None of these concerns seemed reasonable last August, because the market was still shrouded in invincibility. But now the blue sky is falling. Americans are finding it easier to understand what the “risk” means in “risk-return”—and harder to see why what many economists described as a “historical mispricing” was expected to last forever.

Indeed, it was a beautiful dream. A smoothly rising stock market would have given us no need to increase taxes, no reason to cut benefits; money would have simply appeared where needed to cover any shortfall. If the downturn has taught us anything, it is that wishing cannot make it so.

But the Bush administration has not yet done away with its plans for privatization. The issue might now be on the back burner, but as soon as the tax plan goes through or campaign finance reform is vetoed—or as soon as we see the slightest uptick in the NASDAQ ticker—expect Social Security reform to come roaring back.

After all, as Bush so grammatically put it in his convention address, “The rising generations of this country have our own appointment with greatness. It does not rise or fall with the stock market.”

Stephen E. Sachs ’02 is a history concentrator in Quincy House. His column appears on alternate Tuesdays.