Fear Tactics: Scaring the elderly into submission

The http://www.aarp.org AARP says http://assets.aarp.org/real.aarp.org/ramfiles/content/money/social_security/kitchensink.ram “Our new 60-second ad puts the Social Security debate into clear focus. (Real player required.)

I refuse to install invasive software, so I don’t have RealPlayer on my machine. But I’ve seen the commercial enough times on TV. It shows a plumber telling a lady the kitchen sink is screwed up, so they have to tear down the house; trying to make a comparison to President Bush’s ideas on Social Security reform. As if the President’s plan to give a small percentage of Social Security withholdings over to individual investment accounts was equal to tearing down the entire system.

The advertisement goes on to suggest that “small changes” could fix the program, while offering no insight as to what the “small changes” actually are. Clear focus? It seems more like advanced alzheimers – if they can’t even remember their own commercial.

The sad thing is, none of the proposed plans would have any effect whatsoever on any current member of the AARP. So who are they trying to scare? And why?