The Alternative Reality We lost the elections of 2004. That's a fact. For many Americans and most foreigners didn't a vote for Bush make sense. It was not primarily a question about Bush's political agenda but due to failed policies, lies, and flagrantly proven to be uninformed. It was a question of accountability.

How could the American people go the other way? Maybe the answer is in perception of the world and reality. It appear Bush supporters were wrong on key facts. Three thirds of Bush supporters believed in late October 2004, after the Duelfer report, that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or major such programs and supported al Qaeda. They also agree that America should not have gone to war if Iraq had no WMD or a link to al Qaeda. I guess Cheney's trail of misleading information and fear mongering paid off.

http://www.pipa.org/OnlineReports/Pres_Election_04/html/new_10_21_04.html  ¶ 10:49 PM 0 comments

  Social Security The first, very first, part of addressing Social Security should be to pay back the funds that have been diverted from the program over the years. It's pretty irrelevant where the money to pay back Social Security comes from but it ought to be paid back.

I am completely baffled that Americans at large seems to accept the premise that Social Security is being robbed on funds over decades when it yields more revenue than what is paid out and as soon as the a deficit is on the horizon, may it be fifty years from now, is the program going to get cut. It would be great if the Republicans and the President would apply just a tiny bit of the same logic to the budget deficit.

I am all for private savings. But private savings should be private. The government and governmental programs should not be involved in private savings. That is something the Socialdemocrates of my native Sweden would come up with. It's simply a bad idea to blur the line. Encourage private savings. But that has nothing to do with Social Security.  ¶ 9:12 PM 0 comments