Were we wrong for hating George W. Bush?

[Ptolemy1]

As a nation, the voting public skewered George W. Bush for his policy to privatize Social Security. Most conservatives agreed that it was the right thing to do, and just about everyone else called Bush the devil for even suggesting that SS be privatized. Well, looking back on the numbers we are to a point where Social Security is going to be insolvent within the next ten years. Meanwhile, the stock market has risen 344% since 2008, when Bush proposed privatization, and that includes 2009 crashes and the following bear market as well as a world wide pandemic.

Had we all been given the opportunity to put our SST payments into a private account we would have no problems funding Social Security retirement today nor in the future.

Am I wrong?

 

[RebelMD]

You are correct. SS is a pyramid scheme that makes Madoff look like an amateur.

 

[h'burgreb]

No. You aren’t wrong. Yes. The new populist wing is wrong for hating Bush. And is wrong for hating Ryan.

But here we are.

 

[Dartyinthesip2]

Bush did 9/11 or at the very least was complicit. F uck him also taxation is theft

 

[yadayadareb]

Bush did 9/11 or at the very least was complicit. F uck him also taxation is theft

 

[jmlove17]

Yes, we should have privatized social security. It was a no brainer. The government is incredibly bad at managing money - just look at our budget deficits.

Bush was also at least a good human being. He’s the last one we’ve had in office I can say that about at this point.

 

[Dartyinthesip2]

Trump was complicit in the Covid vax culling
That’ll really get you in your feels

 

[groverebel]

We could do (and have done) a lot worse than GWB.

 

[yadayadareb]

Trump was complicit in the Covid vax culling
That’ll really get you in your feels

 

[Ptolemy1]

Just running some raw numbers. Had the Government privatized Social Security like Bush proposed, then a new worker that hit the workforce in 2009 and made no more than $75,000 would have at the point of retirement around $2.5 Million in their Social Security Privatized retirement account.

 

[Rebel1991]

Bush made some bad decisions but the deck was stacked against him. He probably had the worst luck in President history.

I remember this cartoon back in the day and it’s funny but it made me feel bad for him.

 

[Dartyinthesip2]

 

[chattreb]

Bush did 9/11 or at the very least was complicit. F uck him also taxation is theft

Bush did 9-11? Wow have you missed your couch appointment this week?

 

[dlay242]

Bush did 9/11 or at the very least was complicit. F uck him also taxation is theft

Found @Dartyinthesip2

 

[dentalrebel]

As a nation, the voting public skewered George W. Bush for his policy to privatize Social Security. Most conservatives agreed that it was the right thing to do, and just about everyone else called Bush the devil for even suggesting that SS be privatized. Well, looking back on the numbers we are to a point where Social Security is going to be insolvent within the next ten years. Meanwhile, the stock market has risen 344% since 2008, when Bush proposed privatization, and that includes 2009 crashes and the following bear market as well as a world wide pandemic.

Had we all been given the opportunity to put our SST payments into a private account we would have no problems funding Social Security retirement today nor in the future.

Am I wrong?

I think W had great ideas. However, he had to deal with the first attack on our country since Pearl Harbor. I believe him to be a good man and one who wants to do right thing. I liked W.

 

[_bHAMreb]

As a nation, the voting public skewered George W. Bush for his policy to privatize Social Security. Most conservatives agreed that it was the right thing to do, and just about everyone else called Bush the devil for even suggesting that SS be privatized. Well, looking back on the numbers we are to a point where Social Security is going to be insolvent within the next ten years. Meanwhile, the stock market has risen 344% since 2008, when Bush proposed privatization, and that includes 2009 crashes and the following bear market as well as a world wide pandemic.

Had we all been given the opportunity to put our SST payments into a private account we would have no problems funding Social Security retirement today nor in the future.

Am I wrong?

I think there’s no doubt he was right about social security. However, he was wrong on so many other things. The blood and treasure wasted on Iraq for no good reason is unforgivable.

