American Social Security Reform, Questions Welcomed

[DarkCloud]

Okay guys, my non-fiction writing has paid off again... (In contrast to my fiction, which has long languished)...

AND- as part of my work I have been selected to interview the United States Senator from Pennsylvania, Rick Santorum, in a few days.

I am supposed to ask him questions about Bush's new Social Security Reform program, and am opening this question up to you guys since some of you might have some good questions that I might not otherwise think about.

So, please, fire away with questions about American President George W. Bush's new Social Security plan. (And specifically those that might deal with Mr. Santorum's personal complicity in the matter).

Thanks again,

-DC.

[Japher]

Q: do you want to reform social security because it has the word "social" in it and that kind hints at "socialism" which you, as a republican, are completely against? If so, what if we end up calling the reformed social security Liberal Security, would then be against that?

[Dinner]

Ask him how much the CBO says doing nothing to social security would cost out of the general fund (A: $1 trillion). Then ask him how much the CBO says Bush's plan would cost(A: $2 trillion).

Then ask him why Bush's cure costs $1 tillion more then the disease.

[DRoseDARs]

Give him this link and both of you try it out during the interview so you can discuss the results:
Social (In)Security Calculator, set up by Senate Democrats (democrats.senate.gov link)

[DarkCloud]

I'm sensing some animosity here...

[DRoseDARs]

Santorum is a bigoted piece of filth.

[reds4ever]

Where are the promised Weapons of Mass Destruction

[Dinner]

Point out that currently no banks or money managers charge anyone fees for social security. Ask him what he thinks the yearly management costs will be on private accounts. Gee, with 300 million people all opening new accounts worth trillions of dollars don't the banks, mutal funds, and money managers stand to make a killing?

Point out that the financial industry is one of the largest contributors to Republican campaigns. Ask him if the millions of dollars the financial industry is giving Republicans has anything to do with his support of privatization.

[reds4ever]

Originally posted by Japher
If so, what if we end up calling the reformed social security Liberal Security, would then be against that?

It'll be called 'Patriots Security' so noone dare oppose it for fear of being unpatriotic.

[Japher]

Q: How will this let the queers get married?

Q: Do you have a hot daughter about my age?

[mrmitchell]

Qs from Andy in Arkansas:

Social Security has provided benefits for coming on seventy years now, and one of the charts on their website says about 5% of the GDP is made up of social security checks. Obviously as a government program it has been a star overachiever, why fix what ain't broken?

If privatization wasn't an option, what would you recommend to improve Social Security's long-term viability?

If Social Security effectively becomes a required private investment account, won't the argument be made then that the government should not interfere in private investment and the system should be eliminated altogether?

Will you personally draw money from the system? In its current form or when (if) it's privatized?

How much will it cost to change the system? How will the government absorb these costs?

And be sure and say thank you at the end of the interview. Regardless of everyone's personal opinion he is, after all, a Senator.

[chequita guevara]

Ask him what he thanks fo Dan Savage.

[pchang]

In reality, isn't there no such thing as the Social Security Trust Fund? Isn't the money already spent in our budget's general fund? Isn't the real urgency behind Social Security reform the fact that in 2012, when the fund begins payout out more than it takes in, this Social Scurity Trust Fund fallacy will be exposed?

[DarkCloud]

Oerdin

Ask him what he thinks the yearly management costs will be on private accounts.

Good Question. I'll look this up and refine it, but I'll get it in.

Japher

Q: How will this let the queers get married?

If time allows, I'll try to throw in a Gay Marriage Question.

pchang
Could you perhaps elaborate, I don't really understand that.

MrMitchell
Very good. I'll be incorporating some form of most of your questions.


-Thanks again to all!

[pchang]

We are led to believe that Social Security has a trust fund where all the extra money is going and that will be used to pay out benefits.

The Trust Fund exists in name only. The money is spent on General Budget items and is recorded as revenue that reduces our current budget deficit.

The analysts say that Social Security will be bankrupt when the Trust Fund runs out (2040s to 2060s depending upon the analyst). However, the Trust Fund is already empty. Social Security will essentially be bankrupt as soon as outflows exceed inflows. The government will have to borrow money (i.e issue debt) against the General Budget to make up the difference. This will either cause the debt to balloon or will cause us to drastically cut other programs.

Thus, the urgent need to reform Social Security comes from the date when Social Security will pay out more than it collects and this date is estimated to be 2012.