Bill Richardson on Social SecurityDemocratic Governor (NM); Secretary of Commerce-Designee | |
A: No, you don�t need to do that. That�s a 15% tax on small businesses, on the middle class, on family farms. You don�t need to do that. This is what you do. One, you take privatization off the table. You don�t want Social Security in the stock market. Two, you stop raiding the Social Security Trust Fund, as the Congress and the president constantly do.
A: The best solution to those two issues is a bipartisan effort to fix it. 33% of Medicare cost is diabetes. Let�s have major prevention programs, and also ways that we can ensure that we find a cure. And stop raiding the Social Security trust fund. Stop talking about privatization. And then thirdly, let�s look at a universal pension, 401(k) universal pension, that would assure portability for those that want to keep their pensions as they move into other professions. But what we need is a bipartisan effort. Put this issue aside. If I�m president, I would take this issue and I would say, Republicans, Democrats, within a year, let�s find a solution. No politics. This is the safety net of this country.
We need to address this profligacy in a bipartisan manner. There is no shortage of strategies--hard spending caps in Congress; an end to certain tax cuts enacted when the fiscal outlook was brighter; a larger overhaul of the federal tax code to build simplicity and equity into the system. I would advocate some combination of these three approaches. But I doubt that Washington can get from here to there without some political cover. This was the job done by Alan Greenspan�s Social Security Reform Commission in 1983. I�d set up a commission on taxes and spending. We simply cannot continue to avert our eyes from this gathering crisis.