inside the bush kerry debate strategies

BUSH TEAM WANTS TO SEE KERRY SWEAT AT DEBATES

New York – When a race for president gets this close, no detail is too small to leave to chance, TIME’s John Dickerson and Karen Tumulty report. Which is how it happened that a man who once oversaw Middle East peacemaking found himself haggling last week with one of Washington’s most storied power players over the matter of ... colored lights. The proposal: to allow the millions of Americans watching this week’s first presidential debate to see the warning signal whenever George Bush or John Kerry has exceeded his allotted time to answer a question, TIME reports.

FULL TEXT inside debate strategies

Privatization of Social Security

social security privatization

"If you're a senior, you will get your Social Security check. You should not listen to the political nonsense that happens in the course of a campaign.The Social Security trust has got enough money to fulfill its promise to those who are receiving Social Security today.

If you're a baby boomer like me, leading edge of the baby boomers I might add, we are going to be in pretty good shape when it comes to Social Security.We need to worry about our children and our grandchildren when it comes to Social Security. I believe younger workers ought to be able to take some of their own money and set up a personal savings account that earns better interest than the Social Security trust, a personal savings account they can call their own and a personal savings account government cannot take away." ~ President George W. Bush

President Bush and Senator Kerry state their positions on the privatization of Social Security; Gene Sperling---former head of President Clinton's National Economic Council, and current economic advisor to the Kerry campaign, and South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham {Republican} give their views on privatization of Social Security and expand on the presidential candidates' respective positions with Ray Suarez of PBS' Newshour with Jim Lehrer.
PBS' Online Newshour

The Ryan-Sununu plan to overhaul Social Security

"The President is to be congratulated for recognizing the urgency of transforming Social Security into an Ownership Society. IPI stands ready to supply his administration and Congress with the analysis and arguments that will be necessary to accomplish this historic task." ~ Tom Giovanetti President of the Institute for Policy Innovation

"Today’s Social Security faces two serious problems. First, in less than 15 years, the program will begin to spend more in benefits than it takes in from payroll taxes. These deficits will rapidly exceed $100 billion a year and will continue to grow. Second, the current system provides younger and lower-income workers a very poor return on the taxes that they pay. The only way to avoid the coming financial problems without making Social Security an even worse deal for younger and lower-income workers is to establish a system of personal retirement accounts. These accounts would give all workers the flexibility to improve their retirement income above what Social Secu­rity will be able to pay or to leave a nest egg to future generations" ~ The Heritage Foundation

The Heritage Foundation's Recommendations

Personal Retirement Accounts and Transition Costs