by David Phinney
Saturday September 27th 2025

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Hola, Let Us All Speak Muddled English

President Bush wants all US citizens to speak English.
Let us remember his own fabled interpretation of the mother tongue when he flew to Tampa, Fla., last year to flog his agenda for Social Security changes…. Mr. Prez made as much sense as flying from NYC to LA with a change of planes in Hong Kong:

THE PRESIDENT: Because the — all which is on the table begins to address the big cost drivers. For example, how benefits are calculate, for example, is on the table; whether or not benefits rise based upon wage increases or price increases. There’s a series of parts of the formula that are being considered. And when you couple that, those different cost drivers, affecting those — changing those with personal accounts, the idea is to get what has been promised more likely to be — or closer delivered to what has been promised.
Does that make any sense to you? It’s kind of muddled. Look, there’s a series of things that cause the — like, for example, benefits are calculated based upon the increase of wages, as opposed to the increase of prices. Some have suggested that we calculate — the benefits will rise based upon inflation, as opposed to wage increases. There is a reform that would help solve the red if that were put into effect. In other words, how fast benefits grow, how fast the promised benefits grow, if those — if that growth is affected, it will help on the red.

As the president concluded: “Okay, better? I’ll keep working on it.”

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