Dean began by speaking on what he thought was the most important issue today: the proposed privatization of Social Security. He said that President George W. Bush was trying to appeal to 20- and 30-year-olds through privatization, but claimed that in fact that generation would end up having to pay the $2 trillion bill for it.Emphasis added.
"I think that privatizing Social Security has much more to do with the enormous amount of money that corporate Wall Street poured into the President of the United States's campaign than [helping] senior citizens," Dean said. "[Social Security] was a response toward [overcoming] abject poverty...it is not meant as a retirement program...it was meant as a social safety net for people who had reached the end of their working careers and did not deserve, after a long lifetime of dignified work, to live in poverty. ... It's not supposed to be a pension."
Dean pointed out that, while he would not endorse this, if Social Security were left alone for 30 years, its benefits would be reduced to 80 percent of what it is now. He acknowledged that while there were indeed problems with the program, turning to Wall Street was not the answer.
So... Will the liberal blogosphere chill out with "there is no crisis" nonsense. Because, there is a crisis...even Howard Dean sees it.
I'll point out this though: the President isn't advocating privitization of Social Security...at least not full privitization, which is what it sounds like Dean is condemning. I condemn that too...Social Security is supposed to be a pension safety net. There would be too much risk involved in full privitization...the President is talking about 4% or so of what you and I put in to Social Security, not the whole kit and kaboodle.
Our friends over at Blogs for Bush have more...
