Social Security's Stalking Horse

Ve ah gonna take the pension plan and deeze tings and skveeze it and grope it like dis!

A Kos diary entry today mentions a New York Times article on Medicaid privatization in Florida as a possible stalking horse for federal privatization efforts. That may be so.

But an even scarier article was found elsewhere in the Times, desribing Schwarzenegger's efforts to kill the California state pension program.

If the GOP succeeds in California, not only will it eliminate a significant voice for investors' rights, it will give new life to those who want to kill Social Security.

Schwarzenegger is using the same tactics in California that Bush is using on a national level, describing the system as a crisis, "out of control," that needs to be privatized immediately. As with Social Security, experts say the California pension system is actually in very sound shape.

What's more, Calpers, as it is known, has long been a critical advocate for investors' rights, fighting for greater corporate accountability and stricter corporate governance. Conservatives have long despised it and are constantly trying to hurt it. Schwarzenegger's plan could completely kill it.

But perhaps most importantly, this fight could help set the tone for the national fight: "The outcome of the vote in California, pension experts and political analysts say, will not only have an impact on the state pension system, but will also provide an important marker of public opinion on proposed changes to Social Security."

National opponents of Social Security already recognize the importance of this fight, including the usual suspects such as Stephen Moore: "Mr. Moore, who has advised Mr. Schwarzenegger on economic policy and participated in an independent audit of state finances last year, said that California tends to lead the nation on social policy. If California moves from a traditional defined-benefit pension plan to a 401(k)-style defined contribution plan, the nation is likely to follow, he said."

This is a critical fight that we can't allow them to win.