[funkboy]

He is speaking at my college tomorrow, talking about Social Security. (...at a college?) I will be in the media section as a reporter.

What should I ask him, if we get a chance? Anything I should do? I'll be bringing my iBook, digital camera, and voice recorder (if I can find one for my iPod before 10:00 am tomorrow).

It's exciting to be able to be close to the President regardless of one's political stance.

It's also my first opportunity to be a media person at an event.

I'll be interested to hear exactly what he plans to do with Social Security... if he really gives away any hints.

[zerostar]

Originally posted by funkboy:
I'll be interested to hear exactly what he plans to do with Social Security...

My guess is hype that there is a huge problem and something needs to be done.

I got a chance to have a one-on-one with Ronald Reagan for around 15 minutes, it was very exciting but you do wind up realizing they are just like every other politician. full of it.

[spacefreak]

Originally posted by zerostar:
My guess is hype that there is a huge problem and something needs to be done.

Sorta like President Clinton in 1998...?

That is our obligation to you and, frankly, to ourselves. And let me explain that. This fiscal crisis in Social Security affects every generation. We now know that the Social Security trust fund is fine for another few decades. But if it gets in trouble and we don't deal with it, then it not only affects the generation of the baby boomers and whether they'll have enough to live on when they retire, it raises the question of whether they will have enough to live on by unfairly burdening their children and, therefore, unfairly burdening their children's ability to raise their grandchildren. [...]

Now, again I say, if we act soon, less is more. If we can develop a consensus as a country to act soon we can take relatively modest steps in any number of directions to run this 2029 number well out into the future in ways that will keep Social Security's role in providing some retirement security to people without unfairly burdening your generation and your ability to raise your children to do that. And I can tell you, I have had countless talks with baby boomers of all income groups and I haven't found a single person in my generation who is not absolutely determined to fix this in a way that does not unfairly burden your generation. But we have to start now.

We have to join together and face the facts. We have to rise above partisanship, just the way we did when we forced the historic balanced budget agreement. This is -- as you can well see, this is reducible to stark mathematical terms. This need not become a partisan debate.

[BRussell]

Originally posted by funkboy:
He is speaking at my college tomorrow, talking about Social Security. (...at a college?) I will be in the media section as a reporter.

What should I ask him, if we get a chance? Anything I should do? I'll be bringing my iBook, digital camera, and voice recorder (if I can find one for my iPod before 10:00 am tomorrow).

He's coming through my neck of the mountains (Montana) too. I'd ask him if he's familiar with other countries' experiences with Social Security privatization and what he learned from them. For example, Chile. You may want to use the term "personal accounts" rather than "privatization" in front of him, though.

[spacefreak]

Originally posted by funkboy:
He is speaking at my college tomorrow, talking about Social Security. (...at a college?) I will be in the media section as a reporter.

What should I ask him, if we get a chance? Anything I should do? I'll be bringing my iBook, digital camera, and voice recorder (if I can find one for my iPod before 10:00 am tomorrow).

It's exciting to be able to be close to the President regardless of one's political stance.

It's also my first opportunity to be a media person at an event.

I'll be interested to hear exactly what he plans to do with Social Security... if he really gives away any hints.

That's cool as hell.

I hope for your sake that he's not too burnt out from tonight's State of the Union address, for some of Bush's best speaking often comes at these smaller events.

As for your equipment, I'd hold back from using the iBook during the speech. This may be the only time you'll ever be in the immediate presence of a President. Absorb the experience. Same thing goes for too much picture taking.

Too bad you don't have a video camera and tripod. Then you could let the video camera shoot while you sit back and breathe it all in. If it were me, I'd go out and buy a video camera and tripod, saving all the packaging for my subsequent return of the stuff a few days later.

Question for GWB: Patriots or Eagles?

[spacefreak]

Originally posted by BRussell:
He's coming through my neck of the mountains (Montana) too. I'd ask him if he's familiar with other countries' experiences with Social Security privatization and what he learned from them. For example, Chile. You may want to use the term "personal accounts" rather than "privatization" in front of him, though.

I'm sure Bush is familiar with the experiences of other nations. He may not know the line-item specifics, but he's surely been briefed on their structures and encountered problems.

Will you be bumpng into the President as well?

[zerostar]

Originally posted by spacefreak:
Sorta like President Clinton in 1998...?[/url]

Is this your default post?

Who said clinton was right about everything anyway?

[funkboy]

I won't be having a 1-on-1 with him, but I will be in attendance, and who knows if there'll be a QA with him. I would just like to be prepared in case

Originally posted by spacefreak:
As for your equipment, I'd hold back from using the iBook during the speech. This may be the only time you'll ever be in the immediate presence of a President. Absorb the experience. Same thing goes for too much picture taking.

