Originally Posted by Willravel

One politician that comes to mind is my standby: Dennis Kucinich. He's proposed several steps to save and secure Social Security. The easiest is raising the cap, because the projection for Social Security right now looks grim. The best way to really take on SS's problems is to increase employment and income across the US. As for borrowing from SS, Kucinich has talking about prosecuting those that borrow from SS and don't pay it back.

But that's still not relevant. What has to happen is a relative consensus among the general public that, short of a viable alternative, we have no choice but to fix Social Security. That will likely begin as Social Security's failure gets closer, and when people finally stop talking about privatization.

Considering the turmoil the markets are going through now, it would take an idiot of massive proportions to suggest privatization. And if you pay attention, you'll notice that the conservatives haven't mentioned privatization since maybe October, when things started to go downhill. They know the second they say something, all someone has to do is say, "And what if Social Security had been privatized under Bush? Most retired people would be without their retirement money, which they paid into a system that was supposed to be secure." Then Governor Jinal would come out and talk like Mr. Rogers again.

A defeatist stance on Social Security isn't pragmatic. It's either fix it, plan and implement an alternative immediately (which at this stage seems a bit too late), or watch an alarming number of the elderly slip into poverty and even starvation. Congress has often responded to overwhelming public outcry, despite there usually being a lag time.