Bush's "Ownership Society"

[dazzleman]

I think this is the necessary next phase in creating greater opportunities for economic security for individuals.

The first phase was no security, period.  You ate if you worked, but if you got old or sick, forget it.

The intermediate phase is the one we have been in since around the time of the New Deal.  This includes government-administered retirement programs, unemployment and disability insurance, and medical care for the elderly.

This intermediate phase is showing signs of burning out as government mismanagement of these programs, as well as the entitlement mentality that grows around them, has severely hindered their effectiveness for the future.  Social security as currently structured cannot last past the next generation to retire, whether those who argue in favor of continued government control (Democrats) admit it or not.

The new "ownership" phase would incentivize people to provide for their own security, and decentralize contol of these asset in individual hands rather than centralizing it with the federal government.  It is kind of like comparing a program of home ownership to one of public housing.  I would choose home ownership any day, and the government has very successfully encouraged this when you consider that during the depression, the vast majority of Americans lived in rental housing, while today the majority are owners.

This devolution of control from the government to individuals will profoundly affect the nation's politics, and the Democrats will fight it tooth and nail because it effectively means that they lose control over a lot of votes.

It should be interesting, but I am all for the "ownership" society as long as the transition is very carefully administered.