Here’s a small but important note on the inner-workings of the policy world. For the last two years Hans Riemer has headed up the Social Security Information Project 
at the Campaign for America’s Future. A lot of people and a lot of hard work have gone into blunting and at least temporarily stymieing the Republican drive to privatize the Social Security system. (They’ve all been helped by the fact that the public — cooked-polls notwithstanding — simply doesn’t want Social Security privatized.) But I don’t think any single person — or a lot of groups of people, for that mater — did more to stem the tide than Hans.
His contribution has been that important.
That included mau-mauing the president’s hopelessly stacked-deck Social Security Commission and a lot of other stuff … working the press, organizing events, not letting the GOP run away from or lie about its pro-privatization positions during the last election.
Anyway, Hans is headed off to a new but as yet unannounced gig. So if you get a chance stop by the SSIP site and send him your appreciation. Or if you’re a pension fund investment manager who wanted to start managing and drawing fees off that Social Security gold mine, drop him a line and bitch about how you can’t buy that new vacation house.