You think I should leave it at home? I was thinking of wearing it in a backpack, or carry the backpack. I figured it would make me look more "professional," haha. Maybe most other people won't have one, though.

Too bad you don't have a video camera and tripod. Then you could let the video camera shoot while you sit back and breathe it all in. If it were me, I'd go out and buy a video camera and tripod, saving all the packaging for my subsequent return of the stuff a few days later.

Isn't this a bad thing to do? The thought crossed my mind, too, though! I thought about getting a voice recorder so I could record his voice - I would have bought and kept an iTalk recorder for my iPod, but no place I know of in this town carries one. When will we get an Apple Store mini?

Question for GWB: Patriots or Eagles?

Good one. I'll ask about the other countries' experiences with personal accounts, too. Good call on not calling it privatization

[funkboy]

I saw the President speak today. My initial impressions:

- very well-received in this part of the country. Of course, I think he would be anywhere, since people who don't like him would probably stay away from a speech like this. The atmosphere was that of a rock concert.

- I noticed an audible "woo!" or "yeah!" or other exclamation every time the President mentioned "God," "our creator," or another synonym. Also, the only two people out of the audience who yelled loudly at the President (in praise of him, in this case) were people not from the US: an Iraqi woman and two Iraqi men (sitting in different sections). Both of these things were interesting to note.

- This was the first time I sat in the media section of an event, so that was fairly interesting. When a staffer was handing out booklets about the Bush's
Social Security ideas, everyone got one, including the television reporter. However, he stood around doing absolutely nothing for about nine minutes, just holding the report in his hand, not reading it. The next time he was live on air, though, he talked about the report, just reading from the teleprompter. It really made him look like a knowledgeable, hard-working, credible guy, but he hadn't even cracked it open.

- Bush has a nice demeanor and a friendly, very casual way of public speaking. He would sometimes say, "Okay, now you talk," or some other strangely curt words to let the next person talk. I suppose he's tired of people always being reverent of him, and wants them to loosen up.

- If you ever get into a Presidential speech like this, if you can, get in the media way. This means you won't wait an hour in a long line just waiting to get into the building - they media are sped right through security and into the building as soon as possible. They still checked us at security, yes, but the media were put at the front of the line as soon as we arrived. It's the only way to fly!

If you have any questions, or want to see a couple of the pictures I took (they're not all that great), let me know.

[RAILhead]

Originally posted by funkboy:
He is speaking at my college tomorrow, talking about Social Security. (...at a college?) I will be in the media section as a reporter.

You just answered that yourself, man. College is the BEST place to talk to people about SS, if not before. However, don't worry about what the Government will do.

Why? Because if you're 20 years old, work, save, and invest just $1000 a year ($83.33 each month) into a Roth IRA at 10% until you're 60 years old, you'll have saved about $873,000+ TAX FREAKING FREE for retirement.

If you can save back $100 each month, that $873,000 could turn into $1,048,000+ -- and it's TAX FREE.

$200 each month would equal around $2,096,500+ at 60 years old, and so on. To contribute the $4000 max would be $333 each month, and that would bring around $3,494,000+. And again -- that's just using 10% return, and the stock market, since inception, have averaged 11% to 12%.

We don't need no stinkin' Social Insecurity -- just saving and investing stemming from personal responsibility and discipline.

[funkboy]

Originally posted by RAILhead:
You just answered that yourself, man. College is the BEST place to talk to people about SS, if not before. However, don't worry about what the Government will do.

Why? Because if you're 20 years old, work, save, and invest just $1000 a year ($83.33 each month) into a Roth IRA at 10% until you're 60 years old, you'll have saved about $873,000+ TAX FREAKING FREE for retirement.
...
We don't need no stinkin' Social Insecurity -- just saving and investing stemming from personal responsibility and discipline.

That may be true for those of us smart enough to get this accomplished. However, how many elderly people today would have been able to figure that out? And how many people, realistically, will do this? Too many people I know live from paycheck to paycheck. Is it dangerous? Yes. Is this the kind of person Social Security is to protect? Yes.

Do they deserve protection? Now there's a good question I'm not prepared to answer.
--------------------------------

Here are my reflections on my day listening to President Bush. Take them for what you will - I'd love to hear feedback about them. (I haven't even proofread it yet, so this may be dangerous, but here goes)

--------------------------------

Seven thousand anxious attendees waited for a discussion on Social Security when President George W. Bush visited Fargo this Thursday. I was sitting in the media section, my press pass held close to my chest, trying to take in as much of the experience as possible. I would like to point out what I thought were peculiar parts of my Presidential speech experience.

