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Bush making false claims about Social Security bankruptcy

March 15, 2005

Dear Editor:

Right-wing pundits have lately been sounding triumphant about Iraq. They claim that the recent election there vindicates Bush's decision to invade. Maybe the election really will help Iraqis have a better future - if there isn't a civil war between Shiites and Sunnis (most of whom didn't participate in the election).

But all this misses a very important point. Bush never asked the American people if they were willing to sacrifice thousands of Americans killed or seriously wounded, and hundreds of billions of dollars to enable Iraqis to have an election. Instead, he misled them about weapons of mass destruction. And by repeatedly mentioning Saddam when talking about what happened on 9/11, he and his crew deliberately tried to make Americans believe there was a connection between the two. And it worked. Two years after 9/11 nearly 70 percent of Americans still believed that Saddam played a role in the attacks. This false belief generated public support for the invasion of Iraq.

Bush is at it again with his plan for privatizing social security accounts. He is falsely claiming that Social Security would be "bankrupt" in 2042. And he dishonestly implies that privatizing accounts will address this problem.

According to Social Security Administration estimates, which use very pessimistic economic assumptions, Social Security would still be able to pay 70 percent of its promised benefits in 2042. Raising the cap on earnings taxed for Social Security, and/or lowering early retirement benefits, and/or raising the retirement age by a year would take care of the projected shortfall.

The transition costs for privatizing accounts would add trillions of dollars to the deficit, and would not address the shortfall projected for 2042. There is no more connection between this shortfall and privatization than there was between 9/11 and Saddam.

Bush obviously has a great contempt for the voting public. He feels entitled to deceive them at will, to tell them whatever it takes to get them to go along with what he wants, whether it's going to war or crippling the government with debt. This is the kind of government today's Republican Party stands for. I guess it all comes down to values.

Brian Cooney

Danville

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