Bush Talks Privatization

November 24, 1999

On Sunday's Meet the Press, George W. Bush spent a substantial portion of his hour-long interview with host Tim Russert discussing Social Security and how it can be reformed. Bush stated that Social Security's current low rate of return could be increased through market investment:

"The government investment, up until now, has lagged way behind real growth and lagged behind the normal returns that people get in the marketplace or through safe bonds."

"People ought to be allowed to invest part of their monies in personal savings accounts in order to make sure that there are benefits available in the long run.... The key tough decision is how much money you're going to allow to go into personal savings accounts, and how much will be available for a basic plan, as an insurance policy for the long term," Mr. Bush said.

Bush said he would consider raising the Social Security retirement age, but only as part of package containing personal accounts: "As part of a trade-off, or as part of an opportunity for the boomers--and pre-boomer boomers--to be able to manage their own accounts."

Perhaps most importantly, Bush knows that Social Security reform will take leadership: "It's an issue where a president is going to have to say, I'm going to spend capital, political capital gained in the course of a campaign ... to bring both Democrats and Republicans together to solve this problem."

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