MSNBC chief economics correspondent Martin Wolk examines President Bush's recent (and rather fantastical) claims about Social Security, and concludes that the man from Midland would do well to heed the sage words of his political paterfamilias, President Reagan: "For too long, too many people dependent on Social Security have been cruelly frightened by individuals seeking political gain through demagoguery and outright falsehood, and this must stop. The future of Social Security is much too important to be used as a political football."

Indeed.