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Bessent Comments On Social Security Plans
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Bessent Comments On Social Security Plans

Well, here we go again — progressives are melting down over a Trump policy that, if it came from one of their own, they’d be hailing as revolutionary. This time, the freakout is over Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s comments at a Breitbart News policy event about the Trump administration’s new child savings accounts — or “Trump Accounts.”

Bessent made an offhand remark that these accounts could be a “back door for privatizing Social Security,” and the left immediately ran with it like it was proof of some evil master plan to destroy the safety net. The Democratic National Committee’s Tim Hogan blasted out a statement accusing Trump of plotting to “take away the benefits [seniors] earned.” Lawmakers like Reps. Mike Levin and Richard Neal parroted the same line on social media like they’d been handed a script.


But here’s the thing: that’s not what Bessent said, and they know it. The Trump Accounts aren’t replacing Social Security — they’re supplementing it. And that’s the real threat to progressives: if people have independent wealth, they don’t have to rely as much on government programs.

Let’s do the math. Every newborn gets $1,000 in a tax-deferred account. Left untouched, earning the historical 8% S&P 500 return, that becomes nearly $149,000 by age 65. Add $200 a year starting at age 25, and it hits $204,000. If employers match? We’re talking more than $400,000. That’s more than what a low-income worker would get in lifetime Social Security benefits. It doesn’t eliminate the program — but it makes it unnecessary for survival. And that’s the point.


The irony? This was once a progressive idea. Economists William Darity and Darrick Hamilton — heroes of the economic left — pitched “baby bonds” more than a decade ago to close the racial wealth gap. Cory Booker and Ayanna Pressley even introduced a version in Congress. The only difference? Trump stripped it of its wealth-redistribution framing and turned it into a patriotic nest egg for every American child.

That’s what really drives the outrage: Trump is beating them at their own game.

And Bessent didn’t stop there. He laid out a sweeping case for the Trump economy: real wages up, inflation down, growth topping expectations, and a reindustrialization boom fueled by pro-growth policies like full expensing for capital investments. He mocked the Fed for clinging to “Tariff Derangement Syndrome,” pointing out that Trump’s tariffs coincided with falling inflation. He described China as “on their heels,” while the U.S. cuts new trade deals and reclaims manufacturing ground.

Written by Arthur Higgens - August 3, 2025