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Social Security Lessons WITHOUT Rants on Iraq
August 16th 10:20:53 AM
News Flash! Paul Krugman of the New York Times wrote an inflammatory column yesterday about the Bush Administration!
This happens twice a week, you say? Oh. Sorry, didn't mean to alarm anyone. Anyway, it was Social Security that met Krugman's chopping block on Monday.
The first thing Mr. Krugman announced was that Social Security reform has "flopped" and "almost disappeared from national discussion." Which begs the question, of course, then why are you writing about it?
Mr. Krugman is paradoxically writing about Social Security reform while declaring it defunct, because frankly, he's scared. The conversation has neither flopped, nor has the topic disappeared from national discussion. The 70th birthday of the Social Security system brought with it renewed enthusiasm about the reform, as many acknowledged the problems inherent in the system.
Turns out, Mr. Krugman is lying about his real views. Oh, I'm sorry - was that a rude thing to say? Still, the fact remains that in 1996, Mr. Krugman voiced his support for the creation of Personal Retirement Accounts: "I like [Richard] Freeman's idea of providing each individual with a trust fund when young rather than retirement benefits when old, but we had better realize that this is a significant change in the character of the social insurance system...The Ponzi game will soon be over, thanks to changing demographics..."
Mr. Krugman, the people have spoken, and they agree with you. A whopping SIXTY-SIX PERCENT of young people support the creation of Personal Retirement Accounts, and, in a recently-released poll, people over the age of 55 support PRAs by almost a 2-to-1 margin. More than half of those surveyed also said that they wished they had the opportunity to invest in a PRA when they were younger.
Forgive me if I'm wrong, but a policy reform can be considered dead in the water only after writers in premiere national newspapers stop writing about it. Clearly the people aren't ready to let go yet, Mr. Krugman, and, apparently, neither are you.
Posted by Erin Robert
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