I am constantly amazed at the capacity for individuals and organizations to lie. In a recent commercial from AARP, they compare the president's proposal on social security to tearing down a house in order to fix a leaky faucet. They conclude by saying that the system needs a few tweaks and not dismantling.

George Bush has never proposed dismantling Social Security. Ever. He has offered up private investment accounts as one piece of an overall package of reforms that could also include increases in the amount of money paid into Social Security by the wealthy (by increasing the maximum income level that can be taxed). The commercial refers to the $2 trillion dollars required to pay for the transition costs to private accounts, but they do not mention the fact that this $2 trillion (and possibly more) is going to have to be paid at some point because the current system cannot be funded at the current levels of taxation. It's just going to get worse.

Private accounts offer a better return on investment than the current Social Security scheme, so private investments cost much less over time than any so-called tweaking of the current system. Let me say this again: Private accounts will cost less money over time than ANY solution that does not provide a provision for private accounts. That is a fact. What I don't understand is AARP's motivation for distorting the facts. Why is it in their interest to do so? What do they have to lose by private accounts?

Originally published April 2, 2005.