Text 670, 640 rader
Skriven 2005-03-18 23:33:26 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0503189) for Fri, 2005 Mar 18
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President Discusses Strengthening Social Security in Orlando, Florida
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
March 18, 2005

President Discusses Strengthening Social Security in Orlando, Florida
Lake Nona YMCA Family Center
Orlando, Florida



1:58 P.M. EST

MRS. BARBARA BUSH: Good afternoon. (Applause.) I think the thing George and
I are asked most about these days, especially by parents of young children,
is how you raise a President of the United States. (Laughter.) Now that
George W. is in his fifth year as President, you'd think I'd know the
answer, wouldn't you? (Laughter.) But truthfully, I do not. There are no
great secrets.

Forty to forty-five years ago, when my world was nothing but peanut butter
and jelly sandwiches, Little League games and Brownies, I just, frankly,
hoped he'd grow up. (Laughter.) Well, he could have been like the little
boy who was sent to bed by his mother, and a few minutes later he called
her and said, "Mom, I'm thirsty. Can you bring me a glass of water?" She
said, "No, you had your chance, you just turn out your light." Well, five
minutes later, she hears, "Mom!" "What," cried the exhausted mother. "I'm
thirsty, can you please bring me some water?" "I told you no, and I told
you -- now, if you ask one more time I'm going to come up and spank you."
Well, five minutes later, the little boy called, "Mom?" "What," she said.
He said, "When you come up to spank me, would you bring me a glass of
water?" (Laughter and applause.)

So, now you can see where the President's tenaciousness comes from -- which
people also seem to admire so much. It's what you want in a President; it's
not what you want in a six-year-old. (Laughter.) So it is with great
pleasure that I introduce our son, the President of the United States, the
very tenacious President of the United States. (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all for coming. Thanks for coming. Please be
seated. (Applause.) Thanks for being here. Go ahead and be seated. Now.
(Laughter.) Thanks for the warm welcome. It's great to be back in central
Florida. Thank you all for taking time out of your day to come by and let
me discuss with you some important topics.

But before I do, I'm proud to be introduced by one of my favorite seniors
-- (laughter) -- okay, my favorite mother. (Laughter.) She is -- I told
them earlier in Pensacola, if you're trying to figure me, like the woman
who walked up to me when I was campaigning for governor of Texas, she said,
"You got your daddy's eyes, but your mother's mouth." (Laughter.) Which is
a compliment. (Laughter.)

Earlier today we were with the great Governor of the state of Florida.
(Applause.) We're both proud of him. More importantly, we both love him
dearly. He is a great man, and I'm proud of the job he's doing for Florida.
I know you are, as well. (Applause.) I said, "Mother, we're going to be
talking about Social Security." She said, "Fine. Don't tell anybody my
age." (Laughter.) I said, "I won't, but can I tell them you were at least
born before 1950, so you don't have anything to worry about when it comes
to getting your check?" She said, "Fine." (Applause.)

Mother and I just came from the Life Project Senior Development Center in
Orlando, Florida. I went there to look at some -- tell some seniors that I
wanted them to know with certainty that nothing will change when it comes
to their Social Security check, that they will get the check that the
government has promised. (Applause.) And that's important for them to hear.
Because I understand a lot of people rely on a Social Security check. Right
there is one. (Laughter.) I don't know if "Amen" was the proper response,
but nevertheless. (Laughter.) "Yo" is better -- yes. (Laughter.)

A fellow walked up to me -- I'm finding this to be the case in a lot of my
travels -- he said, "I'm glad I'm going to get my check. What about my
grandchildren?" And that's what I want to talk to the people -- to you
today about, making sure the seniors' grandchildren and their great
grandchildren have the same safety net that today's seniors receive from
the Social Security system.

Before I do, first I -- Laura sends her best. (Applause.)

Up until this very day, I have always said that Laura Bush was the nation's
greatest First Lady. (Applause.) And then I had to modify my position.
(Laughter.) Would you go for a tie? (Laughter and applause.)

I'm traveling from Washington to Florida with some fine members of the
United States Congress from the great state of Florida. Florida Senator Mel
Martinez is with us today. (Applause.) The Congressman from this district,
Congressman Tom Feeney, is with us today. (Applause.) Congressman Ric
Keller is with us today. (Applause.) Can I tell them? Yes, I'll tell them.
Keller has got an interesting way about him in this way, he's getting
married tomorrow. Isn't that great? (Applause.) Yet he's spending the day
with me. (Laughter.) So he's marrying a patient person. (Laughter.) But I
wish Ric all the best.

