Republicans likely to borrow for Social Security

[Judi Lynn]

Republicans likely to borrow for Social Security
By Richard W. Stevenson The New York Times
Saturday, November 27, 2004

WASHINGTON The White House and Republicans in Congress are all but certain to embrace large-scale government borrowing to help finance President George W. Bush's plan to create personal investment accounts in Social Security, administration officials, members of Congress and independent analysts say.
.
The White House said it had made no decisions about how to pay for establishing the accounts, and among Republicans on Capitol Hill there were divergent opinions about how much borrowing would be prudent while the government was running large budget deficits.
.
Many Democrats say that the costs associated with setting up personal accounts would just make Social Security's financial problems worse and that the United States can scarcely afford to add to its rapidly growing national debt.
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But proponents of Bush's effort to make investment accounts the centerpiece of an overhaul of the retirement system said there were no realistic alternatives to some increases in borrowing, a requirement that the White House is beginning to acknowledge.
(snip/...)

http://www.iht.com/articles/2004/11/26/news/secure.html

[SoCalDem]

1. Of course they will.. Repubes are the "stick in the spokes" party

You can go back in history and see it time and again.. Democratic leaders make REAL change (for the betterment of ALL of society), and then along comes a repube administration at the ready to tear it all down..

Ford was about the most innocuous president.. He did little harm, but then I think he was very aware that he had not been elected, so he did little..

All the republican presidents in my lifetime have been borrowers, and at the en of their terms, we were deep in debt. The democrat who followed them has had to clean up their mess, and just as the bank account has built up, another band of robber-barons arrive.. ready to start stuffing all that cash into their pants....rinse & repeat..

We (as a nation) just never learn.

[Tennessee Gal]

2. Honey where's the bird?

LOL!

I thought that guy was looking for WMDs like ole Georgie boy!

[American Tragedy]

22. Ike wasn't so bad in that respect

He was one of the few presidents with the guts to actually try to cut military expenditures.

[SoCalDem]

25. Ike was pretty apolitical...in fact the dems wooed him to run

but he chose to run as a republican. I never got the feeling from him that he was a "true-believer" in any political philosophy..

Remember too, that republicans of old, were very different. They were fiscal conservatives, but never meddled in religion,,

[The Zanti Regent]

3. Gee, it's only going to cost $2 TRILLION at first...

...Love those Red ink Nazi RepubliKKKans!

[JNelson6563]

8. Bumper Sticker: Red Ink Republicans

Good highway blog too. ;-)
Julie

[teryang]

4. It's pure genius, a wall street bailout at taxpayer expense

...which is actually a plan to destroy social security and make the baby boomers pay for it.

[democratreformed]

32. Yeah, I've been thinking that too.

Let's keep the stock market pumped up with taxpayer money. Delay the crash a little longer, I guess.

[Historic NY]

5. Republicans "borrow & spend".

And they accuse Democrats of taxing & spending. Least ways Democrats pay as they go compared to Repukes.

[JennC]

7. We should call them the "credit card conservatives"

[JNelson6563]

9. ooooh! Good one!

:toast:

[Historic NY]

10. Good I'll remember that when I begin ranting about fiscal responsibility.

[Deja Q]

6. If this was for a military expenditure, the White House would say

"there's no need to worry".

[davhill]

11. This is not suprising

If Bush, as a born again Christian, truly believes that the end of the world will occur in the next couple years, why not borrow. After Christ comes it will never have to be paid back. The same thing can be said about global warming and the environment. There will be no future generations to worry about. It explains a lot doesn't it.

[no_hypocrisy]

12. Borrow?! Who's going to make them pay it back - with interest?

This is akin to "lending" money to your brother-in-law, knowing in your heart that you've thrown away your money.

[mbperrin]

13. What about the $2 trillion Reagan "borrowed" from SS for

Star Wars? What about that Star Wars anyway? Why are we still spending on that stupid idea?

I want my "loan" paid back!!!!

The Baby Boomers have paid in more than any other generation to SS: that's why the huge surplus, which if it HAD been put in a "lockbox" could not have been STOLEN by ALL the existing politicians!

PUT IT BACK!

[teryang]

14. Kick

Good post.

[daleo]

15. Who will they borrow from?

I thought international bond holders were already getting leery.

[Voltaire99]

16. Reverse Robin Hoods

No surprise that they're attempting another massive transference of wealth upwards for their friends.

But I think between the lines we can read their sheer utter terror that the latest stock bubble hasn't much time left. How long before the housing bubble goes, too?

Buried in debt, Americans just have no more wealth to lay in stocks. And so here is the only capital to be found: the poor slobs' retirements.

Despicable.

[mulethree]

17. De-socialized

They could give the trust fund authority to invest in securities beyond just special govt obligations. Attain higher yields like other pension plans do. No cost, fixes the long term cashflow problems just as well. But the treasury would need to redeem some of the trust fund's bond holdings instead of turning them over.

This problem comes solely from shrub's condition that there be private accounts where the returns are individually owned instead of social. He wants to change it from social security into "welfare" + private security.

We've got IRA's and 401's etc. already for individual retirement savings. The 401's even come out of income before payroll taxes.

[high density]

18. So corrupt

I already have a personal investment account. It's called my private speculation in the stock market and savings in my bank account.

[alfredo]

19. assholes

[Robert Oak]

20. * also gave SS benefits to illegal aliens

in internationalization treaty with Mexico...

yet of course SS is "going broke" so they must "fix it" by borrowing
2 T when the world is warning the US on it's twin deficit problem.

[struggle4progress]

21. kick for traitors bankrupting America

:kick:

[hatrack]

23. " . . . had made no decisions about how to pay for establishing the accts"

Yes, because they have no fricking idea on how to pay for establishing the accounts. More faith-based fiscal policy from Commander Codpiece and his merry men.

[alexisfree]

24. doesnt matter in 18 months US will be in a econ. melt down

[Kolesar]

26. Just open an IRA

People don't need to divert money from the SS program. If you put even $500/YEAR (edit) into an IRA for 50 years, you would have more of an income stream than SS will pay you. (Note, I am guessing on the $500)

edit: I meant $500/year,not $500/month. So sorry!

[Straight Shooter]

27. If I had $500 a month to spare, I wouldn't worry about Social Security

50 years? Ah, youth, and its eternal optimism.

[Kolesar]

28. Oops. I meant $500/year, not $500/month

[Kolesar]

29. 50 years

I started working when I was 18 and will qualify for SS when 68 (unless they cut benefits by raising the retirement age again). Of course, I was not putting any money into savings until I was 25 years old. I just had no idea about long term savings then. I was going to school and working meager jobs until 25, also.

[fshrink]

30. Of course. Good move.

Screwing their popular base in the process. And laughing all the way to the bank. At this point, and with virtually *no* noticeable voice to interject, let alone object and debunk, sky is the limit.

[Endangered Specie]

31. Borrow? from WHO?!