Via Huffington Post comes this quote: One senior administration official offered the following explanation as to why they started with a “compromise” offer. While this is not the president’s ideal deficit-reduction plan, and there are particular proposals in this plan — like the CPI change — that were key Republican requests and not the president’s […]

Via Truthout Dean Baker points to continuing insistent of President Obama to keep Social Security ‘on the table’. Dean Baker has a take on some numbers surrounding the politics and stories politicans offer: While most of the DC insiders probably don’t understand the chained CPI, everyone else should recognize that this technical fix amounts to […]

by Dale Coberly DEAR PAUL KRUGMANPlease Read This about Social Security Dear Paul Krugman, There was an indication the other day that you read Angry Bear, at least sometimes. I hope you read this, because it is important, and you have a better forum than I have. I think the following facts would be game […]

Reader mmcosker sends this e-mail pointing to Why Social Security Can’t go Bankrupt: Rerun at Forbe’s Magazine: John T. Harvey’s Pragmatic Economics column at Forbes is one of the best. He is a Professor of Economics at Texas Christian University, and has a knack for breaking down politically charged “third rail” economic topics into terms […]

There are a number of well thought out plans to handle the problems proposed by opponents of Social Security and also those concerned about its sustainability. To have our political and media debate confined to one item like chained-cpi should make any reasonable voter pause and wonder “Is that all? How dumb can we be?” […]

There is no crisis with Social Security. Social Security is not going broke. Social Security adds NOTHING to the deficit. Social Security is not welfare. Update: Pelosi says she can live with it There are many options to address issues for the program, which are not offered as part of Pres. Obama’s  insistence on keeping […]

Mark Thoma takes a poke at Joe Biden’s guarantees on SS  in  No Changes in Social Security: I wish I could believe this. Biden guarantees: ‘There will be no changes in Social Security’, by Michael O’Brien, NBC News: …”Hey, by the way, let’s talk about Social Security,” Biden said…”Number one, I guarantee you, flat guarantee […]

I caught a bit of Jennifer Granholm’s The War Room for 2/23/12.  She was talking gasoline prices and had Ron Klain on for his ideas. He is a past chief of staff for Gore and Biden as VP’s. Mr. Klain also published his thought at Bloomberg2/20/12. This post is not about solving the rising gasoline […]

by Dale Coberly  Social Security…Hearts and Minds Tom Margenau wrote an essay about the payroll tax holiday in The National Memo Is Your Tax Holiday Gift A Lump of Coal? His essay seemed to me to illustrate one of the problems with the Social Security “debate” as it has been constructed. Margenau  describes himself as […]

Mark Thoma responds to the meme that the social safety net encourages bad behavior overall: The idea that the unemployment problem is due to lack of effort on behalf of the unemployed rather than a lack of demand is convenient for the moralists, but inconsistent with the facts. The problem is lack of demand, not […]