Bush Pushes Private Accounts

President Bush said Wednesday that private investment accounts created from Social Security payroll taxes is an idea whose time has come as more Americans are comfortable with putting their retirement funds in the market.

Mr. Bush told the Latino Small Business Economic Conference that "people from all walks of life" are investing in 401k retirement accounts offered by their employers.

"I went down to the Nissan plant in Canton, Mississippi, (Tuesday) and it was a very diverse audience, a lot of assembly line workers," Mr. Bush said. "And I said, `How many of you all have got your own 401k?' I mean, the number of hands that went up was astounding."

Mr. Bush wants to let workers under age 55 divert a portion of their Social Security payroll taxes into private investment accounts. He also announced last week that he wants to allow benefits to rise the most for lower-income retirees, but Democrats and some Republicans oppose the idea.

"Seems fair to me," Mr. Bush told a few hundred people gathered in a hotel ballroom two blocks from the White House.

"Seems like a noble calling for the United States of America, to recognize a lot of people work really hard and don't make a lot of money, but when it comes time to retire, there ought to be dignity in retirement."