God Damn John Kerry And His God Damn Lies

I'm sure other people will be all over this soon, but I want to be the first to get out there and say this: GOD DAMN JOHN KERRY AND HIS GOD DAMN LIES ABOUT BUSH AND SOCIAL SECURITY.

Via Max Sawicky, we now have a good idea of what specifically Bush is going to propose for Social Security. AND IT SHOWS JOHN KERRY DID NOTHING BUT LIE ABOUT IT.

As you may remember, back in October, John Kerry's god damn campaign released an ad saying this:

“The truth is coming out... George Bush has finally admitted that he intends to privatize Social Security in a second term. ‘I'm going to come out strong after my swearing in,’ Bush said, ‘with…privatizing of Social Security...' Bush has a plan that cuts Social Security benefits by 30 to 45%. The real Bush Agenda? Cutting Social Security.”

John Kerry even claimed Bush planned a "January Surprise" to push for this. Fortunately, GOP chairman Ed Gillespie was around to tell the truth -- that Kerry was being "just flat inaccurate."

This is obvious now. I mean, it's January. And what does Bush's plan call for?

Just to repeat so this is absolutely clear: John Kerry said Bush planned to cut Social Security benefits by 30-45%. As we now see, the truth is exactly the opposite: Bush plans to cut Social Security benefits by 30-45%.

WHERE'S YOUR APOLOGY, MR. KERRY? WHEN WILL YOU APOLOGIZE FOR YOUR GOD DAMN LIES???

*cough*

Seriously, though, this is amazing. The percentages provided above include the returns on private accounts... which means guaranteed benefits (like all Social Security benefits now) will be significantly lower. In other words, someone retiring in 2075 who invests badly will see a much greater cut in benefits than 45.9%.

Moreover, as Monsieur Sawicky points out, Bush's plan will cut benefits beneath what they'd be with no changes to Social Security at all. So Bush's plan is to make things worse for retirees than they would be under circumstances Bush calls a "crisis."

UPDATE: Perhaps I'm wrong that the graph above includes returns on private accounts. The Washington Post article I swiped it from is unclear. I assumed it was, because the graph (from the SS actuary) is very similar to numbers found in this Congressional Budget Office report.

Here's a comparison:

The CBO report (in Table 2) gives the annual scheduled benefit for a middle-income retiree born from 2000-2010 as $26,400. They project the same person would receive $14,600 in annual benefits (including the return from private accounts) under the plan Bush will likely propose.

14,600 divided by 26,400 equals .553 equals 55.3% equals a (100-55.3) 44.7% cut in benefits.

Meanwhile, the graph I swiped gives a cut of 45.9% for someone retiring in 2075. So I think I was right that it includes the return on private accounts. But I'm not sure, because of some other numbers the Post article throws around. I will call the SSA tomorrow and find out.