This was the first time I sat in the press section of an event. I was surrounded by writers and cameras and television reporters, all scrambling with a variety of duties.

A document detailing President Bush's ideas about Social Security was distributed. A television reporter grabbed his copy and held it, without even opening the cover, for about ten minutes. He was then going on air, and he was holding the document for the camera to see. The reporter talked about what the document contained thanks to the teleprompter. Reading was unnecessary for this reporter to get the job done; he came across as very hard-working and credible, with a nice haircut and jacket, even though he was simply a go-between for the teleprompter typist and television viewers.

Bush took the stage amid decibels of applause that only very popular rock stars achieve. His casual demeanor, however, loosened up the crowd. Four citizens were on stage with the President, three of them North Dakotans.

"Say something else."
"What else do ya know?"
When it was a NoDak's turn to speak, he said the above quotes with just as much shortness as they read on paper. The timbre of his voice seemed to say, 'look, I'm just the President, don't be intimidated by me. Let's just talk.' These awkward transitions to the "regular citizens" who Bush seems to have such rapport with were the only stain on Bush's social skills during the speech.

Bush skillfully handled two outbursts from the audience. Near the beginning of his speech he mentioned Afghanistan and, after a woman rose from her chair, asked if she was from Afghanistan. She responded loudly that she was from Iraq, and said "thank you very much," which netted a standing ovation. The President got a laugh out of the audience next when he said she "got ahead of the story," as he would be talking about Iraq a couple minutes later.

Another man from Iraq, who had begun a hunger strike to protest Sadaam Hussein over a decade ago, yelled out to Bush during the speech. It's interesting that the only two people form the audience to yell loudly to the stage were from outside the USA. Do Americans take too reverent a stance to the President? Should I yell to the President onstage if he addresses an issue close to my heart? Do Americans, or even North Dakotans, have too stuffy a code of conduct for events like this?

However, not everyone was totally silent between standing ovations for the President. I noted every time the President mentioned "God" or "the Almighty," someone from a different part of the crowd would give an audible whoop of joy. Bush's discussion had very little to do about religion, and he mentioned God only within the first fifteen minutes of the hour-long event. It still surprised me that people who held God so highly on their list wanted everyone to know with an audible "woo!"

A recurring theme of the President's Social Security plan is, "it's your money to keep." This idea resonated with the North Dakotans in attendance. When Bush said the new plan would ensure citizens "money the government can never take away," the first large applause in quite awhile was unleashed. Those in attendance wanted ownership of their money, and did not want the government to have a penny more than what was necessary.

Finally, the day could not finish without a small crack at the other side of the political bird. Mary, a 60-year-old from Walcott, earnestly said the President had "brought dignity and honor back to the White House," to which a loud slap of applause and standing ovation was produced. The key word, "back," was an obvious sleight to President Bill Clinton. Mary's sentence was worded so that no one in attendance would question about who she was talking. The applause after that comment seemed spiteful and venomous, lashing out at a former leader of the people. For the deeply-red, morally-righteous, conservative state of North Dakota, though, it was the least surprising moment of the day.

[RAILhead]

Originally posted by funkboy:
That may be true for those of us smart enough to get this accomplished. However, how many elderly people today would have been able to figure that out? And how many people, realistically, will do this? Too many people I know live from paycheck to paycheck. Is it dangerous? Yes. Is this the kind of person Social Security is to protect? Yes.

Do they deserve protection? Now there's a good question I'm not prepared to answer.

Huh. Last I checked, Social Security was set up as a way to assist with replacing basic income -- it was never meant for retirement. Making SS = retirement is a new thing we Americans have done. SS is a social welfare program. Period.

Not retirement.

As for who understands how to prepare for their future -- that's not my problem, and it sure isn't the Gov't's responsibility. Trust me, your great great grandparents knew how to save and provide for themselves for their entire life without government assistance -- ask around your family. Why? because they believed they had to take care of themselves -- it was no one else's job to wipe their butts.

So here we are, taking what was meant as a welfare program and hoping it will take us into our golden years. Either way, there will be lots of people -- people my age -- that will be eating Alpo in their 70s because they didn't save and invest for themselves because they thought Uncle Sam would help them maintain their current quality of living.

The Feds can't even balance their own books, much less provide retirement for those of us who want to live above poverty when we hit our 70s.

Maury

[TheMosco]

Originally posted by spacefreak:
Question for GWB: Patriots or Eagles?

He shouldn't worry about asking that. I am sure the administration will what someone planted in the crowd to ask a question like that.