President Bush has been taking his crusade to privatize Social Security around the country.
Wednesday's stop was Portsmouth.
NHPR Correspondent Roger Wood attended the event and files this report.
This was the President?s ninth trip since his State of the Union Address two weeks ago.
And it was his first to New Hampshire since the General election in November.
Inside a cavernous Pan Am airline hangar at Pease International Tradeport, Bush told about a thousand people that he is committed to solving the Social Security system?s long term finances.
But he says he's open to suggestions.
(Bush 1) :12
?Bring ?em forth, lets sit down at the table and discuss ways to permanently fix the system. I?m open minded, and I think that?s what you want from your President at this point.?
But, during his 45 minute appearance, the President made it clear that he remains committed to some form of private investment accounts to complement Social Security benefits.
(Bush 2) :11
?If you?re a younger worker, my proposal is that you can put four per cent of your payroll taxes in an account, and the rest of it obviously will go into the Social Security system.?
That 4% share is about 2/3 of what workers contribute to the system today.
The President ruled out any payroll tax increase to help heal the ailing pension system..
But before the New Hampshire appearance, Bush told newspaper reporters that he won?t rule out the possibility of raising the income limit on payroll taxes.
Currently any wages above $90 thousand dollars are not subject to social security taxes.
The event at Pease was billed as a Town Hall style conversation on Social Security.
But the President didn?t take any questions from the audience.
Instead he focused on a handful of invited panelists with him on the stage.
One of those panelists, University of New Hampshire Senior Amy Parton of New Boston said that a financial planner convinced her of the need for private investments.
(Parton) :15
?Social Security alone wouldn?t be an adequate source of income for me, so I approve, I mean I appreciate what you?re trying to do with the Social Security reform, because it fits perfectly with the plans that I?ve already had.?
Katie Fowler of Nashua was in the audience.
She says this is the first time she has heard the President talk about taking four per cent figure of her income out of the system to invest privately.
(Fowler) :17
?I think it?s a great plan, I think that we do need to take control of our own retirement. Not enough people do, and if there?s a way to, not force people but to make them see the importance of it, I think it is a good role for the Federal Government, especially when the backstop that?s traditionally been there won?t be there. It?s not just the fact that we won?t have as much, we probably won?t have any.?
Since most of the audience was invited by the Bush Admnistration, it was difficult to find a dissenter inside the event.
But outside, demonstrators were very much in evidence.
The American Association of Retired Persons, has taken a strong stand against the President's plan.
And AARP member Linda Gerrish-Thomas from Milford agrees with that position.
(Gerrish-Thomas) :22
?Americans believe that Social Security is a public trust, between our children, parents, grandparents, families. It has continued to work effectively as a public program for 70 years, reliably providing retirement security, life insurance coverage and disability coverage to all Americans.?
And Gerrish-Thomas called the Bush Social Security plan simply ?a bad idea.?
It seems most Granite Staters agree.
A recent UNH poll has found that 54% of the state's resident's don't like the idea of privatizing social security.
For NHPR News, this is Roger Wood.
