Washington, DC – In a brand new video, American Bridge 21st Century blasts Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry over his dangerous views on Social Security and retirement security for America’s seniors.
In thinking Social Security is an “abuse of the constitution,” a “lie” and a “ponzi scheme” that should be dismantled and forced on the states, Perry’s views are more extreme than we’ve seen in half a century. He doesn’t just think the program should be tweaked, but that it never should have existed in the first place.
Miles outside the mainstream, Perry’s extreme views will continue to dog him throughout his campaign — no matter whether it’s in the primary or the general. Just this morning, Karl Rove warned that Perry’s views on Social Security were “toxic in a general election environment and they are also toxic in a Republican primary.”
BACKGROUND:
PERRY:“Washington has abused the Constitution. You go back to a decade ago, with Woodrow Wilson, we start, you know, the 16th Amendment, and allow for the income tax to be used to start funding all these programs of government, and then you really see the explosion during the New Deal.” [“Parker/Spitzer,” CNN, 11/4/10]
PERRY:“I know a lot of people think the world of Roosevelt’s New Deal… But the fact of the matter is, it is a legacy of glut, glut of federal programs, including a Social Security program that is not only bankrupt, but also had very little to do with America’s emergence from the Great Depression.” [Speech to the Heritage Foundation, C-SPAN, 11/8/10]
PERRY: “And frankly it exacerbated the Great Depression, it didn’t shorten it.” [CBN News, 12/3/10]
CHUCK TODD: “In your book, you are very tough on a very popular federal program, and that is Social Security. At one point, you refer to it as a Ponzi scheme and at one point, in fact, you write this, ‘Ponzi schemes — like the one that send Bernie Madoff to prison — are illegal in this country for a reason. This unsustainable fiscal insanity is the true legacy of Social Security and the New Deal.’ You even refer to it as a bad disease.”
PERRY: “I don’t know why you call it a popular program. You ask a 20-something-year-old what do you think about Social Security, and they will laugh at you. When you have a very small group paying in to pay a very large group, that’s a Ponzi scheme.” [“The Daily Rundown,” MSNBC, 11/18/10]
PERRY:“It is a Ponzi scheme. I don’t know how you would explain it any other way… It probably is a — is a program that even makes Mr. Ponzi feel pretty bad if he were still alive.” [“Fox News Sunday,” Fox News, 11/21/10]
JOE SCARBOROUGH:“So what’s the fix?”
PERRY:“Get it back to the states. Why is the federal government even in the pension program or the health care delivery program? Let the states do it.” [“Morning Joe,” MSNBC, 11/5/10]
ELIOT SPITZER:“So you wanna let people opt out?”
PERRY:“I think — you know what, let the states decide if that’s what’s best for their system.”
SPITZER:“So the states are gonna let people opt out of Social Security?” [“Parker/Spitzer,” CNN, 11/4/10]
PERRY:“It is a lie. It is a monstrous lie on this generation.” [American Bridge 21st Century tracking, Perry Meet & Greet at the Vine Coffee Shop in Ottumwa, Iowa, 8/27/11]
Published: Sep 7, 2011