Truth Takes a Dive



Q Mr. President, in the debate over Dr. Rice's confirmation, Democrats came right out and accused you and the administration of lying in the run-up to the war in Iraq.... No reaction to the lying? No reaction? (Laughter.)


THE PRESIDENT: Is that your question? The answer is, no.
President Holds Press Conference, January 26, 2005

President Bush Lies

As a matter of fact, by the time today's workers who are in their mid-20s begin to retire, the system will be bankrupt. So if you're 20 years old, in your mid-20s, and you're beginning to work, I want you to think about a Social Security system that will be flat bust, bankrupt.
George W Bush, President Participates in Conversation on Social Security Reform, Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, Washington, D.C., January 12, 2005

Truth

According the the Social Security Trustees, they will be able to pay 73% of the benefits in 2042 from current tax revenue and could pay full benefits if we raise the payroll tax from its current rate (12.4% combined employee and employer on the first $87,900 of income) to 14.29%:

Projected OASDI tax income will be sufficient to finance only 73 percent of scheduled annual benefits by 2042, when the combined OASDI trust fund is projected to be exhausted.
Status of the Social Security and Medicare Programs, A SUMMARY OF THE 2004 ANNUAL REPORTS, Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees

Assuming the Trustees' intermediate assumptions are realized, the deficit of 1.89 percent of payroll indicates that financial adequacy of the program for the next 75 years could be restored if the Social Security payroll tax were immediately and permanently increased from its current level of 12.4 percent (combined employee-employer shares) to 14.29 percent.
2004 OASDI Trustees Report, IV. ACTUARIAL ESTIMATES, B. LONG-RANGE ESTIMATES

"Contrary to reports, I consider the Geneva Conventions neither obsolete nor quaint."

Alberto Gonzales, Senate Judiciary Committee Confirmation Hearing, January 6, 2005
Click here to read testimony at the NY Times -- free registration required

"In my judgment, this new paradigm renders obsolete Geneva's strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners and renders quaint some of its provisions."

Alberto Gonzales, Memorandum for the President, January 25, 2002
Click here to see a pdf file of the memorandum

Debunking the Social Security Lie

Paul Krugman will be writing a series of opinion pieces in the New York Times about Social Security privatized. I strongly suggest they be read and passed around. Although it appears on the opinion page, it is full of factual information.


Click Here to Link to the First Krugman Article