President George W. Bush stopped in Raleigh Thursday as he continued his cross-country tour hoping to sell his plan for Social Security to Americans young and old
RALEIGH — In a speech at the BTI Center for Performing Arts Thursday morning, President George W. Bush continued his cross-country tour hoping to sell his plan for Social Security to Americans young and old. The campaign began right after his State of the Union address last week, in which he first outlined his strategy to reform the federal pension program.
Five guests—including four North Carolinian Bush supporters and the Associate Commissioner for Retirement Policy at the Social Security Administration—were invited on stage to participate in the interactive discussion.
Throughout the town hall-style talk, Bush emphasized the urgency and importance of the Social Security squeeze facing the country and explained his proposed solution.
“I'm here to talk about an issue that is going to be an interesting experience in dealing with the Congress. And that is Social Security—formerly known as the third rail of American politics. That meant, if you touched it, there would be certain political death,” he said in front of about 1,700 people, mostly supporters.
“I believe the job of a president is to confront problems,” Bush said. “And not pass them on to future presidents and future generations.”
In addressing the issue of Social Security, Bush began by defining the origins of the financial crunch the United States is facing.
First, he noted that the “burden of paying for retirees is increasing on workers.” In 1950, he said, 16 active workers paid for each beneficiary of Social Security, but today only 3.3 workers share the same burden.
Second, he explained that since life expectancy has increased, the amount paid out in Social Security checks will rise accordingly. “It used to be 60 years was life expectancy; today it’s 77. I suspect over the next decade, it will continue to increase. I certainly hope so,” Bush said. Today there are 37 million Americans receiving Social Security checks; by 2031 this number is expected to rise to 71 million.
Therefore, he said that by 2018, more money will be leaving the Social Security system than will be coming in.
“So, for example, in 2027, the government is going to have to come up $200 billion more to meet the promises that we’ve made,” he said. “Every year from 2018 to when the system goes broke in 2042, the cash deficits required to meet promises increase. That says to me we’ve got a problem.”
After discussing the problems with the current Social Security system, Bush laid out his goals for fixing it. His first, is to make Congress and the American public more aware of the urgency of the problem. “In other words, sometimes they say, ‘Is it serious; is it a crisis?’—look, whatever you want to call it, just look at the chart and you come up with the conclusions,” he said. “And so now is the time to move. And that’s what I’m saying to Congress.”
His second goal is to reassure seniors who already benefit from the system that they will continue to receive their benefits. “When [seniors] hear somebody like me saying we’re going to strengthen the system, their immediate reaction in some cases is to go, ‘oh, that means I’m not going to get my check,’” he said.
In order to fix the Social Security problem, he encouraged bipartisan cooperation and praised efforts from democrats such as former Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y., and former President Bill Clinton.
In order to ameliorate the crisis, Bush proposed allowing private investment for younger workers.
“When you’re able to get a rate of return on money invested, over time that money grows, that money accumulates, that money expands,” he explained. “And so I believe younger workers ought to be allowed to set up a personal account and invest in stocks and bonds so that their money can increase faster.”
Although he was speaking mostly to supporters, about 50 protesters held signs and chanted remarks criticizing Bush’s policies nearby. Protester Tana Liu Beers said, “I think that there’s a lot of dissent [about Social Security] that needs to be heard.” She held a sign that read “Private Accounts Rob the Poor” and “God is not pro-rich. (Bush is.).”
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