Democrats (and the national media) are gleeful at President Bush’s current status. His approval ratings are down, conservatives are sniping at him and the Republicans are split between the big spending committee chairman and conservative rebels.
But perhaps giving the Democrats the most pleasure is the conventional wisdom that Social Security reform is dead. They were having trouble countering the arguments that workers should have control of their own retirement plans, that private retirement accounts could be passed on to family members, and that the market would produce greater returns than the pitiful performance of Social Security.
But is Social Security reform dead? The answer is, only if the president decides to bury it.
If Bush is serious about fixing Social Security, he should heed what the public has been saying in poll after poll: Personal accounts are a good idea.
He should keep pressing personal accounts. In fact, he should go for broke and push a plan that would let workers put as much as half of their payroll taxes into private accounts. Given the current political climate, the president has nothing to lose and everything to gain.
But he, and his staff, will have to stay on message – something they didn’t do over the past year. Here is that message:
- Not doing anything will cost our children and grandchildren more than revamping the system now;
- The changeover would pump $800 billion plus into the economy. That’s more than 7 percent of the country’s economy.
- All of this economic activity means government revenues, which would help offset residual costs of the transition.
- Every worker would have a stake in this country with their retirement plans. Even lower-income workers could amass millions over a 40-year career.
- Because workers would have their retirement investments riding on the acts of Congress, citizens could and would exercise their right to self-governance more vigorously than ever. It’s called democracy.