Vice President Gore took a practical approach to the potential SS problem, even advocating that the federal government budget hundreds of billions of dollars for a modest reform of the system. How many hundreds of billions did GWB say he is willing to budget for this purpose? If your answer is zero, you are correct.
You would agree with me that both parties are co-conspirators in this confidence game?
No U.S. president has ever taken a more cynical, self-serving approach to SS than GWB.
The federal government already "budgets" hundreds of billions of dollars for Social Security, then immediately turns around and "borrows" that money for other things. In case you didn't know this, there isn't a single penny left anywhere from all those excess Social Security taxes collected over the years.
Lockbox, my @ss.
Let's assume Al Gore eliminates the Departments of Commerce, Energy, and Education, raises the top tax rate to 50%, and comes up with $500B to dump into Social Security: one-half a trillion of non-marketable IOU's down, another two-and-one-half trillion to go. In the meantime, capital flees the country and the dollar plunges, along with the present-day payroll contributions which are the only thing keeping the scam afloat.
Social Security cannot be saved or even reformed. It is an inflationary time bomb about to explode.
I agree with you that Bush is being disingenuous. However, so is any politician who tells you that this Ponzi scheme can be salvaged.