Citizens beware. The Bush White House is gearing up its message machine once more. The same outfit that convinced Americans that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, drones to drop them on America and ties to al-Qaida — all of it wrong — now wants to sell privatization of Social Security.
Once more the White House and its allies have unleashed a barrage of exaggerations, distortions and just plain lies. Their “cakewalk” in Iraq has turned into a bloody occupation that has cost the U.S. over 1,400 lives and caused tens of thousands or Iraqi casualties. Their $400 prescription drug benefit has turned into a $720 billion giveaway to drug companies. And now they ask you to trust them when they sell privatizing Social Security.
Last week, the president zeroed in on African-Americans, suggesting that privatization was a particularly good deal for them. This aroused some natural suspicion, since this president has been more opponent than advocate for African-Americans — trying to outlaw affirmative action, refusing to raise the minimum wage, slashing vital urban programs, cutting back on veterans’ benefits, etc.
The president argues that since African-Americans don’t live as long as whites on average, and don’t have as much wealth as whites, private accounts would help them. If they died early after retirement, they could hand what was left in their retirement accounts down to their children, and help their families begin to accumulate wealth.
Better test this moonshine before you drink it. If he gets his way, African-Americans, like other Americans, are more likely to be cashed out than to cash in.
African-Americans do have a shorter life expectancy than whites. We suffer from poverty and stress. Too many African-American children grow up in poverty, suffer poor nutrition and go without health insurance or care.
African-American adults work harder but earn less, creating greater stress. We also pay a continuing race tax — we pay more for the same goods, find credit and insurance harder to get and more costly, and, due to slavery and segregation, went generations without being allowed to accumulate wealth.
But this reality should lead a president to launch a major poverty initiative, seeking to remedy these problems and bring African-American longevity up — not add insecurity to African-American retirements.
Instead President Bush’s policies seem intent on making things worse for African-Americans and the working poor generally. His policies will worsen the very gap in life expectancy that he uses to sell his privatization scheme. His current budget will cut Medicaid, dramatically reducing the critical health services for the poor. His health policies will continue to add more to the uninsured, now at a record 45 million. His budget, if accepted, will cut food stamps for 300,000 families and child care for another 300,000 kids. He refuses to raise the minimum wage. He’s cutting spending on education, reducing the number of kids in Head Start and after-school programs, and standing by as college grows unaffordable for more and more families. At the same time, he wants to add additional tax cuts for the affluent, leaving us with record deficits and ever more pressure on programs that serve the poor.
Bush’s claim that African-Americans will benefit from privatization is dead wrong. His plan, if modeled on his own commission’s, would cut survivor and disability benefits deeply. That would hurt African-American children and families disproportionately. In fact, African-Americans get as great a return as whites do from Social Security because of survivor and disability benefits.
Moreover, African-Americans are more dependent on Social Security to lift them out of poverty in retirement than are more affluent whites. Again, if his commission plan is the guide, Bush’s privatization would cut guaranteed benefits from the level of 40 percent of former income to about 8 percent. More seniors would end in poverty or on Welfare. And private accounts for most workers would be unable to cover the cuts in their guaranteed benefits. After benefit cuts, most low-wage workers would end up with little or nothing in their private accounts. They would be condemned to live at poverty levels if they hope to hand anything down.
Moreover, Bush is proposing to borrow a staggering $4.9 trillion over 20 years to pay for the boomers’ retirement and manage the transition. This will put upward pressure on interest rates, making it harder for poor and middle income families to finance homes, sustain small businesses or send their kids to college.
Younger workers, whom Mr. Bush invokes directly, would fare the worst. They would have to pay for the Social Security of their parents, which Bush has guaranteed not to touch. They would also have to pay for their own private accounts. And they’d get stuck with the bill for the $4.9 trillion in borrowing over 20 years.
Rather than weaken the safety net that insures all seniors dignity at the end of a long life of work, let’s deal with the real hurdles that cause African-Americans to die sooner, or suffer disabilities more. Reduce poverty, guarantee adequate health care, invest in decent schools and affordable housing, raise the minimum wage. Don’t remove the floor under seniors while claiming to be helping African-Americans.