Cheney Acknowledges Cost of Bush Plan

In an interview on Fox News Sunday, Vice-President Dick Cheney acknowledged (see the WashPost story) that the Bush plan for revising Social Security could cost trillions of dollars over the next 10-20 years.  He justifies this information by saying that if the system is left alone, the cost could be even worse because Social Security is ready to go "belly up."  This argument reflects the one made by President Bush in his State of the Union speech and in his appearances around the country since then; however, it is completely at odds with most economists.  There is no pending crisis with Social Security.  The system was restructured in the early 1990s to provide full benefits for retirees through 2042, and will likely assure solvency for the program well beyond that year.

 

The Bush administration 'crisis' push is just another example of ideologues creating a crisis situation where one does not exist so that they can move their agenda forward.  Many would argue that the move the administration wants to make should have taken place when the federal government was projecting surpluses, not now that we have fallen into severe fiscal mismanagement at the hands of the Bush administration.  An interesting fact I heard yesterday is that the Bush plan for 'saving Social Security' has about 24% support across the country.  Obviously most people disagree that a crisis is at hand; or, maybe Americans have just learned to be cautious when this administration starts spouting words like 'crisis' and 'impending doom.'