In Focus: Protect Social Security, Stop Privatization
Social Security is more than a card
Americans United has led the effort to beat back President Bush's proposal to dismantle Social Security through a risky and expensive privatization scheme and by slashing middle class benefits.
Social Security is more than a card-- It's a promise from each generation of Americans to those that follow. The proponents of privatization are in power and they are attempting to use that power to break that promise. They want to permanently weaken Social Security and replace it with a reckless, privatization scheme. Their scheme will weaken retirement security by imposing steep benefits cuts, will burden our economy and the American people with a massive explosion of the national debt, and will damage the single most important element of our nation's social safety net. The proponents of privatization have resorted to deception, distortion, and scare tactics to sell their scheme and the supporters of Social Security must stand up to stop them.
In 2005, Americans United was on the front lines waging an aggressive grassroots, public relations and paid advertising campaign to convince Members of Congress to protect Social Security, not destroy it through privatization and massive benefit cuts. Last fall, Congress set aside the President's misguided effort as millions of Americans lifted up their voices in strong opposition to a privatization scheme that would have destroyed the foundations of retirement security for millions of Americans.
The Privatizers Today? They're Baaaack?
Despite the success of the pro-Social Security, anti-privatization forces in beating back last year's Bush-Right Wing effort to privatize Social Security, the fight continues. In fact, President Bush and the right wing ideologues and Wall Street investment interests behind the effort to privatize Social Security will never give up their assault on one of the most successful public programs ever because they have vehemently opposed Social Security since its inception.
Just this year, President Bush included his plan to privatize Social Security in the budget proposal he submitted to Congress - providing even more detail about his assault on Social Security than he did in 2005. One of the President's chief allies in Congress, U.S. Rep. Jim McCrery (R-LA), the Chairman of the Social Security subcommittee in the House, recently said that privatizing Social Security would top Congress's agenda in 2007. [link McCrery press release or Gorilla story] The President's own Chief of Staff told the Wall Street that the Administration is laying the groundwork for its effort to privatize Social Security next year.
Bush and his allies in Congress intend to put privatizing and dismantling Social Security ahead of every other national priority next year including healthcare, education, prescription drug costs and increasing the minimum wage. If anyone thought the fight to protect Social Security from privatization and steep benefit cuts was over - they were sadly mistaken.
One Campaign
Given the scope of the anti-Social Security forces' power, our goal is to mobilize all pro-Social Security forces under one banner and proceed with a single campaign. Strategically our goals are:
- To apply grassroots pressure on President Bush and Members of Congress who need to be reminded that Social Security is the government's most important social contract with Americans.
- To convince a majority of members of Congress to reject the President's privatization scheme.
- To let Americans know which members of Congress are fighting to protect Social Security and which are seeking to permanently weaken it through privatization.
Privatization is a bad deal
- Privatization is a bad deal for America's families and will weaken retirement security for Americans by imposing massive cuts in the guaranteed benefit that is a foundation for a secure retirement
- Privatization will put our economy at risk by relying on trillions of dollars of new borrowing and debt, mostly held by China, Japan, and other foreign creditors, and impose a huge new burden of taxes on your workers, their children, and grandchildren to finance this debt.
- Privatization will weaken the long-term fiscal integrity of Social Security by diverting funds from the Social Security Trust Fund, at a time when we should be strengthening Social Security for the future.
- Social Security is a fundamentally sound program that can be strengthened through common-sense, bipartisan approaches - not radical changes. The first step in assuring the strength of the program is to assure that the money Americans have paid in to Social Security is used for Social Security - but President Bush and the proponents of privatization won't commit even to that.
- The proponents of privatization are not only making false claims about the fiscal condition of Social Security, but they are consistently making false claims about the benefits of privatization and false promises to young Americans about how privatization will work.
Objectives
Every day and in every way we will lead, galvanize and mobilize a movement of Pro-Social Security forces to put wavering Members of Congress on notice that Americans are paying attention and demand that they act responsibly. Furthermore, we will put elected officials at every level on notice that they will be put on record as well. This debate will be carried out at all levels in an effort to kill privatization today and not let it be resurrected tomorrow.