BIGGER, FASTER,:

Bush Moves to Privatize Social Security (LEIGH STROPE, 11/10/04, Associated Press)

Fresh from re-election, President Bush is dusting off an ambitious proposal to overhaul Social Security, a controversial idea that had been shelved because of politics and the administration's focus on tax cuts and terrorism.

Bush envisions a framework that would partially privatize Social Security with personal investment accounts, similar to 401(k) plans, that would be voluntary for younger workers.

American workers currently pay 6.2 percent of their taxable income into Social Security, and employers match that amount. A starting point for an overhaul is a plan proposed by a presidential commission in 2001 that would divert 2 percent into private accounts. The remaining 4.2 percent — and the taxes employers pay — would go into the system, helping fund benefits for current retirees. That leaves an estimated shortfall of about $2 trillion to continue funding benefits for current retirees.

The starting point for negotiations should be Ryan-Sununu, which is more ambitious.

MORE:
Reform on the right (Robert Novak, November 11, 2004, Townhall)

The untold story from last week's Republican victory was the ineffectiveness of the left's attacks on right-wing reform. Democrats surprisingly did not launch a national campaign against partial privatization of Social Security. They did unlimber heavy artillery against radical changes in federal taxation but ended up shooting duds.

This failure was dramatized by Senate elections in the very red states of Oklahoma and South Carolina. Right up to Election Day, serious Democratic strategists saw an excellent chance to win in both states because the Republican candidates were uncompromising reformers and, therefore, stigmatized as loony rightists. Instead, former Rep. Tom Coburn in Oklahoma and Rep. Jim DeMint in South Carolina won easily.

The same Democratic strategists who misread those Senate races are chortling that the re-elected George W. Bush blundered by pledging his political capital on radical reform. Even in his own administration, officials whisper that President Bush surely will step aside in the face of intractable opposition. These skeptics, however, are contradicted by the outcome of 2004.

Posted by Orrin Judd at November 11, 2004 12:00 AM