contrapositive

DELONG DEBUNKS Brad DeLong--whose blog is now featured on the right side of this page--takes on the myth that Democrats have no plan to save Social Security:

But there is an alternative plan on Social Security that is a near-consensus position for Democrats. It has three parts:

1. Social Security should be preserved--not phased out, as the Bush plan's "price indexation" formula does.

2. Social Security's long-run funding hole should not be closed by benefit cuts alone, but by a mixture of steps that reduce costs and increase revenues.

3. Private accounts to make it easier for America's non-rich to build their retirement savings are a wonderful idea if properly implemented and if proposed as an add on to rather than a carve out from Social Security.

So why haven't Democrats made their way up to the bargaining table?

Because the President's plan seeks not to fix the program but to dismantle it. And saving Social Security and dismantling it are mutually exclusive goals.

It's just that simple.