B'dah, b'dah, that's all folks!

W says that Social Security is in "crisis." One would hope that if that is true, the President could clearly articulate what that crisis is. He can't. One reason is there is no crisis; the second is that he can't keep the arguments he's fed in his head.

Read this transcription of W's explanation of the problem reported by Sydney Blumenthal on Salon.com:

Regarding those who say there is no problem: "Does that make any sense to you? It's kind of muddled. Look, there's a series of things that cause the -- like, for example, benefits are calculated based upon the increase of wages, as opposed to the increase of prices. Some have suggested that we calculate -- the benefits will rise based upon inflation, as opposed to wage increases. There is a reform that would help solve the red if that were put into effect. In other words, how fast benefits grow, how fast the promised benefits grow, if those -- if that growth is affected, it will help on the red. OK, better? I'll keep working on it."

He chuckles and thinks its funny. Just like he mugged around the Oval Office "looking for WMD" and making light of the fact that none were found (while soldiers in Iraq died that day for his joke.)

Others Hear Newspeak, Too

All one has to do is listen to W and not even very carefully to hear the newspeak. In order to "save" Social Security, we must "remake" it. In W's world, a good social system is Darwinian with Big Brother ensuring no alleles in the system--a curious mix. That is, the Bushies want to divide and conquer, setting each of us against the other in a distracting, risky, and time-consuming struggle to determine our own financial future by getting government out of the role of safety net. At the same time, government is invoked to make sure there is as little deviation as possible from the pack as possible.

Harvey Wasserman has heard the newspeak code and writes an interesting critique. Take a look: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/020605X.shtml