« Surprise, Surprise | Main | A little truth-telling about so-called "benefit cuts" »
April 29, 2005
Crisis Of Convenience
State 29 notes that the Des Moines Register editorialists are parroting the “There-Is-No-Crisis” line. He debunks it here. You can put the Dumb Moot Register in with what I am beginning to call the Crisis of Convenience Crowd. That is, they are willing to argue Social Security is in trouble when it is convenient for them to do so. I searched Nexis, and lo and behold, back on March 10, 2003, the Register approvingly cited a report from the Committee on Economic Development:The nation's present fiscal policies are "inviting a slow-growth economy," said the report. A new course needs to include reform to control the costs of Social Security and Medicare and to "rationalize" defense spending.So, back then we needed to be concerned about controlling the cost of Social Security. Wanna guess what the Register’s impetus was for “worrying” about Social Security?
[The report] bluntly advised: "The first step in climbing out of a hole is to stop digging." In other words, no more tax cuts. In fact, taxes will have to be raised to balance future budgets, the report warned. [Italics added].Yessiree, bub! There was a Bush tax cut to defeat! Indeed, that seems to be the primary reason the Crisis of Convenience Crowd used to admit that Social Security had problems. (To see an example involving the New York Times, go here.) So, when there is a tax cut to defeat, we need to be worried about Social Security. But when Bush actually proposes Social Security reform, they immediately trot out their best Frank Drebin impersonation: “Nothing to see here, folks. Move along now…Nothing to see here.”
Posted by David Hogberg at April 29, 2005 3:59 PM | Print
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.socialsecuritychoice.org/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/5759