PRESS RELEASE
Pinochet's Fascist Minister, José Piñera,
Recruited Bush To Privatize Social Security
Jan. 31, 2005 (EIRNS)—The Los Angeles Times' Janet Hook reported yesterday that then Gov. Bush "dined with José Piñera, architect of Chile's 1981 shift from government pensions to worker-owned retirement accounts, in a meeting that helped bring Bush a big step closer to embracing a similar plan for Social Security in his emerging presidential platform. 'I think he wanted to support the idea but needed to be convinced,' said Edward H. Crane, president of the libertarian Cato Institute, who was at the dinner. 'I really think Jose convinced him.'"
Hook qoutes Heritage Foundation analysts Stuart Butler and Peter Germanis in a 1983 article in the Cato Journal called "Achieving a Leninist Strategy," which argued for a long term program: "It could be many years before the conditions are such that a radical reform of Social Security is possible. But then, as Lenin well knew, to be a successful revolutionary, one must also be patient and consistently plan for real reform." They were unabashed in acknowledging who they were representing: "Building a constituency for Social Security reform requires mobilizing the various coalitions that stand to benefit from the change. The business community and financial institutions, in particular, would be an obvious element in the constituency."
Hook reports that "A 1999 Cato report gave Republicans a new rationale for market-oriented change. The study found that people with stock investments were more likely to sympathize with Republican policies of cutting taxes and curbing government spending. That bolstered a view, shared by some Bush advisers but rarely expressed publicly, that changing Social Security to increase the number of people with a stake in the stock market would help the Republican Party expand its base."
