Bush's Social Security "solution" is fucked!

According to our esteemed fearless leader, George Bush, the "solution" to the impending bankruptcy of the Social Security program is for people to plan for their own retirements by socking money away or investing it.

Well, George, I have news for you: We're already doing that! To the extent we can, any smart person is preparing for retirement but counting on a bit from Social Security as well.

Not everybody needs Social Security, of course. Some of us will have a million dollars sitting in a Swiss bank account somewhere or we'll own a business that brings us regular income even once we reach the point we are too old to work in it.

But, due in large part to this country's dismal support for education, there exist millions of people who are incapable of making wise choices when it comes to planning for their future. Setting aside the fact that a certain portion of the population is stupid to start with, someone who is a crack addict, or whose parents were, is probably not going to be socking away $200 a month for retirement (though it might be argued they won't be around to collect Social Security anyway). And the same might be said about millions upon millions of ordinary Americans who are not, and never will be, very talented at creating and managing retirement funds. These are the people who need Social Security.

It seems George doesn't understand that not everyone is a business whiz. And what about the people who make investments in good faith that fail? Are we seriously going to tell them that they have to sleep under a bridge until they die of exposure? You see, it's not just crack addicts who need something more reliable than personal retirement accounts.

Social Security needs a "solution" down the road, but George's solution doesn't solve much.