An overdue 'national conversation'

Give President Bush credit.

Just by talking honestly about the issue, he has already done more about Social Security reform than any other president before him.

But he faces a herculean task as he tries to convince the American people - and their legislators - that the time has come to think about not just ourselves, but our children and grandchildren.

Today, after all, there is no crisis. Checks are being paid to beneficiaries, money is coming into the system through payroll taxes, and the Social Security trust fund is full of IOUs from the federal government.

But that last issue is a big part of the problem. The feds are funding all sorts of programs with about $100 billion a year borrowed from the surplus in the Social Security trust fund. At some point - possibly as early as 2011 - the Social Security surplus is going to start dwindling, and the federal government is going to have to figure out how to make up the gap.

Social Security itself won't be affected right away, but all the programs being paid for with borrowed money will be. Congress might decide then to cut programs that people have gotten used to, or they might decide to greatly increase taxes in order to fund those programs. Either way, taxpayers lose.

This system is just bad financial management, and it isn't going to get any better until everyone wakes up and demands accountability from the federal government.

President Bush has made a start by calling for a national conversation on Social Security reform. His appearance in Great Falls Thursday was a refreshingly plainspoken pitch for Americans to put their heads together and solve the problem before it gets out of hand.

Admittedly, Bush was talking to a pre-selected crowd of supporters, but he was right when he said: "That's the way Montanans think: If you see a problem, go fix it. Don't theorize. Don't pontificate. Go fix it."

And we think that's the way most Americans think.

Sen. Max Baucus is unhappy with the president's attempt to allow younger workers to put part of their money into "personal retirement accounts" instead of into Social Security. There is plenty of time to debate that innovation, and no one wants it if it isn't safe, but in the meantime, the president's invitation to put all ideas on the table should be taken advantage of.

If the Democrats have any better ideas, we want to hear them, and so does the president. But we've had enough of trying to make political hay out of people's fears and worries. Sen. Baucus and the other critics are going to have to do more than complain about the president's plan; they are going to have to come up with a plan of their own.

Remember, this is just the beginning of the debate, and people are already throwing around widely divergent theories and numbers. Don't believe everything you hear. If statistics lie, then dollar amounts that range into the trillions are ripe soil for lies to be generated.

Become informed. Ask smart questions. Hold the politicians accountable. And maybe we will come out of this national conversation on Social Security reform with more than another study. We may actually develop a solution.