The last person in America who believes that there is a possibility for major "reform" in Social Security in the next two years may be Henry Paulson, the Treasury Secretary, but even he seems to be losing hope, as this excerpt from a Reuters article indicates:
U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson conceded on Friday that chances were slim for agreeing on a way to reform Social Security financing but said he would keep trying to find bipartisan support for
"There's not a high degree of likelihood. I'm not naive, given how politically contentious this is, that we'll get this done," Paulson said in an interview on CNBC Television.
But note Paulson's tone in this article from Bloomberg.com, which suggests that he has not yet given up completely:
U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Republicans and Democrats aren't as far apart on overhauling Social Security as their public posturing might suggest, and insisted all options are on the table.
In public, some Republican lawmakers declare they won't accept any accord that would raise taxes and conservative groups threaten to unseat any legislator that considers doing so. At the same time, Democrats say they oppose President George W. Bush's proposal to set up private accounts.
``When I'm talking alone, there's no one that really pushes back hard,'' Paulson said in an interview yesterday in Washington. ``If it's going to be bipartisan, you've got to come together and everything is on the table.''
Maybe they are not pushing back hard because they do not want to waste their time on a pointless argument about something that is not going to happen.
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