The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

    They're lying about social security

    By Flavius on Thu, 03/31/2011 - 1:20pm |

    Dean Baker in today’s FT

     Deficit hawks now like to show off charts in which the costs of Social Security-along with Medicare and Medicaid,.are projected to go through the roof in the decades ahead. These charts show the costs of everything else more or less under control this looks ominous. But it is also a trick.

    The slight of hand is that if Social Security is pulled out from the group with Medicare and Medicaid. and instead placed in the category with everything else, the charts look almost exactly the same. Indeed ,any number of valuable social programs……….could be lumped together with Medicare and Medicaid to show that the growth in cost of the three programmes  combined is also out of control.

     Without the trickery, the real story…is simple. It is the costs of Medicare and Medicaid that are projected to rise hugely……because the cost of healthcare is projected to grow quickly too.

    Doesn't mean that SS is projected to generate a surplus in the future- as it has since it started.Just that the Right uses phoney numbers to exaggerate the modest gap we need to close.

    Funny. If they had a good case,why would they bother to lie about it? 

    Comments

    Because they lie about everything!

    The right has wished to abolish Social Security since 1935 when it first took hold.

    In my opinion, this country needs a one payer program and get rid of all the rest.

    Then institute price controls on health costs.

    I never understood why the rich are so against this. I mean the rich will always get better health care no matter what system is in place just as they will receive better housing, better education, better cars....


    by Richard Day on Thu, 03/31/2011 - 2:14pm

    This has always annoyed me, the lumping of three entirely separate programs into one as "entitlements."  How about I lump corn subsidies into Social Security and then say that farm entitlements are too large?  Or how about I combine TARP and Social Security and say that bank entitlements have gotten out of hand?


    by Michael Maiello on Thu, 03/31/2011 - 4:30pm

    Yes . It's frustrating that it is successful. Chances are there's a technical term for this illogical form of  argumentation but , whatever , it ought to be unsuccessful. But it isn't. 


    by Flavius on Thu, 03/31/2011 - 10:16pm