Congressman Adam Putnam is with us today. (Applause.) And finally,
Congressman Dave Weldon is with us today. I appreciate you coming, Dave.
(Applause.)

Mayor Rich Crotty is with us. You might remember the Mayor -- wait a
minute, you might remember the Mayor, Tyler's father. (Laughter and
applause.) I said to Crotty, "Where's Tyler?" You're not going to believe
this: He's in Washington, D.C. today. (Laughter.) One way to avoid a speech
is to get out of town. (Laughter.)

I appreciate the Y for letting us come by. Jim Ferber, I'm honored that you
let us come by and use your facility. I'll tell you something interesting
that takes place here, which I didn't realize until I got here, was that
this is more than just a Y -- than the Y that I used to think about. This
is an education center. (Applause.) How about this idea for people: The
YMCA partners with and houses Northlake Park Elementary School. Pretty
interesting concept, isn't it? (Applause.) It seems like to me it would be
a wise use of assets -- make sure taxpayers' money goes well and also
provide a great place for kids to not only learn, but to learn how to take
care of their bodies.

I don't know if you know this, but Congressman Weldon is a doctor, and he
and I were discussing on Air Force One, what can we do, as government
officials, to encourage people to make right choices with their body, eat
good food, and exercise? I mean, we've got to make sure that children
understand that it is important to be wise about the food you eat, and at
the same time, understand the importance of exercise, in order to make sure
that they're healthy when they come up, that they're -- that when they get
older -- kind of like me -- they're healthy. Now is the time to encourage
people to have preventative -- choices in life to prevent illness. It seems
pretty cool to have the elementary school and the Y educating the mind, as
well as training the body, in the same building. So I congratulate you for
your wisdom and your foresight, and wish you all the very best.

I want to thank the teachers who are here. (Applause.) I know I speak for
Mother when I say this, and certainly Laura: We appreciate you teaching. It
is a noble profession. Sam Houston was my predecessor as the governor of
Texas, by the way, and they asked him -- he was a United States senator
from Texas, he was a congressman from Tennessee, he was the governor of
Texas, he was the President of the Republic of Texas. That was before we
became a state. And they said, of all those jobs, which one did you like
the best. Without hesitating, he said, "Teacher." It's as noble profession.
So thanks for teaching. I also want to remind the moms and dads who are
here that a child's first teacher is a mom and a dad, that you have the
responsibility to be the first teacher to make their job easier.
(Applause.)

Sam Beard is here -- where's Sam? Oh, Sam, thanks for coming. Sam is a, I
think it's safe to say, a Democrat, which is fine. (Laughter.) He is a --
but what I think you'll find interesting is, in 2001, I created a
commission to look at the Social Security issue. And there were eight
Democrats and eight Republicans on the commission. The commission was
headed by former Democrat, United States Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan
from New York, one of the really fine, distinguished public servants. We
attracted some really bright people like Sam to serve on the commission.
They came together to talk about the Social Security issue, which I'm about
to talk about, as well. They did so in the spirit of what is -- trying to
figure out how to solve a problem, not how to promote a political party.

And I want to thank you for serving, Sam. You came up with some great
ideas. And I urge the Congress to take the same spirit that the -- adopt
the same spirit that the Moynihan commission did, to serve this country
without trying to foster a party, but serve the country to come up with
problems so that a younger generation of Americans will be able to say,
when it's all said and done, we did our duty to make sure the safety net
for Social Security exists for them like it does for today's seniors. So
thank you for being here, Sam. I appreciate you coming. (Applause.)

A couple of other things I want to talk about before we get to Social
Security. Today, I met Betty Haggard. She is a volunteer. She works for
Citizens on Patrol for the Seminole County Sheriff's Office. I want to
thank Betty for the example she sets. The reason I like to bring up people
who volunteer is because I want to remind you that a great way to serve our
country is to feed the hungry, find shelter for the homeless, mentor a
child, teach somebody to read, put your arm around somebody who hurts, help
heal a broken heart, and you do that by volunteering. You do that by taking
time out of your life, and when you do, you make America a better place.
(Applause.)

