Privatization Not A Good Idea For Tony Snow

Tony Snow was, until recently, President Bush's press secretary. One of his jobs was defending Bush's proposal for partially privatizing Social Security, a plan that was based upon a belief that American workers wanted to and were capable of saving for their own retirements and managing those retirement investments. From Slate, a little irony:

Snow's own life in many ways symbolizes the downside of the ownership society—and suggests how much a government role in health and retirement benefits is necessary.

When Snow came to the White House after several years at the Fox News Channel, it was clear that he had relied entirely on others to save for his retirement. Snow conceded: "As a matter of fact, I was even too dopey to get in on a 401(k). So there is actually no Fox pension. The only media pension I have is through AFTRA [a union]." Even though his employer provided a 401(k) and would have matched contributions, and even though he was earning hundreds of thousands of dollars, Snow had not shown either the interest or financial capability to manage his own retirement benefits.