James K. Galbraith Quotes
Imagine where we would be if Congress had accepted George W. Bush’s privatization plan. The part of Social Security siphoned off to private accounts would have suffered the market’s losses, and recipients would have been forced to live off of basic benefits substantially lower than Social Security presently is.
Privatizing Social Security was the main piece of proposed legislation of George W. Bush’s second term. It was a conservative mantra for several years. It was finally defeated by a grass roots campaign of what Bush and his supporters referred to as scare tactics—projecting what might happen if the plan were implemented and the stock market went down substantially. With the Meltdown of 2008, the market crashed and this is what Galbraith is referring to. It would have been much worse than any of the privatization opponents had suggestion that even the staunchest economic conservatives would no longer advocate for privatizing Social Security. It was never even suggested in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives of 2012-2013.
James K. Galbraith, Economist, Political Scientist & Educator, Staff Director, Joint Economic Committee of the Congress, Son of John Kenneth Galbraith, Mother Jones, May / June 2009
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18 years later, his son—George W. Bush—made the “nutty idea” one of the main planks in his Presidential legislative program. After the younger Bush traveled the country selling his reform ideas, the public came down on the side of his father and rejected the President’s “nutty idea.”
The hearing dealt with the crash of the Enron Corporation stock and the subsequent loss of jobs and pension money of employees.
This statement was quoted over and over by his Presidential opponent, Lyndon Johnson in the campaign of 1964. Although, a wealthy person could on the average do a little better with a private investment of equivalent money and a disability insurance, those citizens of less wealth could not do so as easily. And few could obtain the disability and survivor benefits that comes along with Social Security. Goldwater wanted to make Social Security Voluntary, and most Americans thought the Goldwater prescription for Social Security would kill the program and did not support him. Conservatives have argued for this idea ever since, including Geirge W. Bush who made it a centerpiece of his administration’s program. It was rejected by the voters, and most of those were proven right when with the 2008 stocks had lost 50% of their value—the people who had retired and depended on their return from investments were mostly in terrible trouble. And of course, even in good times, some people who invest in the stock and bond markets do well and some do poorly. What would society do about those who lost most of their retirement. Let them starve because they invested badly?
This is one of the rare occasions where the person appointed to lead a major governmental program, publicy trashed the program and told citizens that they would never receive the benefits that they had already paid for. She was a partisan political appointment who had no real credentials, preparation or previous experience and her statement was so overtly political that few took the statement seriously although there were well known problems that Congress could fix as soon as they have the political will to do so. In the 15 years since this statement not a single worker has failed to obtain any benefits to which he/she was entitled. To see why such a statement can never be made with any certainty, see {619986} which explains the essence of Social Security.
James Kenneth Galbraith is an American economist who writes frequently for the popular press on economic topics. He is currently a professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs and at the Department of Government, University of Texas at Austin. He is also a Senior Scholar with the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College and part of the executive committee of the World Economics Association, created in 2011.
