Good Governance

Wow, this is some quality policy mendaciousness;

As Josh Marshall says:

As we've noted repeatedly here, the biggest threat to Social Security is our accumulated national debt -- actually, even more our accumulating national debt. If we only had the debt load we have now and weren't adding hundreds of billions of dollars every year because of the president's policies, we could probably grow our way out of it.

In any case, indebtedness is our problem. And Cheney's solution is to borrow many trillions more dollars over the next two or three decades, in addition to our existing structural budget deficits which are likely themselves unsustainable. And he and the White House now admit this will do nothing to improve the financial condition of Social Security.

Following any reasonable calculation the entire debate should end right there -- though I concede that rational calculation ain't what it used to be.

Now, I'm just a guy who is happy to balance his check book and make it through the month without my accumulated personal debt not being covered in a minimal fashiong until the crisis returns the next month so at least this will solve the pending Social Security Crisis right?

According to the White House itself it will do FUCK-ALL about that!

In a significant shift in his rationale for the accounts, Bush dropped his claim that they would help solve Social Security's fiscal problems — a link he sometimes made during last year's presidential campaign. Instead, he said the individual accounts were desirable because they would be "a better deal," providing workers what he said would be a higher rate of return and "greater security in retirement."

A Bush aide, briefing reporters on the condition of anonymity, was more explicit, saying that the individual accounts would do nothing to solve the system's long-term financial problems.

That candid analysis, although widely shared by economists, distressed some Republicans.

"Oh, my God," one GOP political strategist said when he learned of the shift in rhetoric. "The White House has made a lot of Republicans walk the plank on this. Now it sounds as if they are sawing off the board."

So there you have it, it solves nothing and it will cost TRILLIONS!

This is nothing but the investment brokerage house retirement act.

Now I know that that big boys, Atrios, Marshall obviously, and Kos have all spoken about this already so I don't contribute much to a debate in which I am certainly no expert.

But, I bet we are the only blog that explains the debate thusly.


Let these puppies represent your social security as it exists.


These are the men planning to drown them in the pond.


And sell the pelts to these people.