If SS is ever privatized, that will happen under a Democratic administration, not a Republican one. The unhappy experience of Dubya shows that no Republican president can ever hope to pull this off. However, Bill Clinton's success in abolishing AFDC and passing NAFTA and GATT, neither of which were very popular with the Democratic base, suggests that a Democratic president could conceivably succeed in such an endeavor. In fact Bill Clinton was ready to present his own reforms of SS, but he then got caught up in Monicagate.
Jim F.
---------- Original Message ---------- From: Wojtek Sokolowski <swsokolowski at yahoo.com> To: lbo-talk <lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org>
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8047355.stm
This announcement of SS and Medicare "shortcomings" looks rather suspicious. There will be no "shortfall" if the current cap on SS and medicare is increased or better yet, altogether lifted. So why the scare? I doubt SS privatization in the aftermath of the stock market crash will be very popular, but otoh it will offer a lifeline to financial corporations, and those people will stop before nothing to get their bottom line, so it is not far-fetched to think that they will try to pull something here.
Any thoughts?
Wojtek
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