Obama Claims GOP Trying to Destroy Social Security

[Elmore Furth]

Source: Associated Press

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: August 14, 2010
Filed at 6:00 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama is using the anniversary of Social Security to trumpet Democrats' support for the popular program and accuse Republicans of trying to destroy it.

Seventy-five years after President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Social Security into law, Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday: ''We have an obligation to keep that promise, to safeguard Social Security for our seniors, people with disabilities and all Americans -- today, tomorrow and forever.''

Some Republican leaders in Congress are ''pushing to make privatizing Social Security a key part of their legislative agenda if they win a majority in Congress this fall,'' Obama said.

He contended that such privatization was ''an ill-conceived idea that would add trillions of dollars to our budget deficit while tying your benefits to the whims of Wall Street traders and the ups and downs of the stock market.''



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/08/14/us/politics/AP-US-Obama-Social-Security.html?ref=news

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Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the top Republican on the House Budget Committee, has resurrected Bush's proposal that would allow younger people to put Social Security money into personal accounts.

Does anyone seriously believe there would not be a bail-out of some sort for retirees if the markets collapsed?