We're living in exciting times. I'm -- I fully understand that the actions
we take abroad and the actions we take at home will set the course of
events for a half-century, at least. That's how I think about public
policy. We're laying the foundation for freedom. That will mean that your
children and grandchildren can grow up in a peaceful world. The object of
this administration -- the objectives of this administration -- is to,
first and foremost, defend our country. But I understand, in the defense of
America, the long-term defense of America will be suited by the spread of
freedom.

Free societies are peaceful societies. (Applause.) I believe that deep in
everybody's soul is the desire to live in a free society. It doesn't matter
your religion or where you're from. And I believe that because the Almighty
God's gift to every man and woman in this world is freedom. This isn't
bestowed by America, this is bestowed by something greater than America.
(Applause.) And if you believe that -- if you believe that, and if you
understand that freedom leads to peace, then it's got to be the central
policy of the United States to work with friends and allies to spread
freedom. And it's happening.

I mean, if you think about Afghanistan, for example, particularly for the
young here, it wasn't all that long ago that people in Afghanistan lived
under the brutal reign of the Taliban. Now, these people were -- had a
dark, dim vision of the world, like, if you didn't agree with them a
hundred percent when it came to their religion, you'd find yourself being
flogged in the public square or executed.

We acted in our self-interest. We upheld a doctrine that said, if you
harbor a terrorist, you're equally as guilty as the terrorist. But in so
doing, we freed millions of people from the clutches of the Taliban. It
didn't happen long after the Taliban was gone that the people of
Afghanistan voted for the first time for President in the country's
history. Millions showed up at the polls. The first voter, by the way, was
a young woman. She wasn't even allowed to express her opinion under the
Taliban. She's voting. And as a result of Afghanistan becoming a liberated,
free society, the world is more peaceful. (Applause.)

There was a vote in the Palestinian Territories. President Abbas is showing
strength and courage by saying to the terrorists, we'll never achieve peace
so long as you -- so long as you kill. I believe there will be a
Palestinian state which is a democracy living side-by-side in peace with
Israel, which is a democracy. And we're beginning to see the signs of
hopeful progress. Two free societies living side-by-side in peace will make
it easier for our grandchildren to grow up in a peaceful world. I don't
have any grandchildren yet -- your grandchildren. (Laughter.)

Lebanon -- think about Lebanon. It's a country occupied by Syria. However,
as the world began to speak with one voice to Syria, saying, get out, take
your troops out, take your intelligence services out, people poured out in
the public square to say, we want to be free. There will be a free Lebanon
and Syria must listen to the demands of the world and completely withdraw.
(Applause.)

And, finally, in Iraq -- I'm sure some of you have had relatives in Iraq --
been a huge sacrifice by our military families, and people of America, as a
matter of fact, when it came to war. War is always the last resort for a
President. Diplomacy must always be tried. We responded to the challenges
of the time. But it should have heartened people to see the eight million
plus Iraqis who once lived under the brutal reign of a tyrant go to the
polls in defiance of terrorists and cold-blooded killers. That statement
was a powerful statement, particularly for young to understand, that when
you believe freedom lurks in everybody's soul, that people love to be free,
to realize the bravery and courage of those good folks in the facts of
terrorists has set an example for a lot of countries. A free Iraq is in our
interests. A free Iraq will make America more secure, the world more free,
which will help us achieve the peace we all want. Freedom is on the march,
and over the next four years, I'll do all I can to work with friends and
allies to keep it on the march. (Applause.)

Just one quick word on what we can do in Congress to make sure that we
continue the economic prosperity that's taking place in a place like
Florida -- it's got one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation, by
the way. I try to attribute that to Jeb, but then I realized it completely
overlooks the entrepreneurial spirit of the Floridian people, and the truth
of the matter is, the economy is growing because there's risk-takers,
dreamers, doers and hard workers in the state of Florida. (Applause.)

So I'm looking forward to working with Congress to make sure that we
continue to create an environment in which we can have economic growth and
vitality. There's a lot of things we can do. Pass a reasonable budget, for
starters; make sure we're wise about how we spend your money. Another thing
we can do is keep your taxes low. Third thing we need to do is to make sure
that Congress gets an energy bill to my desk.

In 2001, I was concerned about dwindling supply in the United States and
more dependence upon supply from overseas. And so I put together a group of
smart people and we came together with an energy strategy. And it's a
multifaceted strategy. It says, we got to conserve more; we need to work on
ways to encourage conservation; we got to develop alternative sources of
energy like ethanol and biodiesel. We need more LNG facilities so we can
bring liquefied natural gas to our power plants around the United States.

