newsweek
THE SPIN:
"I do not and will not privatize Social Security," McCain said Friday in New Jersey. "It's not true when I'm accused of that."
He said he does want a system enabling "younger workers to take a few of their tax dollars and maybe put it in an account with their name on it. Please don't let them (the Democrats) twist that."
Too late. They've been making hay with it for months.
"Imagine if your security now was tied up with the Dow Jones," Obama said Friday. "You wouldn't feel very confident about the security of your nest egg."
THE FACTS:
The Republican plans McCain has supported over the years essentially seek to privatize part of Social Security by letting people invest some of their payroll taxes into private retirement accounts.
Just how much they could divert is not certain but it's much more than a "few dollars." McCain has proposed in the past that up to 20 percent of payroll taxes could be funneled into private retirement accounts.
The idea has been one of President Bush's leading domestic policy priorities but he's never been able to sell it.
McCain and other Republicans once spoke more openly of "privatization" but realized people didn't like to hear that. Now they talk of "personal accounts." It's the same thing.
obama on social security
