Well, That Clears Things Up

The whole Social Security "reform" issue is moot. It's going nowhere and is going to be a big loser for this president. So I'm not going to be posting much about it unless something really silly happens or is said. Like this, for example, from the lips of George Bush:

Because the -- all which is on the table begins to address the big cost drivers.
For example, how benefits are calculate, for example, is on the table; whether
or not benefits rise based upon wage increases or price increases. There's a
series of parts of the formula that are being considered. And when you couple
that, those different cost drivers, affecting those -- changing those with
personal accounts, the idea is to get what has been promised more likely to be
-- or closer delivered to what has been promised.

Does that make any
sense to you? It's kind of muddled. Look, there's a series of things that cause
the -- like, for example, benefits are calculated based upon the increase of
wages, as opposed to the increase of prices. Some have suggested that we
calculate -- the benefits will rise based upon inflation, as opposed to wage
increases. There is a reform that would help solve the red if that were put into
effect. In other words, how fast benefits grow, how fast the promised benefits
grow, if those -- if that growth is affected, it will help on the red.

Okay, better? I'll keep working on it.

Think this is from the Onion or some parody site? Here's the official White House transcript (scroll down to the Q&A section).