Advocates for Utah's poor and elderly viewed the message conveyed by President Bush at his news conference Thursday much like the solicitor who shows up on the doorstep — with disdain and skepticism.

"Part of the problem is, when we hear from this president, we don't hear an intelligence about the total approach," said Tim Funk of the Crossroads Urban Center, reacting to Bush's call for revamping Social Security.

"When we have large tax cuts that are disproportionately generous to the rich, when we have a very expensive war in Iraq and at the same time we are cutting programs for the country's poorest people, there is something wrong."

Judi Hilman, health policy director of Utah Issues, said she understands the challenges facing Social Security, but said Bush's efforts at reform are misguided.

In his speech Thursday, Bush called for indexing the amount of benefits according to a worker's income — with those at the lower end of the scale being able to tap into more benefits while upper-income individuals would see less.

"It dangles the carrot of progressive price indexing to slightly mitigate the impact of privatization on low-income workers. By itself, the concept of progressive price indexing is a good one, but coupled with the proposal to privatize Social Security and Congress' irresponsible approach to reducing the deficit, is just the last thing we need," Hilman said.

The plan also received the cold shoulder from the head of Utah's chapter of the American Association of Retired Persons.

"He continues to talk about the concern that the private accounts have to be part of the solution," Rob Ence said. "What privatization does, it doesn't create new savings. All it does is shift it from a guaranteed system to a system where people are being asked to assume a new risk. It is a little disingenuous. The concept of greater return, is it possible? Yes, on the one side. But to replace guaranteed benefits with risk is not a trade-off for the safety net that we can support."

Ence said AARP's strident opposition to Bush's Social Security proposal doesn't stem from its membership trying to preserve current benefits, but from grandparents who want to ensure their children and grand-children are not jeopardized.

Ed Mayne, president of the Utah ALF-CIO, didn't get a chance to catch the president's speech as he was committed to attend a meeting in West Valley City.

But when told Bush had touted a forecast for economic growth that "looks good," he scoffed.

"The budget deficits are out of control, the trade deficits are out of control, consumer confidence is low, more people are uninsured with health care. I think things look pretty kind of not real good right now — and that's without even seeing the program."

---

E-mail: amyjoi@desnews.com