Monday, May 02, 2005

Pozen Horse

Remember the mythological story of the Trojan Horse?
The Greeks devised a new ruse - a giant hollow wooden horse. It was built by Epeius and filled with Greek warriors led by Odysseus. The rest of the Greek army appeared to leave whilst actually hiding behind Tenedos and the Trojans accepted the horse as a peace offering. A Greek spy, Sinon, convinced the Trojans the horse was a gift despite the warnings of Laocoon and Cassandra. Helen and Deiphobus even investigated the horse. The Trojans celebrated the raising of the siege hugely, and when the Greeks emerged from the horse the city was in a drunken stupor. The Greek warriors opened the city gates to allow the rest of the army access and the city was ruthlessly pillaged - all the men were killed and all the women taken into slavery.
The new packaging for Bush's Social Security proposal should set off a few alarm bells for students of Greek mythology. Progressive price indexing, the ironically named proposal designed by a Democrat named Robert Pozen, would result in deep cuts to Social Security checks received by retiring working class families.

Democrats in the House and Senate should be very wary of opening the gates to the Pozen Horse. Their recent track record is mixed.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hmmm, I expect Krugman would be our Cassandra , then?

Anonymous said...

he would. but we have to admit this is a brilliant tactical move on their part. strip the program this decade, its welfare next decade, decade after that people will react against having all their tax money go to the poor.

This is the critical moment in this battle, if this new plan is defeated, its over, we've won.

*sigh* but Democratic unity only lasts so long...