Social Security Reform - President Bush: Redistribute If You Want to Privatize!

President Bush has suggested privatizing social security, claiming that if we do not reform social security, the program will run out of money. This claim has not been particularly credible, and this has triggered strong opposition to Bush's social security plan.

Most people don't believe that President Bush is trying to save social security, but instead believe he is trying to dismantle the program. They oppose this dismantling, largely because they think social security's redistribution is fair. That is, they like that social security transfers some income from able-bodied workers and redistributes that income to needy seniors. These opponents fear that Bush's privatization plan will eliminate the current redistribution, and force senior citizens into poverty. They think believe this would be unjust.

If President Bush wants more widespread support for privatization, he would be wise to incorporate distributive justice into his reform proposal.

One program President Bush might have more success with is a need-based privatization system. Under this system, all workers would pay into a social security system and would be given money to privately invest for their retirement, similar to his current proposal. The only twist is that low-income workers would receive a bit more than they put in, to compensate for their greater need.

Although still a private, this system would redistribute some social security resources to the needy. This should please those who emphasize equality, particularly those who want to ensure that senior citizens stay out of poverty. Also, this would add an element of distributive justice that the president's plan lacks.

Even so, high-income workers would still keep most of their hard earned dollars, which should please people who emphasize property rights and the right to keep what one earns. This setup would be similar to our current progressive income tax scheme, which is relatively uncontroversial.

President Bush's private plan emphasizes property rights, but ignores distributive justice. The redistributive private plan considers both of these fair concepts.

We could even take this idea a step further and give all workers equal amounts of money to invest in their retirement. Interestingly, this redistribution scheme would not experience the weaknesses that trouble current welfare programs. Most welfare programs give low-income recipients an incentive not to work. Generally taxpayers complain that recipients choose to "leech" the system by receiving redistributive payments instead of working. A redistributive private social security program would do the exact opposite, however, by giving low-income workers an incentive to work. This plan would be more just than current welfare plans, yet also more economically efficient.

There are many ways President Bush can modify his plan, but clearly he must modify. If he truly wants to privatize social security, he must incorporate redistribution into his plan. Americans won't accept a plan that might make our senior citizens poor and homeless.

People don't fear a situation where a few wealthy people lose some money in the stock market. They fear a situation where a poor person loses money in stocks, and ends up homeless and hungry. The President's current privatization plan ignores the poor, which has brought opposition from Democrats and Republicans alike. The President must address this concern if he hopes to gain enough support. For a private plan to be morally fair, it will have to prevent low-income senior citizens from risking poverty. The president's plan does not do this, but a redistributive privatization would.

President Bush, please redistribute if you want to privatize! We need a more redistributive social security system than we currently have, not a less redistributive program.