The President's news conference

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, May 2, 2005

And it's that difference between the rate of return, between what the Government gets on your money and what a conservative mix of bonds and stocks can get on your money, that will make an enormous difference in a person being able to build his or her own nest egg that the Government cannot spend.

Now, it's very important for our fellow citizens to understand there is not a bank account here in Washington, DC, where we take your payroll taxes and hold it for you and then give it back to you when you retire. Our system here is called pay-as-you-go. You pay into the system through your payroll taxes, and the Government spends it. It spends the money on the current retirees, and with the money left over, it funds other Government programs. And all that's left behind is file cabinets full of IOUs.

The reason I believe that this ought to work is not only should a worker get a better rate of return, not only should we encourage ownership, but I want people to have real assets in the system. I want people to be able to say, "Here's my mix of bonds and stocks that I own, and I can leave it to whomever I want."

And I hear complaints saying, "Well, you know, there's going to be high--Wall Street fees are going to fleece the people." There's ways to have fee structures that are fair. As a matter of fact, all you've got to do is go to some of these States where they've got personal accounts available for their workers, and you'll find that the fees will be fair. People say, "Well, I don't want to have to take risk." Well, as I outlined in my opening statement, there are ways where you don't have to take risk. People say, "I'm worried about the stock market going down right before I retire." You can manage your assets. You can go from bonds and stocks to only bonds as you get older.

In other words, we're giving people flexibility to own their own asset, and I think that's a vital part of making sure America is a hopeful place in the future. So not only will these accounts make the system work better, but the accounts are a better deal. The accounts will mean something for a lot of workers that might not have assets they call their own.

David [David Sanger, New York Times].

Timing of U.S. Troop Withdrawal From Iraq

Q. Mr. President, in your question--your answer before about Iraq, you set no benchmarks for us to understand when it is the troops may be able to--

The President. In Iraq?

Q. In Iraq, yes--about when troops may be able to come back.

The President. Right.

Q. Based on what you've learned now in 2 years of fighting the insurgency and trying to train the Iraqi security forces, can you say that within the next year you think you could have very substantial American withdrawal of troops?

The President. David, I know there's a temptation to try to get me to lay out a timetable, and--as you know, during the campaign. And I'll reiterate it: I don't think it's wise for me to set out a timetable. All that will do is cause an enemy to adjust. So my answer is as soon as possible. And "as soon as possible" depends upon the Iraqis being able to fight and do the job.