All this talk about raising tax ceilings and closing tax loopholes and even allowing some tax-cuts to expire as a way of tricking Dems to support any kind of SS privatization is clearly a ploy. There is no way this president and this republican congress are going to raise taxes in any way.
Now, we've got another theory as to possibly the real plan and motivations behind this talk and it's worse than I thought it could be...
The New Republic
Ed Kilgore has speculated that the push on Social Security privatization may just be one big bait-and-switch designed to help pass large, tax-free savings accounts for the wealthy (which could be Bush's understanding of "tax reform"). But this latest tack strikes me as a way of accomplishing both tax reform and Social Security privatization. Step 1: Get GOP members of Congress to go along with a tax increase that helps you pass privatization--presumably in some grand compromise with Democrats--by privately assuring them you'll undo the tax increase when you do tax reform. Step 2: Undo said tax increase when you do tax reform.
It's simple, elegant, and devastatingly cynical--exactly what you've come to expect from this White House.
Of course this theory is too cynical and distrustful of President Bush and the Republican leaders in congress. They've got our best interests and the country's best interests in mind. I mean, when have they lied or decieved us before? Clearly we on the left are simply bitter after a clean and transparent election that went against us and are looking for the next conspiracy to engage in negative, personal politics against some brave public servants.