From Holden:

Chimpy took his Social Security demolition derby to Mississippi today. It was mostly the same old song and dance, but there were a few new wrinkles.

Chimpy did not fail to bash the Social Security Trust Fund, casting yet more doubt as to whether he believes that Treasury Bonds are backed by the full faith and credit of the United States of America.

You pay into the system — some people say, well, there’s a Social Security trust, we’ll just take your money and hold it for you and give it back to you when you retire. That’s not the way the system works. Part of my responsibility as your President is to tell you exactly what’s going on, to lay it right out there for you to hear. The way it works in Social Security is your payroll taxes — and you pay a lot of payroll taxes — go into the system, and we’re paying for retirees, like two of the people sitting up here today. And if we have any money left over, it goes to fund government programs. And all that’s left is an IOU. That’s how the system works. And so you’re paying in, and it’s going out. Nobody is — you’re not paying in and we’re holding the money for you. You’re paying in and it’s going out.

And here’s the first wrinkle: after denigrating the Treasury Bonds in the Social Security Trust fund as mere “IOUs”, Chimpy heartily recommends Treasury Bills, which the assministration’s own Treasury Department describes as a short-term investment while Treasury Bonds are for the long-term.

This is part of a retirement plan, and so you’ll be given the options to choose a conservative mix of bonds and stocks. If you don’t want to take any risks, you can put it in government-backed Treasury bills. But a government-backed Treasury bill gets a greater rate of return than the money that we’ve got in the federal government. In other words, this is a chance to earn more — watch your money grow in a better way through a conservative mix of bonds and stocks.

Next new wrinkle: Chimpy tries to explain his proposed benefit cuts.

You know, you hear all this talk about benefit cuts; we’re talking about making sure benefits grow at the rate of inflation — that’s what we’re talking about. You’ve been promised something; it ought to grow at the rate of inflation. Today, if you’re an upper-income worker, it grows at the rate of wage growth. What I’m telling people is, is that ought to be applying for younger — lower-income workers, but not all workers, so that the system can take care of those at the lower income scale. That makes sense to me.

What he fails to mention is benefits for ALL WORKERS are currently tied to the rate of wage growth. Tieing low-income workers’ benefits to inflation would be a cut in and of itself if wages outpace inflation (as we all hope they will).

Finally, Chimpy set aside some time to be cruel to the elderly.

THE PRESIDENT: Deanie Smith.

MRS. SMITH: My name is Deanie Smith. I’m 84 years old.

THE PRESIDENT: You don’t look a day over 82.

That’s what his Social Security “reform” is all about, isn’t it?