David Hogberg has an excellent fisking of a Des Moines Register editorial opposing any partial privatization of Social Security and painting an unduly rosy view of the trust fund's future. The truth is that the second receipts into Social Security don't cover the payments, and they have to dip into all of those IOUs, we're […]
Social Security is going to tank, and the politicians continue to dither. With each passing year the cure becomes more fiscally painful. From Pete du Pont's Wall Street Journal column: Unless something is done, the Social Security Administration will have no choice but to cut benefits. The impact of those reductions will start falling on […]
According to New York Times columnist Paul Krugman's latest tirade, the relatively modest Bush tax cuts (you know, the $300 rebate, elimination of the marriage penalty, etc.) are responsible for wreaking fiscal destruction like that created by anyone stupid enough to cast Pauly Shore in romantic comedy opposite J. Lo. The new study, carried out […]
Sen. John Kerry (Super-D - Mass.) kicks off his campaign for his party's 2004 presidential nomination by taking aim at the Bush tax cut. "The largest cost of the Bush tax giveaway will not be borne by any of us here today -- it will be paid for by our children. We're borrowing from Social […]
Gene Sperling had on op-ed piece in Sunday's Washington Post offering an alternative to the Bush Tax cut that Democrats would probably be well-advised to adopt. Democrats taking any position is a good thing in a democracy. But I do have to take issue with one of Sperling's statements as either: A) a scare the […]
The New York Times' columnist Paul Krugman has returned from a week off, and once again sees pure evil and villany in everything the Bush administration does. In Tuesday's column, Krugman takes to task Bush's plan to privatize some of the government bureaucracy. Now, I don't feel strongly about this plan one way or another. […]
We finally get to find out what noted economist Paul Krugman's solution to the country's economic problems is. Krugman is at his best when he sticks to the economics, and puts his lame, petty, partisan attacks aside. Krugman's analysis is interesting. Who knows? He may even be right. But his solution is questionable at best. […]
If you're a regular you will have realized that I didn't post nearly as much as normal this past week. Sorry, but I spent the week covering for a guy who went on vacation. His job is much more time consuming and stressful than my normal job usually is. That said, The Heritage Foundation's Alfredo […]
As Hoystory notices a disheveled Paul Krugman dusting himself off. Krugman's latest is just another rant about how Bush is trying to influence the American public by framing the debate -- specifically on "partial privatization" or "private accounts." The Bush team's Orwellian propensities have long been apparent to anyone following its pronouncements on economics. Even […]
I came across this 1999 budget update from the Concord Coalition. Short-term budget surpluses are not the long-term solution to the problems of Medicare and Social Security. Regardless of its size, a projected surplus is no substitute for the tough choices policy makers must make to address demographic realities. Simply using presumed general revenue surpluses […]