Now we see what SS piratization is all about.

Holy shit! Yes, you have to go read this post over at Eschaton. Unbelievable. (I feel guilty about just linking to someone else's stuff with this frequency but, really, everyone should see what happens when the details of Commander Chimpy's SS "privatization" scheme finally see the light of day.)

Here are a couple of the juicy bits:

"Under the proposal, workers could invest as much as 4 percent of their wages subject to Social Security taxation in a limited assortment of stock, bond and mixed-investment funds. But the government would keep and administer that money. Upon retirement, workers would then be given any money that exceeded inflation-adjusted gains over 3 percent.

Whoa! Say what?? They'd only get to keep the excess? I don't recall anyone mentioning that little detail before yesterday.

Then there's the real boot to the nads here:

Under the system, the gains may be minimal. The Social Security Administration, in projecting benefits under a partially privatized system, assumes a 4.6 percent rate of return above inflation. The Congressional Budget Office, Capitol Hill's official scorekeeper, assumes 3.3 percent gains.

If a worker sets aside $1,000 a year for 40 years, and earns 4 percent annually on investments, the account would grow to $99,800 in today's dollars, but the government would keep $78,700 -- or about 80 percent of the account. The remainder, $21,100, would be the worker's.

Or, if the return was only 3 percent, the worker would, after paying in for 40 years, get to keep ... squat. Zip. Sweet fuck all. I'm pretty sure this is coming as a wee bit of a surprise to all those right-wing wankers who've been touting the benefits of this scheme all these months.

(Think about it: you invest a total of $40,000 over 40 years, knowing -- knowing -- that, if things go well and you get a 4 percent return, you will get back less than what you invested. What sentient person would buy into that scheme? You'd be better off sticking it in an empty coffee can on the top shelf and leaving it there.)

There is going to be some serious backpedaling and tap dancing over the next few days. You knew this administration was full of shameless, pathological liars but, bloody hell, this kind of sleaziness is absolutely breathtaking, isn't it?