Gerald McEntee Quotes
When we defeat his plan, Bush will be relegated to the sidelines as a lame duck president…. We are going to make sure that this land becomes our land again.
In 2006, President George W. Bush tried to Privitize Social Security, Privatization is a concept whereby individuals invest their own money in the Stock and Bond Markets in an effort to get a better return than the government Social Security System produces. However, the initial cost is very high. The idea might be good for an individual whose investments pay off, but there could be no old age coverage for someone who invests poorly, is unlucky or whose investing brokerage firm goes bankrupt. There would be a lesser or no safety net which people would be guaranteed as they are with Social Security. The Bush administration failed in a major defeat for the administration. Most people felt that it was a gamble and not woth the risk to have a little more money. Two years later, the Great Recession hit the nation, and if Sociak Security money were invested in the stock market, people would not have earned any money at all and half of all their savings would have been wiped out. Many people were reiring shortly and could not wait the 4 or 5 years to allow the stock market to recover. After that no one suggested Privitation of Social Security for years.
Gerald McEntee, President, AFSCME, Speech, Rally Against Social Security Private Accounts, Washington DC, April 26, 2005 ]
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
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.
Trump had so much success with the line"make our coutntry great again" that it was picked up by nationalist and fea mongering poilitics in other counties. See Quotation 644086.
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.”
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?
Privatization is a proposal whereby individuals invest their own money in the Sock and Bond Market in an effort to get a better return than the government Social Security System produces. However, the initial cost is very high and the idea might be good for an individual hose investments pay off, but there could be no coverage for someone who invests poorly, is unlucky or whose investing agency goes bankrupt. There would be a lesser or no safety net which people would be guaranteed as they are with Social Security. In 2006 the George W. Bush administration tried to privatize the Social Security system. They failed in a major defeat for the administration.
Stark was opposing the George W. Bush ordered Invasion of Iraq and the subsequent Iraq War. “Big George” referred to his father who it is claimed arranged a deferment for George W. in the Vietnam War. George W. Bush had never served in combat but was willing to order others to fight. Most of the strong advocates in the Bush Administration for the Iraq War had never served in the military or seen combat either.
Gerald W. "Jerry" McEntee is an American former union official. From 1981 to 2012, he was the president of the 1.4 million-member American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the largest union of public employees in the United States and an affiliate of the AFL-CIO. McEntee succeeded Jerry Wurf as AFSCME President in 1981, serving until his retirement 2012. McEntee was paid a gross salary of $1,020,751 in 2012, his last year on the job. McEntee's use of $325,000 in union money to charter private jets in 2010 and 2011 became an issue in the campaign to succeed him.