We'll spend taxpayers' money on research projects so that we could, for
example, be able to burn coal in a zero emissions plant. We've got a plant
-- such a strategy and such an experimentation going on right now. I think
we ought to explore -- and we are -- ways to see if we can't use hydrogen
to power our automobiles, so that we become not only less dependent on
foreign sources of energy, but that we're wiser about environmental air
standards, about protecting environmental air standards.

In other words, there's a lot of things I put in that report. I'm concerned
about the price of your gasoline. I'm concerned about rising prices. And
Congress needs to stop debating this bill. Congress needs to get it to my
desk, so we can start the progress of becoming less dependent on foreign
sources of energy. (Applause.)

You don't have to worry about these ones. (Laughter.) We're on board -- on
the same -- we're working on -- we're working the -- we're working toward
the same goal, and that's energy independence.

I want to talk about Social Security. First, Social Security is one of our
great institutions. I think Franklin Roosevelt did a good thing when he
created Social Security -- matter of fact, I know he did -- because it's
provided a retirement safety net for a lot of folks. And that's important.

The problem is we got a problem with Social Security. And that's what I
want to discuss with you. As a matter of fact, I think this is maybe the
16th state I've been to since I gave my State of the Union, talking about
Social Security, the fact that it's one of the great moral successes; the
fact that the system has helped seniors enjoy the dignity of a secure
retirement.

I'm assuring people I fully understand a lot of seniors rely upon their
Social Security check. Don't you? It matters a lot. It matters to seniors
all around our country. And that's why I'm spending a lot of time not only
addressing the problem -- which I'm going to define for you in a minute --
but, most importantly, saying to seniors, you have nothing to fear when it
comes to this talk about making sure the system works for the next
generation. It's really important for people to hear that. It's taken 16
states so far to get the message out. I got three more next week. No matter
how many states it takes or how many speeches I give, I want seniors to
understand all across America, no matter what the rhetoric is, no matter
what the pamphlets say, no matter what the pundits tell you, this
government will make and keep its promise to our seniors who have retired.
(Applause.)

If you're approaching retirement and born before 1950, you're going to get
your check, too. Nothing will change. You been working hard, you've been
putting money in the system, and you're going to get your Social Security
check, too. In other words, for those of us born prior to 1950, nothing
changes. I'm a fellow who was born prior to 1950; I guess that makes me
feel okay. What really makes me worried about is I understand that we have
made promises for younger Americans that we can't keep. And that's what I
want to explain to you, that this government of yours has said to
Americans, that safety net that we've created is fine if you retire, but
for a younger generation of Americans, it has a hole in it.

And let me tell you why: Because Social Security has changed; the dynamics
of our society has changed in ways that the creators of Social Security
could never have envisioned. First of all, the Social Security system is a
pay-as-you-go system. That means, you pay, the government goes ahead and
spends. (Laughter.) You pay in the system at your payroll tax, and the
government pays out the promised benefits, and if there's any money left
over, it goes to pay for other programs. See, some people, I suspect, think
that there is a trust, and we take your money and we hold it for you. And
then when it comes time to retire, we pull it out for you. That's not the
way it works. It is a pay-as-you-go system. The money comes in the door and
immediately goes out the door.

In 1950, there were 16 workers for every beneficiary -- 16 workers paying
into the system for every beneficiary. You can imagine it works. In a
pay-as-you-go system, when you've got a lot of workers per beneficiary, it
means you're collecting enough money to be able to take care of the people
who's retired. Today, because we're having fewer babies, because there's an
increasing number of beneficiaries, there's only 3.3 workers per
beneficiary. In other words, fewer workers are carrying a greater load.

In a relatively short period of time, there's going to be two workers per
beneficiary. Like, if you're young, you're going to be one of two who's
going to have to pay for guys like me. And so you begin to get a sense for
the math that has changed: 16 workers in the 1950s; in the 21st century
there's going to be two workers per beneficiary. And the other thing -- the
other problem to complete the math is that a group of us are getting ready
to retire. We're called baby boomers. I think I'm on the leading edge. I
was born in 1946; I turn 62 in 2008, which is a convenient year, in my
case, for getting to retirement age. (Laughter and applause.) And you know
what else has changed? Guys like me and Sam and others, we're living
longer, much longer than previous generations. And you know what else has
changed? Because a lot of people ran for office saying, vote for me, I'm
going to increase your Social Security benefits, my generation has been
promised greater benefits than the previous generation.

