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President
Bush on Social Security: "There is no trust fund, just IOU's"  White House Press photoEdgefielddaily.com web posted April 6, 2005 Staff reporting President Bush spoke at West Virginia University at Parkersburg Tuesday, April 5th. Keeping with the plan of taking the message to the people, traveling 20 states so far in just two months, President Bush said he toured the Bureau of Public Debt and did so, “because I'm trying to make a point about the Social Security trust.” President Bush stated most Americans believe that the Social Security is a “trust fund” where the government takes your money, holds it, and then returns it when you retire. “But that's not the way it works,” the President said. President Bush stated, “There is no "trust fund," just IOUs that I saw firsthand, that future generations will pay -- will pay for either in higher taxes, or reduced benefits, or cuts to other critical government programs.” In the 1950’s he said there were 16 workers paying for each person receiving benefits and today that number has dropped to three for each recipient. The President said most people are unaware that Social Security is a “Pay-as-you-go,” program and that the money being paid in through payroll taxes goes right back out to pay for benefits, and if anything is left over it is used for other programs. President Bush’s words are a stunning reality far removed from the debates in 1999 and Democratic candidate Al Gore who said he was going to put all the money in Social Security in a “lock box”. According to President Bush, the “lock box” has been empty for fifty years. Some say it is a little late to shut the barn door after the horses are already out. However the President was pushing the individual retirement accounts which could not be raided by politicians seeking to fund pet projects. He wants individuals to be able to direct a portion of the taxes taken via Social Security and direct them to private professionally managed accounts. An idea that has been played out in many areas around the country where years ago local governments “opted out” of paying Social Security and instead went into private accounts. Those recipients in those cases are faring far better than those who paid into the government run Social Security program, some receiving double what Social Security pays for the same amount of money invested. Fixing the problem with Social Security must be done now according to the President saying, “according to the Social Security trustees, waiting just one year adds $600 billion to the cost of fixing Social Security.” President Bush said, “In 2027, there will be $200 billion going out more than coming in. Somebody is going to have to pay for that. Somewhere there's got to be a give in the system. We have a real problem.” That is a stark reality when one takes into account the there is “no trust fund” and the “lockbox” is empty already. Return to
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