Let’s not make this too complicated. What they want is to cut any services at all to working people, so they can cut all taxes on the rich. So here we go again:

The Bush administration has begun sounding out lawmakers and other key figures about mounting a new bipartisan effort to rein in the costs of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security after the midterm elections, according to officials in the administration and on Capitol Hill.

No specific plan has been advanced, and administration officials are proceeding gingerly given the political debacle that beset the White House last year when President Bush promoted a plan to create private accounts in the Social Security program. But they have been sending strong signals in recent weeks that they want to try something again after the elections in November.

The new Treasury secretary, former Goldman Sachs chief Henry M. Paulson Jr., has made it clear that a major reason he took the job is to tackle the rising cost of government health and Social Security spending, which he described last week as “the biggest economic issue facing our country.”

In his first major policy address since being sworn in July 10, Paulson noted that he has been told by many in Washington that “reform of entitlement programs is just too difficult to achieve” and that politicians will “demagogue” the issue. He said he believes that “when there is a big problem that needs fixing, you should run toward it.”

Bush, for his part, appears fixated on the issue, even as he is focused on securing new immigration legislation and preoccupied by several world crises. Despite being forced to shelve his Social Security plan — which included establishing private investment accounts and reducing guaranteed benefits down the road — Bush regularly mentions his desire to tackle the issue again.