If it Ain’t Broke Don’t Fix It

Matt Yglesias makes an important point about the social security fight. He says that we must debate this within the frame that “there is no crisis” because:

Most of the young people I know — including myself until very recently — have been taken in by a decades-long effort on behalf of privatizers into believing that Social Security is in “crisis,” and that if we do nothing the system will “go bankrupt” before we retire, meaning that the system will somehow collapse and we won’t get any benefits.

If you approach the issue from inside that frame, then no amount of cavailing about benefit cuts or “risky” stock market transactions is going to get you anywhere. A smaller benefits package and a stock portfolio that may or may not pay off looks like a really good deal compared to a bankrupt pension plan that gives you nothing. Once you understand that even if we do nothing whatsoever to fix Social Security and the Trustees’ overly pessimistic predictions come true, the system will still have enough money to pay my generation more in real terms then current retirees get, everything looks different.

I think that even people my age think that social security is going to be pretty much worthless when we get to retirement (which is closer than we think — I’m 48.) Matt makes a very good point.

Therefore, it’s probably a mistake for the Democrats to even pretend to be willing to work with the other side, as Reid and Pelosi did yesterday. In fact, the more I think about it, I realize that “there is no crisis” probably should be the central argument. The only reason that people are willing to entertain the idea of privatization is because they have been told they won’t get much out of the system by the time they retire. Once you debunk that, you have opened the door to ask why they want to privatize in the first place. And that takes you right up to their ideology — “social security is a ‘socialist’ program that must be destroyed” — and their greed — “Well, as long as we’re destroying it, there’s no reason not to make a few bucks while we’re at it.”

There is no crisis.

If we do nothing at all it is likely that in forty years when the 20 somethings retire under the current system they will actually get more than current seniors. Republican privatization is a wall street scam that young people will regret buying into.

Sandwich Meat

If you are a “sandwich boomer” between the ages of 40 and 55 you are about to get screwed, big time. Are you currently helping your parents in their old age and putting your kids through college right now? Get ready. Even under the most optimistic scenario you don’t have time for private accounts to make up any difference, but you’ll be right in the bulls eye on the inevitable benefits cuts. If you aren’t a millionaire, it might be a good idea to develop a taste for catfood.

Crying wolf.

They are trying to scare people. Republicans have been crying wolf about social security forever because they want to destroy it. They always have. If you listened to Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan back in the 1960’s they said that the system would be broke by now and there wouldn’t be anything for young people. Those people are now comfortably retired. They have always wanted to destroy social security. Always.

Doing The Right Thing.

Hey seniors. Do you feel good about working your whole lives, feeling at least somewhat secure in your retirement and then voting for people who want the Enron folks to experiment with your kids’ and grandkids’ social security? Would you vote for it if it affected you?

Maybe Harry and Louise need to gather the whole family for Sunday dinner and have a little talk.