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    Back to To the Point

    To the Point

    What President Obama Could Learn from FDR

    "The bill opens the door and invites the entrance into the political field of a power so vast, so powerful as to threaten the integrity of our institutions and to pull the pillars of the temple down upon the heads of our descendents." Not an attack on healthcare reform , it's what a New York congressman said 75 years ago about Social Security .

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    By Warren Olney • May 12, 2014 • 1 min read

    "The bill opens the door and invites the entrance into the political field of a power so vast, so powerful as to threaten the integrity of our institutions and to pull the pillars of the temple down upon the heads of our descendents." Not an attack on

    healthcare reform, it's what a New York congressman said 75 years ago about

    Social Security. President Roosevelt's proposal was branded as one that would establish a government bureaucracy that would drive private insurance companies out of business. Is there a lesson here for President Obama?

    Nancy Altman is author of

    The Battle for Social Security: From FDR's Vision to Bush's Gamble.

    The full episode

    3 of 3
    Woodstock: The Myths and the Realities
    1. 0:00Consumer Price Index Down Sharply from Last Year
    2. 7:47Woodstock: The Myths and the Realities
    3. 42:54What President Obama Could Learn from FDRYou’re reading this
    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Warren Olney

      former KCRW broadcaster

    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Rebecca Mooney

      Producer, The Treatment

    • Sonya Geis with wavy brown hair wearing a black dress with red accents and decorative earrings against a white background.

      Sonya Geis

      Senior Managing Editor

    • KCRW placeholder

      Nancy Altman

      Social Security Works

      NewsNationalPolitics

    The full episode

    3 of 3
    Woodstock: The Myths and the Realities
    1. 0:00Consumer Price Index Down Sharply from Last Year
    2. 7:47Woodstock: The Myths and the Realities
    3. 42:54What President Obama Could Learn from FDRYou’re reading this
    Back to To the Point