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Jewish World Review Feb. 25, 2005 / 16 Adar I, 5765
Froma Harrop
It's a nice try, but the Social Security plan is doomed to fail
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The president's plan to privatize Social Security is clearly
headed for political oblivion. The people don't want it. They want a benefit
that, however modest, is guaranteed. And they see no need to "save" a
program that's fine until 2042 and may not need much fixing even then.
This tent needs folding.
Despite months of the hard sell, 67 percent of Americans remain
opposed to trading guaranteed benefits for private investment accounts. So
says a new USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll. A mere 17 percent thinks there
actually is a "crisis." That's down from 18 percent in January.
So the threats, scare tactics and flattery (there's a bit of
Wall Street wizard in all of us) have gone nowhere. Lesser mortals would
have raised the white flag by now and moved on to the next issue, but the
privateers, mostly conservatives, fight on. Trouble is, they're running out
of ammo.
That ammo bag is so empty that holdouts have dug to the bottom
and pulled up the World's Most Desperate Argument for Privatizing Social
Security. That is, the sort of people who oppose privatization support gay
marriage.
Huh? Yeah.
A group called USA Next ran a web ad showing an American
soldier, a line crossed over him, next to a kissing male couple and the
words "the real AARP agenda." The AARP is the main lobbying group for older
Americans and opposes private accounts.
By the way, it was news to the AARP that it supports gay
marriage. USA Next had apparently jumped on the fact that the AARP had
fought an amendment to ban gay marriage in Ohio. The AARP says it wasn't
taking a stand on gay marriage, but objecting to another part of the
proposal, which barred legal recognition of civil unions whether gay or
hetero.
The point of the ad, explains USA Next chief Charlie Jarvis, was
to show "how out of touch they (AARP's leaders) are with the large majority
of their own members."
The AARP is no doubt shaking with laughter.
Let me interrupt this column with a disclaimer. It's a bit
unfair to hang these Looney Tunes around the necks of serious thinkers who
support privatization. Their idea is a bad one, but they don't deserve this.
What has really thrown the loopy for a loop is that older
Americans have joined forces against the privatization plan. Polls show
younger people far more accepting of private accounts than their elders.
That's why Bush's plan left people 55 and up untouched by the proposed
changes. The idea was to neutralize a powerful and potentially hostile
voting bloc.
Perhaps the privateers thought the "greedy geezers," once
protected, would not care what happened to Social Security after them. Bad
guess.
The folks are going to stop the kids from doing something
stupid. Many have known world war and a great depression. They saw the
pitiful old people that Social Security lifted from the gutter. And they've
spent a lot of time thinking about retirement.
So what if the young people are receptive to letting go of
guaranteed benefits. They're also more receptive to hang gliding and riding
motorcycles in the rain.
Besides, the children are too busy to focus on the debate over
privatizing Social Security. They are working long hours and raising
families. To them, retirement seems unimaginably far off.
Thus, the younger set has not fully evaluated elements of the
sales pitch. They may not understand the difference between a guaranteed
benefit and one that may or may not match historical returns on investment.
And they haven't been through enough economic turmoil to assess the risks of
stock investing.
The parents are doing the kids a favor.
And the kids, if they are smart, will wonder about a few things.
For example, why are older Americans being spared the privatization plan? If
private investment accounts are such a great deal, why aren't 56-year-olds
clamoring to get in on it?
The AARP's own polling shows that the more working Americans
know about the plan to change Social Security, the less they like it.
Learning curves go only up. If more of the public hasn't been won over by
now, the quest to privatize Social Security is truly a lost cause.
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