How are we going to fight Social Security privatization?

[tokenlib]

We need to do something akin to what we did to oppose the Iraq war. We need bumperstickers, yard signs for visibility.. and to get organized to make our presence known. Hopefully MoveOn or True Majority or other groups will help facilitate this. As pessimistic as some of us are--we must not let them succeed without a fight. And a good fight might be therapeutic for all of us.

I'd be happy to put a sign in my yard, get buttons and bumper stickers for visibility. "Save Social Security" as a slogan won't work, as Bush and the GOP are going to lie that that is what they're doing. How about "Stop Bush/GOP theft of Social Security" or Say No to Bush Soc. Sec. Privatization!"? Any ideas how to be short, to the point with our message. "Social Insurance, YES!, Private Insecurity, NO!"--let's think of slogans..

Past joining the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare--I don't know any other groups with the mission to fight this nonsense. www.ncpssm.org For those of us who cherish the FDR/New Deal legacy, and disagree with the DLC types who think it outdated and no longer politically viable--this should be the fight of our lives. This threat is a dagger pointed at the heart and soul of what it means to be a democrat--we must respond.

[still_one]

1. we can only hope the moderate republicans will work with us

I am very doubtful after what happened to the medicare prescription plan

[The Zanti Regent]

2. I'm sure the Nazi Party has bought AARP off

AARP already fucked you with dismantling of Medicare. They will come out for full privitization. If people get hurt, well, that's God's will...

[zoeb]

3. I'm more concerned with his tax simplification

plan...I think its the perfect vessel for a tax increase. And something has to be done with the deficit...its part of the reason the dollar is dropping. The recent jobs number was better than expected but those jobs are too low paying to help the deficit.

[shampton]

7. Very important issue!

There are those who think that Bush and crew are deliberately ruining the economy (or at least the little people's economy) so they can scuttle SS, break it up into profitable chunks for themselves.
This does strike at the heart of what democracy means.
In anthropology, the Neaderthal was elevated from his low status with the discovery of fossils of an old Neanderthal with injuries and disabilities which should have resulted in death. The fact that these injuries healed and the Neanderthal lived long after these injuries gives them a human aspect. What is most human about us as opposed to the animal kingdom? We care for those who cannot care for themselves.
Bush can take his ownership society and shove it.

[lovedems]

4. All I think about is the stock market crash...

If it happened once, it can happen again. Maybe we need to remind people what a risk they are taking. Am I way off base here? I know the CEO's are salavating at the thought of all that money making their way into their pockets but with corporate scandals and a not very stable market, those are two good reasons I wouldn't want to see SS privatized.

[democratreformed]

12. Just think if SS had been privatized 6 or 8 years ago. What position

would retirees who started it then be in now? I think it's the stupidest idea I have ever heard. My dad lost nearly 50% of the value of his holdings in the last five years.

[lovedems]

13. My mom lost 80,000 big ones in 2001 when the bubble burst.

A couple of months after she retired. It sucked to be her. I am 36 years old so I don't know how the ss reform would effect me but I will save my money in a mattress before I let my retirement be determined by the stock market. Screw that!

[napi21]

5. I think the approach should be a calculation of what the benefit

of such a change would really be!

If I've dont the math right, a person earning $36,000 pays approximately 2100.00 of their portion of SS. ($36,000 X 6%). If they were allowed to invest 4% (what heard was 2% to 4%) of that contribution into the market, that would be a whopping $86 a year!

Now, I don't mean to scoff at $86 as nothing, but it sure seems to me to be a real long shot to ever get rich tat way!

[davhill]

15. No No No

It's 4% of EARNINGS! That's more than half of the current 6.2% deducted (excluding the employer part)

[burythehatchet]

6. How sad it is that we have such a vacuum of leadership right now

We need so badly to have someone to organize us, yet no sign of anyone with balls enough to start making some news.

[shampton]

8. SS was meant to be a sure thing

--a safety net for old age--which is why that money was kept out of the stock market. It's gambling--pure and simple. It was meant to prevent old people from freezing and starving to death not add to your retirement portfolio.
SS is not for the "investment class".

[burythehatchet]

10. Next boom industry - "poor houses"

[Career Prole]

9. Thanks to this bullshit election, bumperstickers are useless.

People will see an anti-privatization bumpersticker and the first thought in their heads will be "minority".
I still think the way we have to attack this is that there is absolutely NO money available to smooth the transition.
The transitional period was always the biggest roadblock, even to the most ardent privatizer.
If we had an honest media, they would certainly point out that if it was to be done it should have been done when shrub first stole the presidency, when a huge surplus existed and most importantly, before any tax cuts.
This very advice was given to shrub by his two top financial advisers (Treasury Secretary O'Neill and the Fed's Alan Greenspan)at their first policy meeting with the chimp.
They counselled that the tax cuts weren't as important as privatization and told him it should be done with one trillion from the surplus. The result? O'Neill was fired, and now Greenspan has flip-flopped.
The media and the Democrats should be absolutely hammering this point, starting immediately...if it's so damned critical, why didn't you do it when we had the money to do it?

[Triana]

11. Too bad we have no representation

at the Federal level in gov't who will fight this. I'm afraid we are taxed but not represented in our gov't. No one's home up there. We're on our own.

[Samantha]

14. Target every Senator and Congressman who supports privatization

Don't count on your representatives to protect you. We need to organize and fight the fight along side with them. If you find, for instance, a Senator from Kentucky will support privatization, if we had the support of say, MoveOn.org we could start running ads in Kentucky that would contribute to to that Senator's defeat. We could also do the letter-writing, emails, but most of all protest.

I think we need to organize with Republicans and Independents who also want to resist this.

We should start to demand an accounting of how much the U.S. Government has laid in IOU markers, when they have used the social security surplus to, for instance, finance illegal, immoral wars. I am thinking of writing my rep and asking for an accounting from the GAO. Citizens have the right to all facts and figures. I pretty much assume if Bush* gets his privatization through, the numbers, including the transition costs, will be recrunched without the Government paying its debt to its citizens. Let's stop that from happening.

Let's insist on raising the cap on the withholding to say, $100,000. We need our own numbers crunchers, and we need to look at the plan Kerry had in place to stabilize social security. We need to look at what happens once Social Security gets past the baby boomer retirement, and we need to look at Bush*s program to allow Mexican immigrants to participate.

He threw down the gauntlet asking for a fight. Let's give him a fight. I heard this morning there's an organization getting start up to fight us. Maybe I can find a link and post it here.

[tokenlib]

16. Moderate republicans will have to answer for this when they run again...

..Bush doesn't have to. Perhaps the desire for political self-preservation will cause some hesitation. We do need to make sure our representatives are aware of our opposition.