George W. Bush finally came out of the closet on how he wants to fund his private accounts within Social Security. He wants to cut the benefits for 70% of Social Security recipients! It is one thing to consider cutting Social Security benefits for the wealthiest 5 or 10% of retirees but it is quite another matter to propose cutting benefits to 70% of retirees. This revelation should be the last nail in the private account coffin of George W. Bush.
Although Bush does not have to worry about being reelected, picture ANY congressman or senator up for reelection explaining that they voted to cut benefits for 70% of American retirees. The president’s plan to create private accounts not only doesn’t solve the existing funding problem with Social Security, it makes the problem worse. This is because it would remove trillions of dollars from the trust fund which is needed to pay for the baby boomer retirement. In other words Bush’s solution to a system that does not have enough money is to take even more money from the system. President Bush just doesn’t get IT- the vast majority of Americans do not want what he is selling. If he strong arms the Republicans in Congress to vote for his plan and cuts benefits for 70% of future retirees, we are going to see a power shift in Congress very very soon.