The Numbers Don't Lie

You've probably heard that President Bush's plan for private retirement savings accounts would likely eliminate Social Security guaranteed benefits—the amount retirees will certainly get, no matter what other factors (like the stock market) might intervene. Now, a new report from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service [1] finds that there's no '"likely" about it—the president's plan will eliminate the guaranteed benefit. But you wouldn't know that from listening to the president's spiel. This week, Bush repeated one of his familiar lines [2] that privatizing Social Security would provide "growing assets that you can control, that you call your own—assets that the government cannot take away." Too bad he failed to mention that you'll be out on your own if the market takes a downward turn, your assets lose value, and there's no longer any guaranteed Social Security benefit to back you up.