Hightower Lowdown

Bush's rhetoric on Social Security is, to say the least, truth-challenged. Here are just a few examples:

RHETORIC: "By the year 2042, the entire system would be exhausted and bankrupt."

REALITY: Enough new taxes will be coming into the trust fund to pay up to 80% of promised benefits to everyone after 2042 and for the foreseeable future—and that prediction is based on pessimistic assumptions.

RHETORIC: Social Security faces "a crises" (sic) that's unprecedented. "In the year 2018, for the first time ever, Social Security will pay out more in benefits than the government collects in payroll taxes."

REALITY: In 14 of the past 47 years, Social Security paid more in benefits than it collected in taxes. Cashflow ebbs and flows.

RHETORIC: "As we fix Social Security, we also have the responsibility to make the system a better deal for younger workers."

REALITY: Social Security earns 3% a year on the Treasury bonds it holds. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office calculates that Bush's privatized accounts could deliver a 3.3% return. But even that measly .3% gain would be wiped out by the fees and administrative costs that Wall Street will charge for handling the private accounts. Plus, the CBO did not factor in stock market risks—so the net result is more likely a loss for those who switch to Bush's scheme.

RHETORIC: "The role of a president is to confront problems—not pass them on to a future president, future Congress, or future generation."

REALITY: Bush's plan requires the government to borrow some $15 trillion to cover the cost of converting to private accounts, thus passing on to future generations a mountain of new debt.

RHETORIC: "I think it's important for people to be open about the truth when it comes to Social Security."

REALITY: Yeah right, George.