Social Insecurity

The administration's push to privatize social security is now big news. For years, commentators have been referring to the fund as a "sacred cow," implying perhaps that the program belongs to some benighted era. Having laid that groundwork, now, with the right combination of second-term politics and a republican-controlled congress, the program is on the chopping block. The administration is in the process of developing a rhetoric that will make the abolition (not "reform") of SS appealing to the masses. Other social safety nets such as welfare have been and can be dismantled with a "back to work" rhetoric of responsibility. There is no such justification for leaving the poor and elderly out in the cold. Of course, the abolition of social security will only benefit those with money. Thus, the administration must manufacture scare scenarios about the immanent demise of SS and progressive-sounding arguments about how it disproportionately benefits those with statistically longer lifespans (i.e. whites and those with money). The alibi is still on the drawing board. Apart from the choice of "reform" over "abolition," the administration has decided to use the term "personal" rather than "private" to refer to the new plan. Moreover, the mainstream news appear to have boiled the issue down to this question: Will you ever see the money you put in? The framing of this manufactured crisis, while simple on its surface, contains a value system that is incompatible with SS at the outset. The only way one is guaranteed to see the money one contributes is through the program's abolition. The question answers itself. One only has to ask a similar question about welfare to see the absurdity of this framing.

Here's a copy of the republican talking points that are being passed around for selling SS demolition.

Here's a good rebuttal of administration arguments.