Half-Serious Proposal for Bush's Half-Baked Social Security Plan

I have a tongue-in-cheek, half-serious proposal for Bush's half-baked social security privatization proposal.

Let those who voted to reelect George Bush have their social security privatized, Bush-style. Let their benefits be reduced because he converted social security from a reliable defined benfit plan, to an unpredictable defined contribution plan that transfers all investment risk to the retiree. Let their lifetime of FICA payments be whittled away by huge fees charged for the forced privilege of privatization by investment bankers, accountants, trustees, plan administrators and the like. Let them gamble their retirement funds in the stock market, or pay dearly for investment advice that rarely pans out anyway.

And let those retirees, widows, disabled and other social security recipients who didn't vote to reelect Bush....let those who have paid FICA earnings for 20, 30, 40 years to the federal government and didn't vote to reelect Bush....let all those who rely on social security to keep them from hunger and homelessness and who didn't vote to reelect Bush.....

Let them keep the full,guaranteed benefits of "the only safe and secure source of retirement income for millions of Americans. Social Security has lifted the lives of millions of Americans, and it will lift the lives of millions more if we commit to strengthening, not raiding, this incomparable program."

"Social Security has been a resounding success---Social Security benefits have been paid on time and in full every single month for almost 70 years."

Let those who voted to reelect George Bush experience the insecurity of his privatized social security program. Let the rest of us not be robbed by George Bush of receiving back the reliable retirement that we paid for through our many years of labor.

(quotes courtesy of US Senator Harry Reid and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, in a joint release dated December 16, 2004)