Propaganda Machine

Apparently, George W. Bush treats the Social Security Administration (SSA) as his privatization propaganda machine. Consider the following:

• Employees of the Social Security Administration (SSA) complained they were being unduly pressured to promote the idea that Social Security is in "crisis".

• Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed an FOIA
request to discover why the SSA has paid the public relations firm Fleishman-Hillard $1.8 million since 1983 and what role, if any, the firm played in promoting the "crisis" spiel.

• Social Security Commissioner James Lockhart III, Secretary to the Board of Trustees and a signatory in the SSA Trustees' Report, is shilling for privatization with Republicans around the country.

• A report released by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Ca) and members of the Committee on Government Reform showed that in the past four years, SSA documents have been changed to convince the public that Social Security is in "crisis".

The SSA is looking more and more like a Bush lackey instead of an independent governmental agency which serves the public good.

Something to keep in mind when perusing its statements and reports.

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