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“This administration is populated by people who’ve spent their careers bashing government. They’re not just small-government conservatives—they’re Grover Norquist, strangle-it-in-the-bathtub conservatives. It’s a cognitive disconnect for them to be able to do something well in an arena that they have so derided and reviled all these years.”

Senator Hillary Clinton

Monday, January 24, 2005

Media "Private Account" watch

It's become clear in the past few days that the White House wants to steer talk away from "private accounts" for Social Security. They prefer the term "personal account" because it sounds, well, more personal I guess.

It seems the media may be willing to play ball with the White House on this one. So I thought I might keep an eye out for news stories that still use the older and truer "private account" verbiage to see if we witness an actual decline.

I'm obviously not going to be able to read every single newspaper, but I will keep my eyes peeled and point out non-compliance when I can. Like this story from the USA Today featuring the graph:
Bush is promoting private accounts as part of his push for an "ownership society," in which people control more of their own money and lives. He has not yet provided specifics, except to say older people's benefits would not be cut.

So far, the USA Today is still a free thinker.

Of course, I'm not sure it matters if Republican Senators go out and call cast doom and gloom on the personal account idea either. Read Rep Snowe, in the same article:
Snowe expressed reluctance to tinker with the basics of a system that has provided a stable monthly income and kept seniors out of poverty for 70 years. "I don't think we want to erode the principles of that system," she said.

"I'm certainly not going to support diverting $2 trillion from Social Security into creating personal savings accounts," she added.

A bad idea by any other name is still a bad idea.

*UPDATE* Business Week has a story on the wires. No doubt the White House is cancelling their subscription:
If the Administration succeeds in creating private accounts for Social Security, the transition cost will likely require $1 trillion to $2 trillion in additional government debt. The risk exists that the U.S. dollar's slide on foreign exchange markets turns into a stomach-churning rout.

Ouch.