Tennessee Democratic Party Chairman Chip Forrester said U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn’s call to privatize Social Security and Medicare underscores her oblivious service to the elderly and her inability to understand financial markets.

“Most people who invest in the stock market understand the risks involved,” Forrester said. “Congresswoman Blackburn evidently doesn’t. Social Security and Medicare are programs that have helped millions of people.

“People pay into those programs and are assured a monthly retirement check and medical care in their golden years. You don’t gamble with people’s lives like that. Those programs are about as secure an investment as you can make. Putting that money in a private account and hoping for the best is not only inappropriate, it’s also reckless.”

Blackburn is a co-sponsor of a budget proposal that eliminates the nation’s long-term deficits, but at a tremendous price to senior citizens who rely on the government’s Social Security and Medicare programs, Forrester noted.

The proposal is authored by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the Ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee. It would return the budget to surpluses through strict cost controls, such as:

• replacing Medicare with a voucher program that allows senior citizens to buy private insurance. The growth of the vouchers, however, would be far slower than the expected growth of health-care costs.

• replacing traditional Social Security with private, individual accounts
“Talk about irresponsible budgets,” Forrester said. “That is the kind of budget that makes draconian cuts right across the backs of our senior citizens.

“I’m tired of the irresponsible rhetoric being regurgitated by Republicans like Marsha Blackburn and Paul Ryan. They want to demagogue about runaway spending and huge deficits, but they are the ones most responsible for it. They supported the failed policies of a Republican White House that nearly collapsed our financial markets.

“President Obama and this Congress now have to clean up the mess. I wonder if any of our current Tennessee candidates running for Congress support privatizing Social Security and Medicare. If they do, I hope people remember that in November,” he added.