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?” […]
by Dale CoberlySOCIAL SECURITY and Uncle Sam moving parts edition Most of us have heard the “phony iou” claim about the Social Security Trust Fund, with its accompanying cartoon of a hapless Uncle Sam furiously borrowing from his left pocket to fill up his right pocket, and stuffing “worthless iou’s” into the left pocket to […]
by Dale Coberly SOCIAL SECURITYSweet Reasonableness and Fact Checkers Apparently the Big Liars are getting worried about the fact that “Social Security has nothing to do with the deficit.” There have been a flurry of little Big Liars “proving” that in fact SS is a contributor to the Deficit. I am going to try to […]
by Dale Coberly (Dan here…Dale Coberly replies to this article (Is it Becoming Too Late to Fix Social Security’s Finances?) by Charles Blahous). Blahous, You do not seem to grasp how small “4% of the tax base” is, or how very reasonable it would be to pay that 4% for a longer, richer retirement, out […]
A book review by Dale Coberly ONE NATION UNDER AARP The Fight Over Medicare, Social Security, and America’s Futureby Frederick R. Lynch I was asked to write a review of this book, perhaps because I sometimes write about Social Security. But I had to completely rearrange my perspective in order to even understand what the […]
Eric Larson is interviewed about Social Security and his new book The People’s Pension: The War Against Social Security from Reagan to Obama (AK Press, Spring 2012): Eric Laursen is an independent journalist who’s been covering political and financial news for more than a quarter-century. He’s been studying Social Security for the past 15 years, […]
by Dale CoberlySocial SecurityThe Fundamental TruthIf you don’t understand this, you don’t understand Social Security. If you do understand it, all the rest is minor technical detail… or utter nonsense. Social Security is not welfare. Social Security is not an investment plan. Social Security is insurance… to avoid welfare if your investment plan doesn’t work […]
Laurence Kotlikoff has a post in Bloomberg opinion section on the current status of the Social Security. This is lifted from Dale Coberly’s note back to him: Your analysis that SS is desperately broke ignores the fact that the projected shortfall can be made up by raising the payroll tax one half of one tenth […]
by Dale Coberly A kind person suggested I be ready to be crucified about calling for increasing a “regressive tax” if I call for raising the payroll tax forty cents per week. The people who say Social Security is a regressive tax are suffering from brain damage caused by parrot fever. Having been taught to […]
by Dale Coberly Fixable ErrorNew Insightand Social Security(amended version)When errors are honest, and people keep talking in good faith, they are usually fixable. One of the errors I will talk about here is mine. The new insight is entirely the result of the good faith and honesty of Eric Laursen who has written a book […]