Reply #6: Plans for the Raw Deal

[UpInArms]

Domestic program's big goals
Bush ready for fights on Social Security, tax code, tort law

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/12/17/MNGARADH4M1.DTL

Washington -- President Bush, in closing a two-day White House economic conference Thursday that outlined an ambitious domestic policy agenda, declared: "I like to confront problems."

And problems he will find as he swings for the bleachers with a plan for a fundamental overhaul of Social Security that promises a Washington brawl rivaling any domestic policy fight of the past two decades.

The fight will pit Democrats bent on preserving the New Deal's cornerstone social insurance program against a president and his allies who insist on introducing private ownership with personal investment accounts similar to a 401(k).

On top of that, Bush promises to simplify the tax code, a briar patch of special interests, to enact changes in tort law that have languished for two decades and to make permanent the sweeping tax cuts of his first term while cutting the $400 billion-plus budget deficit and conducting a hugely expensive war in Iraq.

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"One of my strong beliefs is that all public policy, to the extent possible, ought to encourage ownership in America," Bush said. "I believe in owning things."

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Are we going to have *Co owning us?