Kerry is pushing protectionism, tax increases and increased government spending. Bush has called for making his tax cuts permanent, but that alone is not enough. The president needs a big idea to take to the country on a referendum basis much like Ronald Reagan did in 1980.
If there is one big economic issue that could change the debate in this campaign and break the deadlock in this election, it's reforming Social Security with large personal retirement accounts. Social Security is broken, and it must be fixed.
Birth rates are falling and life expectancy is rising, leaving fewer and fewer workers to support each retiree. The ratio of workers to retirees was more than 40-to-1 when Social Security began in 1935. Today it's 3-to-1, and soon it will fall to 2-to-1. There simply aren't going to be enough workers around to support all the retired people in a pay-as-you-go system. That's why we must begin transforming our nation's retirement system into a real pre-funded personal investment retirement system - just like federal employees and members of Congress have - to permit workers to build themselves a real nest egg.
Yes, it's going to cost some money to complete the transformation. That's because Social Security is doomed to insolvency and sinking into bankruptcy. Our only hope is to restrain the growth of all other federal spending and borrow some money to keep current retirees in their Social Security lifeboats while we rebuild the system on a solid foundation of investment.
So far, Kerry has essentially closed off any meaningful options on reforming Social Security other than the status quo, even though everyone knows Social Security must be fixed. Bush opened the door in the 2000 election and resurrected the issue in his 2004 State of the Union address to the nation but has not said much since then.
In the next few weeks, legislation will be introduced in both the House and the Senate with a couple dozen co-sponsors who would reform Social Security with large personal retirement accounts that guarantee all workers at least what they are currently promised under Social Security without tax increases or benefit cuts.
To learn more, visit the Alliance for Retirement Prosperity at www.arpnow.org.
If the president seizes this issue and supports the approach taken in this legislation as his own, I think he will be rewarded with four more years. More importantly, it would give Social Security a new lease on life, ensure retirement prosperity and security for all America's retirees, and help democratize our capitalistic system.