So if you take the issue of baby boomers living longer, getting paid more,
coupled with fewer people paying in the system, it says we've got a serious
problem, and it begins to manifest itself in 2018. That's when more money
starts going out of the system than coming in. Now, that may seem like a
long time if you've got a two-year perspective on life, but it's not long
-- 2018 is 13 years from now. If you're five years old, you'll be voting in
13 quick years. For those of you who have raised children, you understand
how fast 13 years goes by.

In 2027, the system will be $200 billion in the red. In other words, in
2018, it starts to go in the red and it gets worse every year: 2027, it's
$200 billion, and it gets worse after that. It keeps getting worse until it
gets up to -- 2033, the annual shortfall is about $300 billion. Finally,
2042, it's bust; it's bankrupt. So in other words, there's a huge hole.
Because there's more of me -- people like me, living longer, getting paid
more benefits, fewer workers in the system, the system starts go into the
red and it just accelerates.

And you can understand the problem. If you're a grandparent thinking about
your grandchild, you ought to be asking the question of people like me, how
are you going to -- how's this younger worker going to pay for it if you
don't do anything? You can imagine what it means.

We had an expert today, one of your panelists, Sam, was there. She said
that if nothing happens, in order to make the system somewhat whole, the
payroll tax is going to have to go up to 18 percent, I think she told me.
Think about that. Doing nothing has got serious consequences for a younger
generation coming up. This is why I like to say this is a generational
issue. This is an issue where, once we can assure grandparents that you're
fine, you'll be taken care of, the promise will be kept, a lot of
grandparents are starting to say, whew, I'm feeling good about it; how
about my grandchildren? What are we going to do for them?

I met Don and -- Dan and Lois Canterbury. Dan is a retired dentist from
Auburndale. He and his wife have got eight grandchildren. Their -- the
oldest grandchild is Evan. He's not here. He's 17 -- I hope he's studying
-- (laughter) -- but he's 17. On its current path, Social Security would
take part of Evan's check, of course, for his entire working career, but it
goes broke 10 years before he retires. I hope that helps put it in
perspective of what I'm talking about. It's one thing to put out dates;
it's another thing to put this in personal terms.

And Evan is out there working hard, the system is bankrupt, he's put all
this money in, and so what are the choices that future public policy people
will have? And they're not very good: major benefit cuts, major increases
in taxes, cutting out all other kind of programs in order to make sure that
the promises are kept. And those options don't sound very good to me and I
know they don't sound very good to you when you start thinking about it.

And so what we need to do is come up with a permanent solution. And that's
what I'm going to travel the country talking about. I think most people
have begun to understand that we got a problem, which is an important
dynamic. See, if Congress didn't think you thought there was a problem,
nothing would happen. This is one of these issues where people in
Washington truly respond to what people think. If they think nobody really
thinks there's a problem, I can assure you nothing will take place. But I
think things are changing in Washington. Matter of fact, I know they are,
in terms of whether or not people think there's a problem. Matter of fact,
the U.S. Senate approved a resolution the other day, 100-to-nothing, saying
that we have a problem with Social Security and we need to come up with a
permanent solution. That is progress. It's a solemn commitment from the
Senate.

And I want to assure you all that my administration will work with the
United States Senate and the House of Representatives to come up with a
permanent solution, and we're willing to listen to anybody with a good
idea. As a matter of fact, in my State of the Union address -- I haven't
looked at all previous State of the Union addresses -- but I suspect you'll
find, when it came to Social Security, mine was unique because I said,
let's put good ideas on the table. And I mentioned some of them. Former
Congressman Tim Penny had a good idea about the possibility of indexing
Social Security benefits to prices rather than wages, for younger workers.
President Clinton spoke about raising the retirement age for younger
workers. Patrick Moynihan, for the committee, talked about ways to change
the benefits. There was a Social Security expert name Robert Posen, who
happens to be a Democrat, proposed a progressive mix of wage and price
indexing.

These are all important, very interesting ideas that I just strongly urge
members of Congress to bring to the table and consider. It's one thing to
be thinking about solutions; it's another to say, I just dismiss anything
out of hand. That's not the way I think and that's not the way this
problem's going to get solved. We ought to welcome ideas. It doesn't matter
if it's a Republican idea or a Democrat idea, the idea is to come together
and fix this for a generation of Americans to come. (Applause.)

