Thursday, March 03, 2005

Elliot Spitzer Disses Bush Hypocrisy on SocialSecurity

From Newsday today....
Spitzer jabs Bush on personal Social Security accounts BY J. JIONI PALMER

In one of his first addresses since announcing that he's running for governor, New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer waded into the national debate about privatizing Social Security, saying the Bush administration has no credibility because it opposed his efforts to clean up corruption on Wall Street.

Sounding more like a candidate for national office than one vying for the governor's mansion in Albany, Spitzer, speaking at the National Press Club, blasted the White House for opposing overhauls designed to curb fraudulent practices by investment bankers, mutual funds, stock analysts and others his office has prosecuted.

"You have an administration that failed to protect investors. Failed to protect them. And yet they are the administration that is saying take the safety net that we have and invest it in a system that was fundamentally broken before others stepped in to try to save it," Spitzer said."

On the one hand, they are saying the system does not need to be fixed, there was nothing wrong with it, they fought against the changes that we wanted, and then they say, 'Take your savings and put it into that very system.' Where would we be if those who are retiring had had their money in Enron and Worldcom?"

A spokeswoman for the White House declined to comment.

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