Hold The Money In Your Name

Here's what I think Bush should say about Social Security reform and private accounts. Instead of getting sidetracked into convoluted arguments about rates of return of stocks vs. bonds and other lesser arguments, he should cut to the heart of the matter:

My fellow Americans, I want you to have the ability to use private accounts to help pay for your retirement. The Democrats don't.

You know what? If you let them have your money, their party will rip you off. So will mine. So will any party. We're all the same crooks.

We proved it last time, over and over. That's why we're having this discussion in the first place: because the "trust fund" turned out not to be a fund at all, and the "lockbox" was never locked. Every single penny you contributed to your pension over the years has already been spent, and it sure wasn't by you, was it? Don't let it happen again. Possession is 9/10 of the law: hold the money in your name.

Hold it in your name because if you don't, we - politicians of every parties, now and in the future - will spend it all over again, just like we did last time. And you'll be right back at square one ... only older and with less time to recover. Fool me once, shame on you? Well, we were all fooled once by those who said, "trust us," and who assured us that the fund was just fine, when it wasn't. You gonna let 'em fool you twice?

There's a lotta politicians who don't even see it as theft when they spend your pension. They see as far as the next election, and use your money to get themselves reelected. And they'll keep doing that just as long as you let 'em.

Don't let 'em.

Will private accounts give you such a better return that they solve all funding problems, forever? You know what? ... that's such a minor issue compared to what I'm talking about. They'll help, sure. But it's just not the key reason for them; keeping the money in your hands, and out of ours, is.

You & I both know, opportunities for real reform don't come around every day, where we have the will and the means to fix the problem. But we have that today, so let's fix this one while we can.

It's up to you. You need to decide, who do you trust more with your money: you, or the same bunch who spent it all last time. Cuz that's what private accounts are really gonna protect you from. When all is said and done, your pension's gonna be held by someone. Why would you trust it to anyone else?

Hold the money in your name. After all, it's yours, isn't it?

If Bush came out and said anything like the above, and stuck to it, private accounts would be reality in a heartbeat. Maybe they will, anyway, but the odds'd be a lot better if he came right out and told everyone what the real issues with private accounts are.