I n Washington, the conventional wisdom seems to be that it is too early for politicians to take the lead on Social Security privatization. Newt Gingrich has suggested that the country is not yet mature enough to discuss Social Security, but that the next Congress will have to address the issue after the 1996 election. The leader of privatization efforts in the House is Arizona Republican Jim Kolbe, head of the Public Pension Reform Caucus. The caucus is comprised largely of ideological freshman Republicans and a few Democrats, such as Texas Representative Charles Stenholm, who cochairs the group. I would discourage the presidential candidates from talking about it.
Some groups supporting privatization are also worried about the image they are projecting.
Almost everyone involved in the issue says that it will be at least 1997 before anything serious happens on Capitol Hill, and probably another several years before any changes are enacted into law. Somebody really serious has to get behind it first. Clearly, taxes would have to be raised or spending cut even further than proposed under current deficit-reduction plans. That's one of the nasty little secrets that you won't see advertised in the coming privatization blitz. This article may not be resold, reprinted, or redistributed for compensation of any kind without prior written permission from the author.