I have said this, and I believe -- I know we can do this without raising
the payroll tax rate. The reason why I believe that's it's necessary is
because one way to make sure this economy is slow today and slow in the
out-years is run up the payroll tax on people. It's a tough tax on a lot of
people.

I also know that this can't be a temporary fix. I don't know if you
remember 1983. Some of you weren't even born then. Kind of envious.
(Laughter.) They said they fixed -- they put the 75-year Social Security
fix together. It's called a 75-year fix. First, I want to applaud President
Reagan, Speaker O'Neill. I think leader Dole was involved with that. It was
-- a lot of people from both parties came together, said, we've got a real
problem, let's come together to do something about Social Security. And
they put together the 75-year fix. But here we are in 2005. Doesn't seem
like a 75-year fix when you're here talking about it 22 years later.

And so I urge Congress not to think about 75-year fixes. The math is just
not going to allow for a 75-year fix. It may sound like a 75-year fix at
first. We need a permanent fix. We need to do it right now and make sure
that nobody has to address the issue again. (Applause.)

I think we have an additional responsibility, besides making sure that it's
solvent, the system is solvent, and we've got to make it better for our
children and grandchildren. And so I've laid out a proposal to give our
youngsters an opportunity that the current system doesn't provide, and that
is a chance to own a piece of their own retirement, own it themselves, and
to tap into the power of compounding interest. It's called -- I call it a
personal savings account. It's a chance to give workers a voluntary option.
In other words, you get to choose if you want to. The government says you
don't have to do this, you can do this if you think it's an interesting
idea that you want to look at, to set aside some of your own money in a
savings account that you will invest in a conservative mix of bonds and
stocks.

This isn't the solution to Social Security; it is a part of the solution to
Social Security. It will mean that younger workers, when they retire, get a
better deal than under the current system, is what I'm trying to tell you.
It's a -- if you think about this -- let me explain compounding rate of
interest to you, that if you let a younger worker invest a third of their
payroll taxes, let's say 4 percent, in a conservative mix of bonds and
stocks, and that younger worker started saving at about 21 years old and
made $35,000 a year over his or her lifetime, by the time he or she
retired, there would be a nest egg of $250,000. In other words, 4 percent
of that person's payroll tax, or a third of the payroll tax, invested and
held and it just grows, compounds.

And what's important is, is that the rate of return in the voluntary
account would be greater than that in which the government -- you can get
through the government. In other words, by putting in a conservative mix of
bonds and stocks, you're going to make a better rate of return than your
money today. And the difference between what you will earn in a
conservative mix and what the government gets is substantial, particularly
when you start saving at 21 years old. And that matters.

And so they've got an opportunity under this system to have an asset that
you call your own. The system today, you have no assets. The money goes in
and it goes out. There's IOUs. They're paper. But there's no asset base.

Now, look, we're going to make sure there's careful guidelines about what
you can invest in. You can't put it in the lottery. You can't take it to
the track. (Laughter.) You got to invest it in a conservative mix of bonds
and stocks. But we're used to those kinds of things, aren't we, in our
society? We got the thrift savings plans that people -- Congress are able
to use, or federal employees are able to use.

Today I was with a Navy pilot in Pensacola, 21-year-old kid getting his
wings, talks about his thrift savings plans. He said, I like my thrift
savings plan. He says, I watch my money grow. I said, oh, yes -- you get a
quarterly statement? He said, no, I get it online all the time.

You see what's interesting about this notion about saving and investing is,
the world has changed when it comes to investing, at least it's changed
since I was being raised. I was telling Mother in the limousine, I don't
remember talking to her about 401(k)s when I was a little guy. I don't
remember IRAs, defined contribution plans. This world has changed since --
since I was raised.

And there are a lot of young kids who now understand what it means to
invest. They're comfortable with the concept of watching their money grow.
They understand that it's possible for government to allow a younger worker
to invest, that -- in a conservative mix of instruments. I mean, this is
not -- this is not a foreign concept. People are getting used to that. It
seems like to me that if a thrift savings plan is good enough for a federal
worker, it's good enough for a private sector worker. It's good enough for
you. (Applause.)

