Bush Uses Videotape to Hit Gore on Social Security

By Patricia Wilson

PORTLAND, Ore. (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush used a White House videotape on Tuesday to illustrate Democratic rival Al Gore's flip-flop on partial privatization of the Social Security system.

The tape, shot at a Jan. 27, 1999 briefing on the future of the retirement program, shows the vice president voicing strong support for a reform Bush proposed on Monday -- investing some of the 12.4 percent payroll taxes paid by employees and workers in the stock market.

``During this whole national discussion, one of the single most important, salient facts that jumped out at everybody is that, over any 10-year period in American history, returns on equities are just significantly higher than these other returns,'' Gore says.

``And in order to capture some part of that economic advantage, surely there is a way to solve these problems. And the people who have spent time on it are just totally convinced that it can be solved pretty easily,'' he adds.

Under Bush's controversial plan to save Social Security from financial ruin, individual workers would be able to divert part of the 12.4 percent payroll tax paid by employees and employers into privately controlled investment accounts. He did not specify the amount, but his campaign aides have used one-sixth as a hypothetical number.

Gore immediately denounced the Texas governor's proposal as an irresponsible ``game of stock market roulette'' that would drain funds from Social Security, place retirement incomes of working Americans at risk and threaten the booming economy.

Change Of Tune

In an interview with the Washington Post recently Gore also denied the Clinton administration had ever proposed partially privatizing Social Security, which it did twice before dropping the idea last month citing lack of support in Congress.

Under the moribund Clinton plan, the federal government would have invested the funds. Bush would let individuals control their own investments through personal retirement accounts.

``He (Gore) has changed his tune,'' Bush told reporters after playing the tape at a forum on Social Security with workers and management at Gunderson Inc., a Portland company that builds railroad freight cars. ``The man has now changed his position.''

``He's now saying investing in the private sector is risky, but what was he saying on that tape?'' Bush asked.

Bush said he wanted ``a rational discussion'' about the future of Social Security before the Nov. 7 election. Without reform, the retirement system is projected to go broke by 2037 as the Baby Boom generation swells the ranks of retirees.

``It first requires a president who says don't worry. we're not going to politicize this issue anymore ... I believe it is important to be consistent,'' he said.

Social Security reform is a hot potato for politicians who long have feared alienating a potent group of voters in America's seniors.

Fundamental Difference

Bush is the first presidential candidate in more than three decades to propose such a radical change in the system and his plan, while devoid of specifics, was designed to appeal to younger voters who believe that by the time they retire there will be no Social Security.

Larry Lindsey, Bush's chief economic adviser and a former Federal Reserve Board governor, said it also reflected the increasing interest in the stock market with more than half of all American households now holding investments through mutual funds or other mechanisms.

Bush stressed that his position symbolized the fundamental difference between he and Gore. ``I trust individuals, he trusts government.''

``The thinking in Washington sometimes is that maybe individuals are not smart enough, maybe they don't have Ph.D.s in economics and we shouldn't trust them to make individual decisions,'' Bush said.

Defending the lack of details in his Social Security reform plan, Bush said: ``The reason why is my job as a chief executive officer is to lay the framework for discussion.''

Ultimately, Republicans and Democrats in Congress would have to come together on the issue, he explained.

HENCH adds: WHAM! Gore slammed by his own dumb mouth. Expect to see more great exposes by Bush, like every time Al opens his big yap.

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