July 3, 2005

Party of Ideas


Bill Clinton has a Social Security reform idea that I can really get behind:

Legalizing more immigrants would help bolster the Social Security system, former President Bill Clinton told the nation’s largest Hispanic-rights organization Friday.

“Those of you who want immigration reform should use Social Security more,” Clinton said to about 1,300 members of the League of United Latin American Citizens. “If we legalize just 250,000 more immigrants a year, it would solve half of the shortfall in the Social Security Trust Fund.”

Indeed. Now I’m not sure about his numbers, but besides actually being good policy, this seems like the perfect idea to start banging on at every opportunity, no? It’s a clear alternative to privatization, it’s easy to understand, and it’s a horrific wedge issue for Republicans but not so much for Democrats. Well, maybe I’m wrong about that last bit. But I assume Bill Clinton knows what he’s doing.

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Headshot of Editor in Chief of Mother Jones, Clara Jeffery

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Clara Jeffery, Editor-in-Chief

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