"Many Americans are potentially open to scams because they don't understand the purpose of the financial markets," he said yesterday.

The Republican economic plan, in a nutshell. From the very beginning of their push for private accounts it has been obvious they've been counting on the public's lack of knowledge.

This is not unusual, by the way.

A "free market" will work the way economists project if all players have perfect knowledge of the market...if you know the relative value (effectiveness and cost) of all your options. But no one has that, and frankly the continued emphasis on choice means you'll be ever less likely to have it. We manipulate the mental environment to invoke desire and manipulate the information environment to imply difference where there is none, to imply effectiveness where there is none...there's simply no intent to provide the level of information necessary for a true free market.

Since the USofA is fundamentally an economic mechanism it should be no surprise that its politics work the same way as its economy.