Trust

Amazing article today on Bush's visit to West Virginia, penned by Deb Reichman of the AP.

Bush attempts to cast doubt on the solvency of the Social Security Trust Fund by ridiculing the "IOUs" in there as "worthless pieces of paper."

He went on to issue further eloquent remarks:

"Imagine," Bush said in his speech. "The retirement security for future generations is sitting in a filing cabinet. It's time to strengthen and modernize Social Security for future generations with growing assets that you can control that you call your own -- assets that the government can't take away."

The Confidence Man

I guess he's indirectly saying that if "someone" is going to take away your retirement savings, that someone may as well be him. On that point I do trust him. I believe he REALLY wants to succeed in gutting Social Security so that American retirees can live in destitute poverty again. Needless to say, my busy and effective 18th term Congressman, The Honorable Charles Rangel, weighed in with some timely and pertinent remarks,

Americans who paid into Social Security are legally entitled to have that money fund Social Security until 2052 — as estimated by the Congressional Budget Office — just as all other investors in U.S. bonds are entitled to their return on their investments

. Reid and Pelosi were on the ball yesterday and had a letter prepared and delivered to Bush for the occasion of his West Virginia visit.

They were clear and firm, but polite enough not to insult Bush in public by quoting Amendment XIV of the Constitution of the United States, Section 4 of which reads in part,

The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.

Section 5 reads, in its entirety,

The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.