“Social Security’s conservative opponents never seem to learn the lessons of history. Senator Ted Cruz boasted this week that Trump savings accounts for children are a way to realize the long-held right-wing dream of privatizing Social Security. Senator Cruz rightly referred to it as a ‘dirty little secret.’ Dirty, yes. But it’s really no secret at all. As Cruz pointed out, conservatives have been trying to privatize Social Security and turn it over to their pals on Wall Street for the past fifty years. What’s new are the unsubtle attempts by the Trump administration to revive this scheme – after it failed miserably when George W. Bush tried it in 2005.
I was vice president of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare when Bush announced his plan to privatize Social Security. The advocacy community sprang into action with a grassroots campaign to defeat Bush’s proposal. Even though Republicans controlled Congress at the time, Bush’s plan was never even brought up for a vote – because the GOP realized how politically devastating it would be.
Now, two decades later, Cruz calls his congressional predecessors ‘cowards’ for failing to privatize Social Security. They weren’t cowards. They were realists. Turning over Americans’ hard-earned benefits to Wall Street would expose future retirees to unnecessary risk while lining the pockets of the financial elites who donate to Republicans.
In a 2022 poll, only 15% of the public supported privatizing Social Security. Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, and their Republican allies should realize that the people will not stand for privatization of their hard-earned benefits, and we in the advocacy community will continue to ensure that it never happens.” – Max Richtman, President & CEO, National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare
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Walter Gottlieb