 

[TheGratefulReb]

Iraq was an unnecessary disaster that helped to punch the gas pedal on our national debt and resulted in the creation of more radical groups in the ME, and the Patriot Act should be done away with

 

[independencebowlmainstay]

Bush did 9/11 or at the very least was complicit. F uck him also taxation is theft

Wait....you think W was responsible for, or at the VERY least, involved in 9/11? Really?

 

[_bHAMreb]

Iraq was an unnecessary disaster that helped to punch the gas pedal on our national debt and resulted in the creation of more radical groups in the ME, and the Patriot Act should be done away with

Exactly! And that’s not just an opinion in hindsight. I’m still waiting for an acceptable reason for starting that war.

 

[Ptolemy1]

I have long believed that the US government should create a SS private investment account and deposit $2000 associated with every Social Security Number issues in the year. That would amount to about $7.2 Billion a year in contribution. Keep in mind that in one check we sent $75 Billion to Ukraine.

If you implemented this plan today then at the age of 65, those born with this plan would have $160,000 if they contributed no more money to the fund. If you allowed them to deposit half of their SS Tax payment into the account once they start working and only make on average $75,000 a year throughout their working life, then at retirement this individual would have about $4 Million at the age of 65.

 

[99Hatfield]

No we didn’t hate him enough but the media hated him for the wrong reasons. Him and Halliburton Cheney absolutely used the bullshit made up weapons of mass destruction story in order to invade Iraq and Afghanistan to line their pockets. Not even going to get into what they knew about 911 before it happened.

 

[rebrc]

If he stayed out of Iraq….

 

[chattreb]

No we didn’t hate him enough but the media hated him for the wrong reasons. Him and Halliburton Cheney absolutely used the bullshit made up weapons of mass destruction story in order to invade Iraq and Afghanistan to line their pockets. Not even going to get into what they knew about 911 before it happened.

That is just stupid.

 

[FiberOpticReb]

Wait....you think W was responsible for, or at the VERY least, involved in 9/11? Really?

Tbf South Park did an episode claiming this and well, they have a breathtaking clip rate with these things

 

[BlueRaider731]

It would take a 30-40 year plan to actually make it work, slowly shifting people’s money from public to private. There’s no way you could do it in one swoop unless the Gubment wanted to just cover everybody’s payout for the next 30 years by way of more debt and new taxes.

You allow younger people to take 100% of his SS tax to private and a generation of retirees will go without.

And if you haven’t noticed, our country is aging, citizens birth rate is falling below sustainable levels to support an older generation and this country is going to fall apart unless we allow low income immigrants (the class of people who still have sustainable birth rates to support a work force) in some fashion—not arguing which way or how, just saying we have to have them.

We would need to increase the age of retirement as life spans are outside the original scope of its intentions. But you couldn’t do it to anyone that was too close to retirement. Perhaps 45 year olds and younger, are pushed back to age 68 or 69 for full SS benefits instead of 66. 30 year olds are pushed back 72-74. 20 year olds are pushed back to age 76-78. All while allowing younger generations to privatize their SS tax, each generation gets a bigger percentage to privatize.

And at the end of the day, people actually voting on this stuff, they intend to get re-elected. lol

 

[TOMNOLENREB]

Yes, we should have privatized social security. It was a no brainer. The government is incredibly bad at managing money - just look at our budget deficits.

Bush was also at least a good human being. He’s the last one we’ve had in office I can say that about at this point.

Give folks the opportunity to opt in or out of SS. If they opt out, let them invest pre tax and grow tax free as they wish up to the current SS total max of 12.4%. Keep current IRA options in place. Keep employer 6.2% going to SS to help close the gaps. Knock off the cap on employer portion of SS tax, tweak the retirement age in some staggered manner, shut down the SS disability fraud. Some math needed to figure out those numbers to keep SS solvent in transition, but it’s doable. No one in their right mind would decide to participate in the SS Ponzi scheme. Young people would opt out like crazy.

