Ambrose: Politicians Cowardly on Social Security

October 3, 2002

Scripps Howard News distributed the following editorial on Social Security by columnist Jay Ambrose:

"Now is obviously a tough time to make the case for allowing workers to invest some of their Social Security taxes in stocks and bonds, but the moment's declining stock values do not mean the idea is suddenly bereft of defensible content or that politicians believing in it should keep their thoughts to themselves."

"That's what many Republicans are doing, according to an Associated Press account that reports them being miffed at a couple of business groups that have been raising the issue to high visibility.

"The group is fighting back against those Democrats who say-demagogically- that President Bush's plan for individual accounts would destroy the system. Many Republicans, while knowing better than that, figure the explaining is all but impossible in the burly burly attempted mass communication known as an election campaign. The Democrats have the advantage here, they suppose, and so when the issue comes up, they hide out.

"Shame on them. The restructuring of Social Security is a major, major issue, and if this democracy of ours is going to me more than a sham that only works occasionally and then by accident, men and women running for office need to say what they think. They need to try to educate the public if they conclude the public needs educating. And on the question of Social Security retirement accounts, the supporters ought to say something like the following.

"Because of the coming retirement of the baby boomers Social Security faces a crisis in less than 15 years. At that point, the surplus from payroll taxes will be gone, and to keep benefits even roughly the same, taxes will have to be raised drastically probably along with dramatic deficit financing. As part though not all of a solution, policy makers should act soon to institute investment accounts that would add a revenue stream and take some burden off taxpayers.

"The accounts, the politicians favoring them should explain, could be instituted with minimal risk in balanced portfolios. Because the young people allowed to establish the accounts would be limited in the percentage of their tax payment they could invest, there would remain a guaranteed level of retirement payments if the accounts did lose value over the years. In the long haul, such a loss is highly unlikely.

"Those opposed need to confess that the surplus Social Security dollars now exist to undertake the project if we quit spending those dollars on other programs. They need to confess that even if they choose some other way to save Social Security, they will still have to recover huge quantities of Social Security surplus funds through borrowing or taxing.

"They also need to confess that similar accounts have been instituted in the national retirement programs such as Britain, Australia, and Sweden without mishap, and nothing the Bush administration has proposed would have the slightest effect on the Social Security checks of current recipients.

"Of course, the Democratic opposition to reform will never confess as much, because that's giving up the scare tactic it has so successfully employed in so many elections over the years. Here, if they would, is where defenders of the president's plan should go on the attack, demonstrating how again and again the Democrats have conjured up hobglobins to scare retirees and who thereby have ushered us into the truly outrageous predicament of the moment. It is simply this. The federal government's largest single program- one of which millions of people depend- is unsustainable without significant change. It's not too late yet to do something without harsh consequences on either taxpayers or recipients, but each day wasted is a day closer to extreme difficulty.

"I clearly believe in establishing the accounts- it was, by the way, a liberal Democrat who first convinced me of their potency to save the system and to provide the possibility for wealth accumulation by poor families. But what I believe in more is that we will ultimately lose this precious democratic system of ours if politicians use their campaigns for playing games instead of honestly engaging with the electorate on matters of serious concern. The voters, for their part, should watch out for the demagoguery- and for another worrisome attribute, too. They should watch out for cowardice."

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