Bush: 'I'm worried about gasoline prices'

Insana: [Laughs.] Mr. President, we've had this conversation once before.

President Bush: You're wisely trying to get me to negotiate with myself, but I'm not going to do it.

Insana: Are there any items, though, that you favor over others when it comes to fixing the solvency problem, for instance?

President Bush: Well, the only thing I don't favor is raising the payroll tax rate. I think that would be terrible for the economy. And by the way, if we do nothing until the crisis is -- until the system goes bankrupt, in other words, if we wait, it could mean a payroll of upward of 18 percent on young workers, which doesn't make any sense for the economy or for them.

Insana: Do you think the retirement age should be raised to about 70 for those youngsters?

President Bush: Certainly one of the options. As I recall, President Clinton, my predecessor, suggested that might be a good part of the fix. There is, there's a variety of things on the table that I want Congress to discuss. One of the things members of both parties must hear from me is that if you put a good idea forward, I won't use it against you politically. And that's an im -- an important part of making sure there's a good and honest debate. I do worry about members feeling, feeling like they ought to offer a, offer a, you know, a solution and then somebody turns around and bashes them over head politically. And we've got to get rid of that and we've got to wash that out of the system in order for there to be a permanent solution.

Insana: You've recently been to one part of the country, in Ohio, where they have an opt-out provision, where an actual city in Ohio --

President Bush: Yeah.

President Bush: -- as is true in Galveston, Texas, where they're opting out of Social Security and starting their own savings programs. Could there be a national push to do something like that and, and fix the problem through regionalizing or localizing retirement savings?

President Bush: You know, I would hope that, I would hope that we would be able to take the ingredients in these local plans that are so attractive to workers from all walks of life and incorporate it into the current Social Security system. In other words, to modernize the system, to, to recognize that there is an investment, people seek investment opportunities all the time and, and that many youngsters are used to investing their own money. And there ought to be a part of the system that --

Listen, Social Security's important. And I say to seniors around the country, it's very important, Ron, for them to know, that they're going to get their check. I mean, one of the dangers about talking about this issue is that it can be demagogue, in other words, people can go around the country frightening seniors.

Insana: And there's be no benefit cuts to anybody who was born in 1955 or later, correct?

President Bush: 1950.

Insana: 1950.

President Bush: Or before. Absolutely. And that's important for people to -- I know the propagandists are saying otherwise, and I know there's flyers being put out trying to frighten seniors. But the seniors just need to know the system is solvent for them. And once I convince people there is a serious problem, and once I convince seniors that the system is solvent for them, the issue becomes generational; in other words, a grandmom I met today talked about making sure that the system was available for her grandchildren. More and more Americans are beginning to understand that we're really talking about a younger generation of Americans.

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