Galveston, oh Galveston!

Relax everyone. No need to run in terror. I'm not singing or going to.

The negative talk about overhauling Social Security is coming in hot and heavy from the usual sources. Funny thing about their squawking is that they admit it's going bankrupt, but claim everthing's still just fine and dandy until . . . well, they're not sure when but it's not now so, why worry about it. It's decades away.

Writing for National Review Online, Donald Luskin says the Social Security crisis begins in just 5 years.

These aren't loose words as Luskin shows. He also shows with links to reports from the Trustees of the Social Security Trust Funds and the GAO, it gets worse. No games, those are the numbers.

What exactly will overhauling Social Security to allow private investment do for future retirees? That's where Galveston comes in.

With all due respect to the "New Deal," I believe it is time for "A Better Deal." Thus, what I ask the President and the distinguished members of his Commission to consider is not a Chilean model, or a British model, or an Australian model or a Swedish model of Social Security reform, though I’m sure those are all fine as far as they go.

What I ask the President and his Commission to consider is an American Model, a real life American success story found deep in the heart of Texas. -- Statement By Galveston County Judge Ray Holbrook (ret.) for the President’s Commission to Strengthen Social Security

More here. (Note: 5-page .pdf, but well worth the bother.)