BOOKER: MANDATORY SOCIAL SECURITY FOR YOU (WITH A TAX HIKE!) BUT OPTIONAL FOR UNIONS THAT ENDORSE HIM
By Phil Kerpen | BookerFail.com
Today Cory Booker celebrated an endorsement from the International Association of Fire Fighters. Like pretty much every special-interest questionnaire, Booker told them exactly what they wanted to hear. Specifically with respect to Social Security, he wrote this:
While we cannot ignore the Social Security Trust Fund’s projected deficits, requiring firefighters to be covered by Social Security is not the solution. Instead, we should focus on progressive reforms, such as raising the payroll tax cap that would require the wealthiest Americans to pay a little bit more to preserve Social Security.
Got that? Firefighters should — as long as their union endorses the Newark mayor — be allowed to opt out of Social Security in favor of their own retirement system that uses real investment instead of operating as a transfer scheme. But you, an ordinary taxpayer, should be forced to stay in traditional Social Security and, should you happen to make over $113,700 in a given year, face a big old tax hike.
Meanwhile, Booker attacks Lonegan for suggesting all young Americans — unionized or not — should have a choice between the current system or a system of personal accounts with real investment and a guaranteed minimum benefit.
Indeed, Booker’s negative attack ad (here’s a very funny not-so-distant flashback to Booker promising only a positive campaign) says Lonegan wants to “privatize Social Security,” when what he actually supports is guaranteeing benefits to retirees while transitioning younger workers to a personal account system that would pay them higher benefits through real investment returns. Much like what Booker supports for unions that endorse him.
What a hypocrite.
(By the way, the chief actuary of Social Security determined that a plan like Lonegan’s can achieve full solvency without tax increases or benefit cuts — and with a guarantee that nobody could do worse than what the current system promises.)
