Social Security theft

In the past few months, Bush has been pushing hard for privatization of Social Security (or what the pollsters have suggested Bush call it, "personal accounts"). This is one of the worst ideas proposed and depends upon the illusion of an 'imminent crisis'. It is also an idea that Bush pushed in his unsuccessful bid for a seat in the House of Representatives in 1978, when he desribed an 'imminent crisis' that he said could only be solved by privatization (it was solved in 1983 when the Greenspan Commission increased the payroll tax to build up a trust fund for when the baby boomers). Gary Ott, then of the Plainview Daily Herald describes Bush's campaign platform, "he [Bush] warned that Social Security would go bust in ten years [1988] unless people were given a chance to invest the money themselves". There is a long-term problem, but it will not occur until 2042 according to the Social Security Actuaries or 2052 according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and even after that point, there will still be money to pay between 70 and 80% of promised benefits. To privatize Social Security would also cost 2 trillion dollars just over the next ten years and between 10 and 15 trillion dollars over the next 40 years. Another proposal that would cost far less and would solve the long-term problem of Social Security far more effectively than Bush's proposal would be to increase the limit of payroll tax. Currently, payroll taxes are paid on wages up to $78,000 but not at all for any wages above that level. If that limit were raised, a large amount of money would be raised to pay for Social Security in the future and would come predominately from a tax on the wealthier people, making the tax system slightly more progressive.