Saturday, April 30, 2005

Black is White in Bush Social Security Logic



Commentators are already puzzling how come Treasury Bonds (the Bush-described "worthless IOU's " which back the existing U.S. Social Security Fund), can somehow simultaneously be valuable assets "backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government," when they form part of a retirement fund portfolio.

What better way to highlight this Bushist logic than to substitute the two descriptions of Treasury Bonds in this paraphrased extract from his Thursday speech:

First the Bush-logic version:
"Our system is called pay as you go. Government spends the money on the current retirees and with the money left over, it funds other government programs. And all that's left behind is file cabinets full of worthless IOUs." [source]

"I want people to be able to say, here is my mix of bonds -backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government- and stocks that I own, and I can leave it whomever I want." [source]
Now for the transposed equivalent:
"Our system is called pay as you go. Government spends the money on the current retirees and what's left is in treasury bonds, which are backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government.

"I want people to be able to say, here are file cabinets full of worthless IOUs that I own, and I can leave it whomever I want."

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