By Arthur Perlo

People's Weekly World

President Bush stacked the deck and tried to play us all for suckers. The stacked deck is Bush's commission to "strengthen" Social Security. All of its 16 members are on record as favoring privatization, usually accompanied by cuts in benefits.

So it is no surprise that the commission, in its preliminary report issued July 17, claims that Social Security is not sustainable. The report is an effort to scare us into accepting reduced benefits and turning our retirement system over to the commission's Wall Street buddies.

The only "threat" to Social Security is the Wall Street bandits and their paid agents in the White House, Congress and media. In fact, if the rich paid their share, we could increase benefits, keep the retirement age at 65 and cut workers' payroll taxes.

Now, the Bush commission has reached a new low in the politics of division. Because Black people have shorter lifespans, the commission says, they collect less of what they pay into Social Security than whites. Therefore, the story goes, African Americans would be better off with personal investment accounts.

"It doesn't make sense for poor Black Americans to subsidize the benefits of wealthier, white Americans," was the quotation used by right-wing columnist Deroy Murdock. The facts don't support this interpretation.

Social Security pensions will range from about 56 percent of earnings for low-paid workers, to only 28 percent for well-paid. In the face of ongoing discrimination, Black workers are more likely to have low-paid jobs and actually average a higher rate of return (1.64 percent per year) on their payroll taxes than white workers (1.52 percent).

The commission ignores these figures. It also ignores survivors' and disability benefits, which account for one-third of all Social Security payments. African Americans are 30 percent more likely to receive these benefits than the rest of the population.

While it distorts the present situation, the Bush commission's proposals would make matters worse. They would increase the retirement age, hurting African Americans even more than other workers.

Their privatized "personal investment accounts" would leave low-wage workers worse off than the present system and would force deep cuts in survivors' and disability benefits.

The commission report is the latest salvo in a long propaganda campaign, aimed at convincing people to turn over Social Security to Wall Street. Earlier propaganda has focused on convincing younger workers that, after paying benefits for today's retirees, there will be no money left when they retire.

African-American groups such as the Congressional Black Caucus, NAACP and the Urban League have been stalwart in the defense of Social Security. The Bush commission report is an attempt to split and undermine this support.

Commission co-chair, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, is an old hand at this. His 1965 attack on the welfare system was widely denounced by civil rights leaders as a slanderous attempt to blame the victims of racist discrimination. It helped create the ideological climate that would result, 30 years later, in the destruction of the welfare safety net.

Moynihan then accepted a White House post under Richard Nixon, who won the 1968 election with racist appeals to Southern voters. In 1976, Moynihan appealed to right-wing Democrats in New York to win the Senate nomination over Bella Abzug, who was supported by women and civil rights, peace and progressive forces.

Now, as co-chair of Bush's commission, Moynihan is well placed to repeat his welfare hatchet job on Social Security. As a senator, he advocated substantial benefit cuts and partial privatization. Given his history, Moynihan's crocodile tears over the inadequacies of Social Security for African Americans are an egregious insult.

If Bush, Moynihan and the rest of the commission were really concerned that African Americans are being cheated because of their shorter lifespan, they would address racist discrimination in housing, education, employment, health care, criminal justice and environment, so that all workers could look forward to a healthy and secure retirement.

For a thorough discussion of the Bush commission's report, see www.cbpp.org