Privatization Of Social Security: The Bad Idea That Won’t Die. When President George W. Bush was re-elected in 2004, he claimed that he had earned political capital and he was going to use it to privatize Social Security. It was a bad idea then. And it’s a bad idea now. It would put retirees at the mercy of the fickle stock markets. But some Republicans keep resurrecting the idea, including Jim Lamon, Arizona candidate for U.S. Senate.
To explain why this “zombie” idea would be a disaster for America’s senior citizens, Steve Williamson and Karen McClelland welcome Max Richtman, President and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.
According to Richtman, Senator Rick Scott, chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, takes the bad idea even further. He would have both Social Security and Medicare sunset every 5 years and force our dysfunctional Congress to reauthorize it. Otherwise, the programs would end. Of course, that would take the security out of Social Security.
“There’s a lot of scare tactics going on when it comes to this Social Security debate,” says Richtman. “Some of the statements and rhetoric about the program being broke, they’re myths. The only way it could be bankrupt is if we had one hundred percent unemployment. And that’s never going to happen. What we need to do is have a serious discussion about the long-range solvency of the program.”
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