Whoops, Silly Billy Treasury Secretary JUST FORGOT Not To Privatize Social Security!
Why he'd lose his head if it wasn't sewn on!
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent “accidentally” threw the Trump administration into backtracking mode yesterday when he “inadvertently” told a rightwing conference that Donald Trump’s new savings account for children “is a back door for privatizing Social Security.”
Passed as part of the Big Beautiful Blowjobs for Billionaires Bill, the “Trump accounts” give newborn babbies a $1000 savings account, into which parents can put $5000 a year tax-free until the kiddos turn 18. It’s like an IRA for newborns — or at least for US citizen babbies born between Jan. 1, 2025, and Dec. 31, 2028. As Politico Politicosplains,
The funds must be invested in portfolios tied to U.S. stock indexes and are structured similarly to individual retirement accounts, with penalty-free withdrawals permitted after age 59 and a half or earlier for college expenses or a first home purchase.
More on the problems with the scheme in a minute, but first, here’s Bessent’s exuberant endorsement of privatizing Social Security, which he didn’t actually mean when he said it in clear English in remarks to a Breitbart forum.
Bessent gushed that the accounts could create tons of wealth and would teach people all about the “power of compound interest,” and while the law allows people to cash them out at the age of 30, Bessent added, “At the end of the day, I’m not sure when the distribution level date should be. Should it be 30 and you can buy a house? Should it be 60? But in a way, it is a back door for privatizing Social Security.”
He continued that if people just sat on the accounts until they retire, well then, “if these accounts grow and you have hundreds of thousands of dollars for your retirement, then that’s a game changer.”
So yeah, that would be a great way to save for retirement, if you arrive in the world with parents who can afford to invest $5K every year for 18 years! And if you’re born during the three years the program lasts.
Shortly after Democrats all pointed at the video and said, Yeah, he admitted it, that’s the same old Republican privatize Social Security wet dream as ever! Bessent took to the Twitter box (archive link) to insist that heavens, no, he never said the accounts are a “backdoor to privatizing Social Security” when those very words came out of his mouth!
What Bessent really meant was that Social Security will always be there for you until it isn’t! No, wait, he meant the baby accounts are “additive” and that there’s no threat to Social Security, and no his fingers are not crossed but please don’t look at his hand behind his back.
Also, please ignore the long, long history of Republican wet dreams of either eliminating Social Security altogether, dating back to before it was passed by FDR in 1935, or of privatizing it, so financial institutions could profit off it while working people hope their retirement savings aren’t wiped out by market speculation.
Republicans sure remember how popular George W. Bush’s second-term privatization scheme was, when it led Democrats to take control of Congress in 2006. Since then, they have still wanted to do it, but never admit it in words from their mouths, except for all the times they forget people hate privatization and say it anyway.
Now that Bessent has absolutely positively made clear that Republicans will never (admit to wanting to) do away with Social Security, we can all rest assured that it’s the farthest thing from the administration’s plans, and all they want is for everyone to be prosperous if they already are.
But hey, while we’re here, let’s briefly talk about how those Trump Baby Plans are also kind of shit, shall we? Because even though they’re frequently described as having roots in progressive ideas for a “baby bonus” or “baby bonds,” where government accounts for tiny babbies would help them build wealth for the future, the Trump accounts aren’t anything of the sort, because beyond the initial $1000 stake and the tax deferred structure, there’s nothing in the scheme to help people who don’t already have the means to keep putting money into them every year.
The magic of compound interest isn’t all that powerful when the only thing in the account is the initial $1000. If it isn’t eaten up by bank fees by the time a kid turns 18 (or 30 or 60), it’s never going to pay for a house or retirement or even a semester’s worth of college textbooks, never mind tuition.
Instead of the progressive proposals’ plan to reduce wealth inequality by supplementing the social safety net with a means of building long-term wealth, Trump’s plan slashes Medicaid and food assistance and gives upper-middle-income and wealthy families a nice bonus, allowing them to shelter income from taxes while ensuring even more wealth for their progeny. Great news for kids who, thanks to the circumstances of their birth, are already America’s fortunate sons and daughters.
But don’t worry. It isn’t a backdoor to privatizing Social Security. Scott Bessent said it isn’t, right after he said it is.
PREVIOUSLY!
[AP / Politico / American Prospect / Fireside Stacks]
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Privatization is merely the theft of government resources. There, I said it.
The first thing everyone might want to remember about this is that YOU PAID INTO THAT POT
and
THAT IS YOUR MONEY THESE THIEVES ARE TRYING TO STEAL