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Thursday, November 2, 2000
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Setting the Record Straight...Gore Social Security Attacks are Nonsense
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When it comes to Social Security, Al Gore relies on tired old arguments in support of the status quo. He has rejected bipartisan proposals. He has rejected reform. Instead he offers the politics of fear. He is trying to scare seniors into voting for him.
Well Mr. Gore - not this time and not this year.
Al Gore and the Democrats are airing attack ads and phone calls in Pennsylvania that are false. Governor Bush's Social Security plan would NOT decrease benefits for seniors.
The current TV ad run by the DNC ATTACKING GOVERNOR BUSH's position ON SOCIAL SECURITY cites the Wall Street Journal as the source, but even THE WALL STREET JOURNAL (10/26/00) HAS CALLED THEIR CLAIM "NONSENSE":
"Mr. Gore and spinners such as the Secretary of the Treasury and Ed Asner have been running around suggesting that Mr. Bush cannot both fund private retirement accounts for workers and give current retirees their benefits. The pitch is that the $l trillion over 10 years necessary to fund private retirement accounts would have to come out of benefits being paid to current retirees.
"This is nonsense. Right now, today, taxation is pouring more money into the Social Security system than is needed to cover all promised benefits to current retirees. Indeed, Social Security has been generating a surplus since 1984 and will continue to have a surplus until 2025. WHEN MR. BUSH'S PLAN FOR PRIVATE ACCOUNTS IS FACTORED IN, THERE WILL BE SUFFICIENT RESOURCES TO COVER CURRENT RETIREES AND THOSE NOW NEARING RETIREMENT UNTIL 2023. Under the Bush plan, part of those surpluses ($1 trillion) would be used to fund private accounts and the rest ($1.4 trillion) would be used to fund promised benefits."
CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE FIGURES SUPPORT GOVERNOR BUSH'S PLAN. According to the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office, Social Security surpluses over the next ten years will total $2.4 trillion. The approximately $1 trillion investment that Gov. Bush has proposed placing in personal retirement accounts would come from the surplus that remains after retirees receive their Social Security benefits in whole, and would still allow the Trust Fund to grow. RETIREES WILL SEE NO CHANGES. (Congressional Budget Office, Budget and Economic Update, July 2000)
ROBERT REISHAUER, "SUPPORTER OF GORE'S SOCIAL SECURITY PROPOSALS" CALLS THE ATTACK "NOT CORRECT." "The strain is showing not just between the two political camps but between each camp and some of its most durable allies. A recent Gore television ad accused Bush of promising to fund personal accounts with Social Security tax revenue 'needed to pay current benefits.' 'That's not correct,' said Robert D. Reischauer, President of the Urban Institute and usually a supporter of Gore's Social Security proposals." (LA Times, 10/26/00)
AL GORE IS RESORTING TO SCARE TACTICS to divert attention away from the fact that his plan would do nothing to improve the program's long-term solvency and will lead to higher taxes or cuts in benefits.
"Gore would leave the basic structure of Social Security untouched, essentially gambling that future generations would be able to pay the bills when the baby-boom generation begins to retire in full force." (Washington Post, 6/19/00)
True leadership means taking on the status quo when the status quo means a bankrupt Social Security system. George W. Bush has proposed real reform for Social Security:
No change in existing benefits
Payroll taxes must NOT be increased
Social Security surplus must be locked away
Government itself must not invest in the market
Disability and survivor components must be preserved
Individually-controlled, voluntary personal retirement accounts must be included in Social Security modernization
Don't be misled by Al Gore's negative politics.
Learn more about Governor Bush's Social Security reform here:
www.georgewbush.com/issues/socialsecurity.html
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