Gore did it to himself

Bradford DeLong jbdelong at uclink.berkeley.edu
Wed Aug 7 17:58:26 PDT 2002



>Political considerations were also important. "The economic team was
>extremely concerned that a Social Security reform plan involving
>modest individual accounts might lead to total privatization in the
>long run," the paper says, with officials disagreeing over the best
>way to reach a bipartisan agreement.
>
>The paper was written by Douglas W. Elmendorf, a deputy assistant
>treasury secretary; Jeffrey B. Liebman, an aide on the National
>Economic Council; and David W. Wilcox, an assistant treasury
>secretary. It will be presented at a conference examining the legacy
>of Clinton's economic policy.
>
>"The administration really took seriously all the options, including
>individual accounts," Liebman said yesterday. He said administration
>officials presented Clinton with four options for revamping Social
>Security, but the White House was not moving toward diverting some
>payroll taxes to private accounts, as many Bush officials prefer...

And the point is? Taking all the options seriously is a bad thing?

Brad DeLong



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