David Brooks tells three whoppers in 10 seconds
by David Atkins
Fresh off his humiliation by Ezra Klein, Villager-par-excellence David Brooks doubled down on NPR yesterday. Speaking of sequestration, Brooks said:
In fact, it cuts in the worst of all possible ways. It doesn’t cut the things that are actually leading the long-term debt problem, like Medicare and Social Security. It cuts the things people actually like, like National Institutes of Health and stuff like that. So, to me, it’s a political disaster in the making for Republicans.
Their problem is they don’t want to sign on to any more tax increases, given they’ve already given a lot on that ground. So they’re sort of stuck. But I wish they’d wiggle out of it.
There are three incredible whoppers here:
1) Social Security does not contribute to the debt “problem.” It’s a self-funding program temporarily losing ground due to the recession, with an easily correctable shortfall decades from now. Further, it’s debt the government owes to itself at low interest rates, which doesn’t impact the overall debt picture.
2) Even if one gave Brooks the benefit of the doubt on Social Security and the debt, Brooks is so awash in hatred of “entitlements” that he thinks Republicans will be hated by voters for cutting discretionary spending “things people actually like,” but not for cutting two of the most cherished programs in American history. Not to mention that while all Americans will need them eventually, Medicare and Social Security currently benefit seniors, one of the most Republican demographic constituencies in the country. Does Brooks not believe that seniors will be extremely upset if their Social Security and Medicare payments are slashed? Does Brooks not remember that the Republican victories of 2010 were largely due to Republicans making the false claim that the Affordable Care Act would take money from Medicare and give it to “those people”?
3) Brooks thinks that Republicans have “already given a lot” on tax increases. The data begs to differ:
It’s remarkable that David Brooks still has a job in punditry. Or it would be, if accountability mattered a whit in the Village.
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