Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Rick Perry. There he goes again.

Wonder what products he uses?
Gov. Goodhair is, um, dissembling about Social Security again.  Here's exactly what he said over the weekend, according to the Houston Chronicle:
It is a Ponzi scheme for these young people. The idea that they're working and paying into Social Security today, that the current program is going to be there for them, is a lie. It is a monstrous lie on this generation, and we can't do that to them.
Never mind that Rick Perry wouldn't know a Ponzi scheme if he fell over one. To help him understand the difference, Mother Jones came up with a great diagram.

The Strengthen Social Security campaign has a few choice words for the Texas governor as well. Here are the best ones:
Social Security is the opposite of a Ponzi scheme, which is a fraud, a deceptive promise made by a swindler that investors will reap huge returns. Social Security is a promise by the United States government, and a set of protections earned by working persons, that insures against lost earnings resulting from severe disability, retirement and death. And it delivers on that promise, which is why it is America’s most successful and popular federal program.
Like any system, Social Security can experience problems, but it can never go bankrupt. Its major source of income is from the contributions of workers and employers; as long as there are workers, Social Security will have income. Even if Congress took no action, Social Security can pay 100 percent of promised benefits for the next 25 years and more than three-quarters of benefits after that.