« A Strange Little Tablet Cast on My Shelf
Main
The Biggest and the Most Important »
February 8, 2006
It's Back: Privatization of Social Security
So you thought privatization of Social Security was a thing of the past or perhaps that it was going to wait for the report of the bipartisan commission that the President proposed in his State of the Union Speech. Think again. It appears to have found its way into the budget.
But anyone who thought that Bush would wait for bipartisanship to deal with Social Security was wrong. Instead, he stuck his own privatization proposals into his proposed budget.[snip]
Nevertheless, it's here. Unlike Bush's generalized privatization talk of last year, we're now talking detailed numbers. On page 321 of the budget proposal, you see the privatization costs: $24.182 billion in fiscal 2010, $57.429 billion in fiscal 2011 and another $630.533 billion for the five years after that, for a seven-year total of $712.144 billion.
In the first year of private accounts, people would be allowed to divert up to 4 percent of their wages covered by Social Security into what Bush called "voluntary private accounts." The maximum contribution to such accounts would start at $1,100 annually and rise by $100 a year through 2016.
It's not clear how big a reduction in the basic benefit Social Security recipients would have to take in return for being able to set up these accounts, or precisely how the accounts would work. [MSNBC]
So I guess we will need to fight this battle once again. At least this time we know how much the Administration thinks it will cost. We likely need to double or triple these numbers. I think enabling legislation would be required in addition to the budget provisions but it looks like the train to the elimination of the most successful government program ever devised is back on track.
Via afarensis
Posted by Duane Smith at February 8, 2006 9:39 PM | Read more on Current Events |
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.telecomtally.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1568
Comments
Sorry, comments are closed for this post.
Send me an email if it is important.