No matter how you cut it, this real debate on personal accounts is about the legitimacy of Social Security; it's not about the solvency of Social Security.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
It's hard to exaggerate the importance of preserving the financial integrity of Social Security.
Certainly Social Security needs to be reformed.
The effort to try to present the Social Security program as if it's a major problem, that's just a hidden way of trying to undermine and destroy it.
Social Security is a promise that we cannot and must not break.
I think it's very important not to confuse the importance of dealing with Social Security in the long term with these short-term deficit reduction challenges. They're different issues.
Not only is privatizing Social Security not the solution to Social Security, it would exacerbate the problem.
But there is a need to explore ways we can preserve the promise of Social Security for future generations.
We should stop having a conversation about cutting Social Security a little bit or a lot.
What's lost in this whole debate, unfortunately, is that Social Security is not a giveaway where we take money to give to other people. It's a contract with the government... that's worked for 75 years. It's the most successful government program that we've ever had.
If you can't even acknowledge that you have to fix Social Security, that's not a very good starting point.