Mayor Mike Bloomberg (R - well sorta) of New York becomes first Associate Member of the Conscience Caucus.

From the Times ...

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg distanced himself from President Bush yesterday on the president's proposal to divert some Social Security taxes into private investment accounts, describing the plan, which was the central theme of Mr. Bush's State of the Union address, as excessively risky.

"I've never thought that privatizing Social Security made a lot of sense," said Mr. Bloomberg, who, like Mr. Bush, is a Republican. "I think what you'd see is that people would invest - some people would invest - unwisely."

He added, "These are not monies that people should be speculating with."

Someone needs <$NoAd$> to get Larry Kudlow to explain markets to this bozo.