Wake up at 40 and realize you haven’t saved shit, and you can opt back in, but the math is very different.

 

[wamfom]

Wait....you think W was responsible for, or at the VERY least, involved in 9/11? Really?

I think the government knew an attack was coming. I think we let the attack happen. I do not think they realized or had any idea how the buildings would collapse the way they did causing it to be so much worse than what they thought it would be.

 

[independencebowlmainstay]

Give folks the opportunity to opt in or out of SS. If they opt out, let them invest pre tax and grow tax free as they wish up to the current SS total max of 12.4%. Keep current IRA options in place. Keep employer 6.2% going to SS to help close the gaps. Knock off the cap on employer portion of SS tax, tweak the retirement age in some staggered manner, shut down the SS disability fraud. Some math needed to figure out those numbers to keep SS solvent in transition, but it’s doable. No one in their right mind would decide to participate in the SS Ponzi scheme. Young people would opt out like crazy.

Wake up at 40 and realize you haven’t saved shit, and you can opt back in, but the math is very different.

We all know why this will never happen.

 

[independencebowlmainstay]

I think the government knew an attack was coming. I think we let the attack happen. I do not think they realized or had any idea how the buildings would collapse the way they did causing it to be so much worse than what they thought it would be.

Yeh I just don't buy that at all. Not even a little.

 

[hook41]

Maybe the best thing that could happen is to just let Social Security crash and burn, and I say that knowing that my children will/would never recoup a smidgen of what they have put into the system if such were to occur. The people who have made a living and continue to make a living off of Social Security is criminal.....and seeing it come to an end would be the silver lining.

 

[Ptolemy1]

No we didn’t hate him enough but the media hated him for the wrong reasons. Him and Halliburton Cheney absolutely used the bullshit made up weapons of mass destruction story in order to invade Iraq and Afghanistan to line their pockets. Not even going to get into what they knew about 911 before it happened.

Well, my post was made, not to debate the Iraq war, but to focus on Social Security. The Iraq war is over. The Social Security Crisis is staring us in the face.

 

[MO-TX_REB22]

I despise him for starting two pointless 20 year wars. IMO the financial / political cost of those two wars will end up being more of a death knell to our nation than SS insolvency.

 

[Jclamar]

I’ve always liked W

 

[Cortez the Killer]

I think George W. Bush is one of the five worst post-Civil War presidents, but it’s not because of a Social Security proposal that was never enacted. And I think it’s absurd to say that he did 9/11. I even think his decision to go into Afghanistan was completely understandable and legitimate.

Iraq, on the other hand, is easily the worst public policy disaster of my lifetime. It was a completely unforced error that cost massive amounts of American blood and treasure. Bush deserves all the infamy he gets for it.

 

[jksreb]

Bush did 9/11 or at the very least was complicit. F uck him also taxation is theft

Might be the dumbest thing ever posted

 

[RebelsOwnYou]

I think George W. Bush is one of the five worst post-Civil War presidents, but it’s not because of a Social Security proposal that was never enacted. And I think it’s absurd to say that he did 9/11. I even think his decision to go into Afghanistan was completely understandable and legitimate.

Iraq, on the other hand, is easily the worst public policy disaster of my lifetime. It was a completely unforced error that cost massive amounts of American blood and treasure. Bush deserves all the infamy he gets for it.

Saudi Arabi has yet to held accountable. They are continuing to bribe the world who'll conveniently forget for the right price.

 

[NorthMS_Reb23]

Presidents are only as good as who they're surrounded by, and unfortunately it's been shit for a long time.

 

[toycaldwell]

Bush did 9/11 or at the very least was complicit. F uck him also taxation is theft

That is lunacy. Idiot.

 

[olerebel41]

Bush did 9/11 or at the very least was complicit. F uck him also taxation is theft

No I B B N B B N m

N

 

[901_Reb]

I feel like I've been hearing SS is going to run out of money in ten years for as long as I've been hearing that Florida will be under water in ten years.