Dumb Dems

The Daily Howler has among the most important and interesting coverage of the Social Security mugging scuffle.

His point today was that Democrats are going for add-on accounts instead of carve out accounts. This will let the barbarians into the keep and they will sack the citadel.

What will Bush do, if he’s eventually forced to propose these “add-on” accounts? Simple: He’ll leave the current funding shortfall in place, then set up those “additional” accounts. But that will leave that $3.7 trillion shortfall in the traditional program. Next step? In a future Congress, benefits will have to be cut to make the traditional system fully solvent. This brings us back to what Bush is now seeking: A major drop in guaranteed benefits, paired with private accounts.

Furthermore, the Democrats are going around saying that the transition costs are a lot less than the actual costs -- making the President's plan sound better than it really is -- sound better even than Bush and Cheney themselves have said.

On February 6, Cheney said the transition to private accounts would cost $800 billion in the first decade, and “trillions more after that.” But no—the Chicago Tribune has never reported this to its readers. Nor has the paper ever reported the estimate by the CBPP—$4.9 trillion in just the first twenty years. Nor has the Tribune mentioned that reported CBO estimate—$15 trillion in all.

Bob Somerby finishes his piece with a coda about the missteps of freshman Senator Obama, speaking to the Chicago Tribune.

Eight days after Cheney’s statement, the hapless Obama—everyone’s favorite—was pleasantly telling Chicago reporters that the transition would cost just one trillion dollars! And let’s remember the crucial context. The Washington Post’s survey made it clear—support for Bush’s plan disappears when voters are told about its high costs. But so what? Hapless Democrats—dumb-bells like Obama—just keep misstating, way low!