Thursday, February 03, 2005

President Karnak

Rereading Bush's State of the Bullshit address, I was struck by this sentence:

"Your money will grow, over time, at a greater rate than anything the current system can deliver - and your account will provide money for retirement over and above the check you will receive from Social Security."


If that statement was made by an actual financial advisor, it would be illegal. It's not illegal when Bush says it, of course, because he isn't a financial advisor (heck, he's barely capable of elementary school arithmetic, but let's not belabor that point). But it's illegal when a financial advisor says it for a good reason: because it's totally unethical.

And legal or not, it's STILL unethical when Bush says it. Because he is claiming something that he cannot possibly know to be true.

Maybe the Democrats should insist that every time Bush talks about Social Security, he include the standard legal disclaimer that you hear in every single investment commercial:

"Past performance is not an indication of future returns."

The law says that you have to say that for a reason.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great. Now when is he going to be held accountable?