Kevin Drum has an excellent, pithy post up on Social Security and conservative’s attempt to explain away the costs (approx. $2 trillion) that it would take to shift from our current system to privatized accounts.
Despite the best efforts of conservatives to scare everyone under 30 into thinking that Social Security is doomed, it’s actually in fine shape. It’s going to need some modest tax increases and some modest benefit reductions starting in about a decade (details here), but that’s it. People who suggest otherwise are either ignorant of the underlying numbers or else motivated by an ideological dislike of government programs for its own sake. A concern with providing stable pensions for the elderly doesn’t seem to play a role.
Well put. And remember, he’s responding to someone who at least does acknowledge the transition costs. How many conservative calls for privatization proceed as if it’s the matter of comparing the yield in their portfolio with the “yield” of Social Security taxes?
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