I met Anna Brooks from Sanford, Florida. Her husband was a Methodist
minister. He died. Let me talk about one of the benefits of personal
accounts when it comes to somebody who has been widowed. If your spouse
dies before 62 and you're not working, you get nothing from the system
until you turn 62 years old. Think about that. Your husband has been
working, putting money in the system, he passes away -- or it could be the
opposite, wife is working, husband is the beneficiary, and the person
passes away, and there's nothing left until that person turns 62 years old.
Or how about the case of the -- both couples -- both folks working, and one
predeceases the other, and the spousal benefits are less than the person's
retirement benefits when the person living retires. You only get one or the
other. You get the higher of the two, not both. Think about that system for
a minute. Somebody works all their life, the spouse works all their life,
the spouse is only going to get what she has, or he has contributed into
the system. But the other -- the other member of their family's money, it
just goes away.

If you have a personal account that grows over time, it's your asset you
call your own, you can leave it to whom you want. If you get -- if you --
the wife or husband whose spouse predeceases them will be able to have that
asset. It's yours. You get to decide, not the government. And the money
you've earned over the course of your lifetime becomes real, it's a part of
an asset. And that's an important part of why people should take a serious
look at personal accounts. There's something beneficial in a society where
more and more people have a real asset they call their own, where they get
to decide to -- whom to leave it to.

And so I was talking to Anna. She's got a lot of grandkids. She's
interested in making sure that the system for the grandkids -- she's got
two great grandkids, she's fixing to have another great grandchild -- so
she's interested in the subject, because she understands that if we don't
do anything, those kids are going to be saddled with a serious problem. And
the idea of her kids or grandkids and great grandkids being able to have an
asset appeals to her, something she wasn't afforded when she was coming up
and working.

And so what I'm telling you is personal accounts would replace empty
government promise with real assets. I really like the idea of the fact
that in our society today, more people own a home than ever before. More
minority families own a home than ever before. That's positive, isn't it?
Isn't that great? (Applause.) I like the idea that more and more people own
their own small business. People from all walks of life have their own
business and they're struggling and working hard, employing people, but
it's theirs. Personal accounts in a Social Security system would give
millions of Americas their first chance to own something, the chance to
pass something on to a son or a daughter if that's what they choose to do.

Now, ownership is powerful. Ownership was -- you know, it means you can --
somebody can inherit something from a mom or dad. And that shouldn't be the
privilege of just the wealthy. That should be the opportunity of everybody
who lives in America.

And so one of the reasons why I think Congress ought to consider personal
accounts is because it empowers the individual. It is -- conforms with the
way people are getting used to investing now, particularly younger
Americans, through 401(k)s or defined contribution plans. But it will allow
people to earn a better rate of return than they will under the current
system. It will help complement whatever is left over in the Social
Security system.

The government has promised benefits, but I've told you we can't pay what
we've promised. But the personal account, because of the compounding rate
of interest, will help you get closer to that which government has
promised. It will make it a part of a good retirement system for people.

And this idea is a idea that's not a Republican idea, or a Democrat idea.
There are a lot of people from both political parties who understand the
power of this. I happen to think it's a really good people idea. I think
it's an idea because it empowers people. I think it's an idea because it
says that the United States government really does trust the people with
their own money.

And so I urge Congress, as we take on this issue, to listen carefully to
the American people. And I urge you to make sure that Congress hears your
voices. (Applause.)

Over the next weeks, I'll continue to talk about how the -- to the people
about the fact that we have got a serious problem. Oh, it's fine for people
like me and people born after -- before 1950. People born after 1950, you
better be asking your elected representatives, if we've got a problem, what
do you intend to do about it. I find people are really tired of partisan
bickering: we can't accept this idea because it's a Republican idea; we
can't accept this idea because it's a Democrat idea. People just don't want
that when it comes to the Social Security debate. People want there to be
goodwill and a good-faith effort by people of both political parties to sit
down at the table, and say, the people are worried about it, there's a lot
of grandparents in America worried about their grandchildren, we have run
for office for a reason.

One of the reasons I have this idea or this issue on the table, because I
understand the job of the President is to confront problems, and not just
pass them on to another President or another Congress. Now is the time.

And I want to thank you for giving me a chance -- (applause.) I want to
thank you all for giving me a chance to come by. Sam, thank you for your
good work on this issue. Thank you for your interest on this issue. I want
to thank the younger folks who are here for paying attention to an issue,
which I promise you is going to affect your life. It's either going to
affect it in an incredibly positive way, or about 20 years from now, you're
going to be saying to yourself, I wonder how come the Congress didn't
listen to old George W. Bush. (Laughter.) How come they didn't get together
and fix this for generations to come?

God bless, thank you for coming. (Applause.)

END 2:44 P.M. EST
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