Sen. Ron Johnson says it’s a "shame" Social Security wasn't privatized

Just days after ridiculing single mothers at an event, Senator Ron Johnson accidentally revealed his real thoughts on Social Security at a town hall meeting in Prentice, telling attendees he thought it was a “shame” that President George W. Bush didn’t privatize Social Security.

Johnson, who has repeatedly referred to Social Security as a “legal Ponzi scheme,” fondly remembered the attempt to put Social Security at the whim of Wall Street by saying, “Well, George Bush tried to do that and remember I said he got slaughtered politically. It went nowhere, which I thought was a shame.”

Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUnZ3fhwyTo&feature=youtu.be

Wisconsin voters have historically supported keeping our promises to seniors through Social Security and Medicare. Wisconsinites overwhelmingly rejected Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney’s plans to massively cut Social Security and Tommy Thompson’s pledge to “do away with” Medicare in 2012.

So who does support privatizing Social Security? 

That would be the conservative special interest group Club for Growth, which has committed to raise and spend $2.5 million on Johnson’s behalf and has previously said “hell yeah” they want to privatize Social Security.

“Privatizing Social Security would have disastrous results for seniors who are relying on the promise of Social Security to keep them secure during their retirement and for the millions of beneficiaries who would see cuts in disability and survivorship benefits,” Democratic Party of Wisconsin Executive Director Jake Hajdu said Friday. “The real shame here is that Senator Ron Johnson would throw our seniors under the bus to reward Wall Street billionaires and shady special interest groups advocating on his behalf.”

Privatizing Social Security damaging results:

SOCIAL SECURITY PRIVATIZATION WOULD REDUCE BENEFITS FOR RETIREES

AARP Strongly Opposed Privatization, Saying It Would Eliminate The Social Security Guarantee And Reduce Benefits. “AARP strongly opposed a privatization plan in 2005, and continues to oppose this approach, because it would eliminate the guarantee that Social Security provides and reduce benefits, and we are currently fighting proposals to cut Social Security to pay the nation’s bills.” [AARP Press Release, 6/17/11]

Privatizing Social Security Even Partially Would Result In Benefit Cuts. “Social Security privatization would be a bad deal for women, children, African Americans, and low-wage workers, since it would significantly weaken Social Security’s insurance function. Diverting a portion of Social Security revenue into individual accounts will result in less income for Social Security itself, meaning that retirement, disability, and survivorship benefits will have to be cut.” [Economic Policy Institute, 6/1/01]