Bush Math, or When Is 4 Percent Really 32 Percent ?

[kentuck]

http://www.interventionmag.com/cms/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=970

<snip>
The Bush Administration is gearing up for their sale of “Social Security Reform,” and if the early leaked reports are any indication, it will not be a model of honesty and clarity. The earliest reported blurb is a brief and thoroughly muddled bit of numerical trickery. According to published reports, the Administration is suggesting the diversion of 4 percentage points of the 12.4 percent federal payroll tax to private savings accounts.

That makes it sound like only a trivial amount of money would go into the private accounts, and implies that the amount is so small that it won’t have much impact on payments to current retirees or the federal deficit. But that’s wrong; 4 percentage points of 12.4 percent is 32 percent. Therefore, 32 percent of the workers’ total contribution would be earmarked for private investment.

<snip>
Now, under the guise of “reform,” they are attempting to destroy the program. They ignore the purpose of its creation by suggesting that it is a retirement system, and say that it could make more money for beneficiaries by investing in public equities in the stock market. But again this ignores the very purpose of the system.

We shouldn’t be surprised that Bush and his Republican allies are willing to twist numbers and misstate history to get their way. We’ve seen them do it in the past, most notably with weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Then dissenting voices were shouted down. Many people couldn’t believe their own government would be so blatant with misstatements and half truths. Bush got away with it, but the results have been terrible. We can’t afford to let him get away with it again.