It is very hard to bear the incessant Bush lies. Even worse is the half of USA, poor souls making us all losers, believing that conniving scoundrel!
WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 - A senior White House official said on Sunday that career employees of the Social Security Administration would not be asked to advocate "any specific prescription" for the program's financial problems. But one thing they can do, and what anybody can do, is to look at the numbers, and they're undeniable."
January 17, 2005
No Call for Agency to Sell Fix for Social Security, Aide Says
By ROBERT PEAR
WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 - A senior White House official said on Sunday that career employees of the Social Security Administration would not be asked to advocate "any specific prescription" for the program's financial problems, but he defended government efforts to convince people that the problems were severe.
"The Social Security Administration is an independent organization that has a duty to fulfill the obligations of making sure that checks go out, and the solvency of the actual system itself," said the official, Dan Bartlett, counselor to President Bush. "There's no expectation that career employees would be asked to advocate on behalf of any specific prescription for Social Security. But one thing they can do, and what anybody can do, is to look at the numbers, and they're undeniable."
Mr. Bartlett made the comments on the NBC News program "Meet the Press."
The administration says the Social Security trust fund will begin to run a cash deficit in 2018 and will be depleted by 2042, about 10 years earlier than estimated by the Congressional Budget Office. Current tax rates would then be sufficient to pay about 75 percent of scheduled benefits.
Mr. Bush wants to allow workers to put some of their Social Security payroll taxes in private accounts that could be invested in stocks and corporate bonds. The president believes that "personal accounts are a part of the solution to the problem, to help give people a greater sense of return," Mr. Bartlett said.
A communications and marketing plan developed by the Social Security agency says employees should disseminate the message that "Social Security's long-term financing problems are serious and need to be addressed soon." The plan says managers should "discuss solvency issues at staff meetings," "insert solvency messages in all Social Security publications" and "place articles on solvency in external publications."
The marketing plan came to light after another agency, the Education Department, confirmed that it had paid a conservative commentator, Armstrong Williams, to promote Mr. Bush's main education initiative, known as No Child Left Behind.
Mr. Bartlett said the administration was conducting a review to see if other journalists had been paid to promote administration policies. "The president has made very clear that there ought to be a bright line between journalism and advocacy," he said.
Mr. Bartlett added, "We do believe we shouldn't be doing these things in the future because for appearance' sake, it does leave a cloud or a distinction over whether somebody is being a journalist or an advocate."
House Democrats asked the Government Accountability Office last week to identify all federal contracts with "public relations firms, advertising agencies, media organizations and individual members of the media," to see if the contracts complied with a statutory ban on "covert propaganda."
The Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, Republican of Tennessee, said on Sunday that the Social Security Administration should not be used for political purposes but should "do a better job educating the American people."
On the ABC News program "This Week," Dr. Frist said that a "huge demographic tidal wave" would hit the program in 2008, when the first baby boomers reach the age of 62 and can obtain benefits, reduced for early retirement.
In a meeting last week with reporters from regional newspapers, Mr. Bush said that he wanted Congress to approve changes in Social Security in "the first five months of this year." While Congress may not achieve that goal, Mr. Bartlett said on "Fox News Sunday," "the House and the Senate can take major action in the course of this spring"
On Sunday news programs, Democratic members of Congress said Social Security faced manageable long-term financial problems, not a crisis.
Republicans harked back to comments by President Bill Clinton, who said, in a speech in February 1998, that the nation's economic and social gains were "threatened by the looming fiscal crisis in Social Security."
Representative Rahm Emanuel, Democrat of Illinois, who worked as a Clinton aide, said on Sunday that Mr. Bush's proposals showed a fundamental difference between the parties. "Democrats believe in individual retirement plans as a supplement to Social Security," Mr. Emanuel said. "Republicans believe in individual retirement plans as a way to supplant Social Security."
The crisis, Mr. Emanuel said, is that many retirees may outlive their assets. "Eighty percent of the workers in small business have no employer-based retirement plan," he said. "Nearly 40 percent of households have no type of savings plan outside of Social Security."
Dr. Frist said any politicians who minimized Social Security's financial problems were "flat-out wrong."
Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
Comments