This one goes down to zero

Is it the job of Dubya's spokespersons to leave us all as bamboozled as Marty di Bergi was in Spinal Tap as Nigel explained the virtues of having an amplifier volume knob that's marked up to 11? Apparently so. Part of Dubya's social security reform is to cut the previously promised level of benefits and replace them with an individual account whose returns may or may not exceed what would have been received under the old system. And the unnamed Senior Administration Official who defended this included the following:

"Even if [the social security recipient] break[s] even, we would argue I'm still better off because I own the money," a White House official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity ... "it's protected from political risk. Government can't take it away."

See -- we're going to take away what we promised before, but replace it with something justified on the basis that we can't take it away. We're trying to get the right analogy here -- maybe an insurance salesman who, when he can't sell you a dodgy home insurance policy the first time around, breaks into your house and points out that you really could use home insurance. But is it all just a plan to keep us confused while they're really up to something else?

UPDATE Feb 7: It's now at the point where Dubya is confusing himself.