Gore s retirement-savings plan is an expanded version of proposals the administration submitted in its January 1999 and 2000 budgets. But even he admits additional information is needed to verify whether the cost of Gore s proposals will eat up all of the alleged budget surplus and then some. Stanford University economist Michael Boskin, a George W. Bush adviser who also served as chief economic adviser to former president Bush, spoke at the Taxpayer s Summit as well. He concluded that Gore s proposal for retirement reform will turn Social Security partly into welfare. The suggestion that Social Security might become welfare under Gore s economic plan also was made by Tax Foundation spokesman William Ahern.
Blinder bristles at the welfare comparison.
I thought that was totally outrageous, he says of Boskin s comments. It sounds like he wanted to call anything that is beneficial to relatively low-income people welfare. This is not welfare. This is a plan under which, if people are willing to save their own money, the government will augment it and make it easier for them to accumulate some wealth. Retirement Savings Plus plan would work.