The following newspaper quote
http://apnews1.iwon.com/article/20050318/D88TKSC00.html
which includes:
"Reassuring his audience at Pensacola Junior College that he wasn't proposing to dismantle the system, Bush said younger workers will continue to get Social Security checks when they retire.
"I just can't guarantee how big it's going be," he said. "There's not enough money to pay the promises - I'll just tell you that.
(AP) President Bush walks from the residence, Friday, March 18, 2005, as he departs the White House for...Full Image"We're not going to be able to keep the promises unless we're willing to have extraordinarily high taxes on the people coming up, or significant benefit cuts.""

Begs the question: when did the President assume full responsibility for Social Security"s future? He has blamed its future failure on Democrats, Socialists, Tax Hikers (read that quote above again) and I can't remember who else. Read the quote. Without "extraordinarily high taxes" or "significant benefit cuts", but the opposite is exactly what he's done. He gave a tax break that benefited the upper 5% earners of our nation over everyone else (and it wasn't based on dollar numbers, but the ratio of dollars in terms of annual income. In other words, if you made $1 million you got back 50-70% more back per dollar than I did grossing $35,000. being adult and single, i can't withhold anything other than the skin on my back. I don't complain about that.
What I complain about tonight is the fact that the more I earn, the more this government smiles on me. If I earn over $200,000 I am looked upon as an asset to the party and I am rewarded when I give. If I earn less than that, then I am looked on merely as an asset to the economy. It doesn't matter if I support the cause or I give to Charity or if I donate my time to a worthy community cause. Many of these that I might do I find I can't legally do and get a tax cut, because the receipt isn't honored or the group is suspect. I am an asset to the Economy, only because no matter how poor I might be I will still have to purchase goods consistently. And the $200,000-ers like that. They own the businesses that I spend money in. They count on me to make them a profit. I am taxed more for not being wealthy and they rely on me to balloon their bank accounts.
Back to When Did Bush Assume Full Responsibility For Social Security's Future?:
First, Bush wanted to dismantle it completely. He said private accounts were the way to go. He said SS would be defunct by 2010. Then, it became 2020. Then, he was faced with 2052 by SS's estimation. Then, it was put at 2048. This last is the most accepted date. But this date will happen only if we don't find a way to put funds back into it. What you might not know is that this administration has borrowed so heavily from it in order to finance the Iraq War that there is no way they could pay it back in the next 15 years if we went through a bull market and the Dow climbed to 50,000. Of course, this administration wants us to believe that the only way to save SS is to de-exist it. If I owe you a new girlfriend, because I stole your last one...well, I might still be there next Tuesday to tip a brew like we might have used to, but only if you can prove we used to.
Back to cutting benefits significantly, wouldn't it be more significant if all politicians above the state level were to tell all of us that they are wealthy enough that they don't need medical benefits at the taxpayer's cost? or that they can give up retirement and Social Securities benefits, because they are so set for life? If one congressman were to come forward and tell me that he or she is disengaging from the public benefits process, but still willing to pay into it as a proper American, I would most likely vote for him or her. I mean, what happened to "the meek shall inherit the earth" or "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few"? Did "the buck stops here" have a literal meaning as it sat on Truman's desk so many decades ago? Do we give and give and not receive? Is there life after Sponge Bob's outing?