That’s what Bush is proposing in the 2007 Budget: that by 2010, over $700 Billion dollars be diverted from tax revenue to fund private social security accounts. This staggering plan, which would affect nearly everyone, appears to have exactly one major journalist covering it in the mainstream media: Alan Sloan, whose article is on MSN and in The Washington Post. I did some searches and could not come up with any other references.

The blogosphere, on the other hand, is all over this story. Just go to Google Blog Search and do a search under “social security privatization” and you will see what I mean. Most bloggers are using it to beat on Bush for his sneakiness and/or his blithe insensitivity to the bipartisan criticism of his half-baked plan to make social security into a crapshoot. Kevin Drum of Washington Monthly, who has been around the block a few more times than the average blogger, is basically proclaiming the plan Dead on Arrival, or as he puts it, “it’s a nothingburger.” Let’s hope so. Not only is this proposal risky for average Americans, it appears to be another big way to hand over money and power to the banking industry.