Bush's Social Security Plan Loosing Support According to March 3rd Poll

Support for President Bush’s plan for Social Security reform is falling, according to the latest Fox News Opinion Dynamics poll released March 3.

In the latest survey, almost half of Americans, 47 percent, oppose including personal accounts in Social Security reform, 40 percent support them and 13 percent are undecided. An earlier Opinion Dynamics poll on Feb 10 showed that 57 percent of Americans support the President

The poll also revealed a generational divide over the issue. According to the same, March 3rd, poll 65 percent of those under age 30 answered in support but only 29 percent of those over 55.

According to the latest annual report of the Social Security program’s trustees, the annual cost for Social Security is projected to exceed program income starting in 2018 and its funds to become exhausted in 2042 (For the full report go to http://www.socialsecurity.gov/news.htm#2004trustee). Social Security, as currently projected, will be broke when those who are now in college are old enough for retirement.

In Bush’s State of the Union address he said that Social Security was headed for bankruptcy and called for a candid review of the options to strengthen Social Security. Bush also has said that he will not change the system for those born before 1950 and that he will not increase payroll taxes.

President Bush has proposed adding voluntary personal retirement accounts to the Social Security system similar to the retirement program for Federal employees. Under President Bush’s plan, published February 2005, “personal retirement accounts would start gradually. Yearly contribution limits would be raised over time, eventually permitting all workers to set aside 4 percentage points of their payroll taxes in their accounts. Annual contributions to personal retirement accounts initially would be capped, at $1,000 per year in 2009. The cap would rise gradually over time, growing $100 per year, plus growth in average wages.”

In his testimony before the Committee on the Budget on March 2 Alan Greenspan agreed with Bush saying, “I fear that we may have already committed more physical resources to the baby-boom generation in its retirement years than our economy has the capacity to deliver. If existing promises need to be changed, those changes should be made sooner rather than later.” He added, “In my view, a retirement system with a significant personal accounts component would provide a more credible means of ensuring that the program actually adds to overall saving and, in turn, boosts the nation's capital stock.”

Discussing Social Security in New Jersey a week ago the President said that “if you're a young worker, you've got a problem… I hope that as time goes on and this debate goes forward, that you understand the power of your voice to say to people, we've seen enough of this, we're not going to move because somebody might look good, or, we don't want to do it because my political party told me not to do something. Now is the time to get rid of… all that deadlock in Washington, and focus on the problem for the good of the generation to come.”