policy. SS 'reform" has been his goal all along. This is a big reason why the Party Big Donors selected him and Wall Street was mostly for him, twice.

It's like, only Nixon could have gone to China.

[alcibiades_mystery]

15. Oh, how they laughed. SNL was especially amused by the "Lock. Box." Oh hahahaha!

Motherfuckers.

[stevenleser]

31. I actually wrote to SNL after the election and asked them to consider what they had done here

and to ask themselves if looking back at it, they think any damage they might have done to Gore was worth it now that we were saddled with 'W'.

That was before we knew just how bad it was going to get with 'W'.

[neverforget]

16. That was so 2000! See things have changed. After 8 years of Bush, we need to solve the

deficit and debt on the backs of seniors, the poor and the middle class. Austerity is all the rage nowadays.

[fascisthunter]

17. It's why the Supreme Court Illegally decided a Presedential Election

well, a big part anyways. Alles Klar, DUers?

[Va Lefty]

18. I remember how the media ridiculed the idea and made it a sound bite

[Warren DeMontague]

19. people forgot after Dubya took Clinton's surplus and set it on fire. nt

[Canuckistanian]

20. I forget now. Why was it ridiculed?

I seem to remember the Pigboy ranting about this at the time, but I don't remember the reasoning behind the RWNJ claim that it was a bad idea.

Probably I don't remember because there was no coherent point to it.

[Demoiselle]

21. There was no "reasoning" behind it...

except perhaps the poopyheads (pardon my French) found Al Gore's delivery a subject for mirth. I've always liked him a lot, so I couldn't understand the hostility....but they did make a big deal out of it. Implied he had an obsession with it. Sigh.

[Canuckistanian]

22. Yeah, I thought so

If Al Gore said the weather was nice, everyone in the media would be reaching for an umbrella.

It was one of the most vicious character takedowns I've ever seen.

[NoMoreWarNow]

23. no doubt-- the media was in the freaking tank for Bush

he was part of the plan, it seems

[arcane1]

28. It was ridiculed because he said it many times and they were looking for excuses to mock him n/t

[jerseyjack]

24. The lock box was a myth.

The image is of a bunch of bills stashed in some kind of Al Capone cafe to be opened in 20 or 30 years as needed. But SS funding is partially depended on investing the money in U.S. notes. The interest helps fund S.S.

Storing bills in a lock box does nothing to increase the value of those Benjamins.

[Demoiselle]

26. I never thought it was a "stash."

I think we understand that it must be invested. But the CPI does deplete it.

[arcane1]

29. The point of the metaphor was to keep people from spending the money on other things

At least that's how I interpreted it.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

27. I remember and will never forget how people made fun of Al Gore for demanding that we keep SS

in a lock box. He was right then and he's right now.

Why is it that the people who were wrong about EVERYTHING are never held accountable for being wrong about EVERYTHING!!!!!

[Demoiselle]

30. I agree. That's why I posted this...

[Jamastiene]

32. I think Shrubya nuked it first thing after he stole the election.

It was a good idea when Al Gore came up with it and had it been implemented, we wouldn't have all this trouble now. Instead, we ended up with the Shrub stealing the election by whining to his daddy and his daddy talking to his buddies on the SCOTUS, who then installed that idiot into the White House. Next thing we knew, America would never be the same again. We still may never recover from the Bush years, ever, sadly.

[jmowreader]

33. I'm sorry, but the lock box was a horrific idea and never should have been discussed

Suggesting not "spending the money on other things" shows a dire lack of knowledge of how Social Security works.

Social Security is an insurance system. Insurance companies don't just bury people's premium payments in the back yard; they invest the money because an insurance company's profits come from two places: paying out as little to claimants as humanly posslble, and interest on their investments. Banks do the same thing, as do all the other financial services companies...and the Social Security Administration.

If Social Security didn't invest our tax dollars they would be in a serious world of hurt. Without the government "spending the money on other things," the government would have no need to pay interest on that spending to the Social Security Administration.

We can't fix the problems of the Social Security system by stopping that income stream; we can fix them by raising the cap.

[duffyduff]

34. It took a "Democrat" to pick the lock

The Democratic Party isn't the party it was ten years ago, hell, even five years ago.