Kristof is an ass: We are really getting tired of Nicholas Kristof's columns in the
New York Times. His latest,
The Greediest Generation, takes the baby boomers to task. After fumbling around with some history, Kristof gets down to brass tacks. He asserts: (emp add)
- "Retirement in America is no longer feared as a time of destitution, but anticipated as a time of comfort and leisure."
- "We boomers are also preying on children in a more insidious way: We're running up their debts, both by creating new entitlement programs and by running budget deficits today."
Our response:
- There is fear about how secure retirement will be, courtesy of George W. "There is no trust" Bush. And this fear is warranted, given the determination of Bush to gut the system. In fact, boomers pre-paid into the Social Security system for over two decades - something a responsible demographic cohort should do - only to see that money at risk of disappearing.
- What Do You Mean "We", Kemo Sabe?
Laying the Bush-Republican tax cuts at the doorstep of the boomers is a disgrace. Kristof is letting those in Congress off the hook and lying when he asserts that the deficits are something boomers created.
Our ire is mostly with the second item in Kristof's essay. To completely omit any* reference to Bush and the Republicans when discussing long-term deficits is unprofessional. And who was the Big Man that got the tax cut ball rolling? That "boomer", Alan Greenspan, born on
March 6, 1926 -
twenty years before the first boomer, and
thirty years before the boomer bulge (which is what really matters).
* - "Bush administration" is mentioned once about a tangential issue.
UPDATE: Matthew Yglesias has a more substantive
critique over at TPM.
posted by Quiddity at 5/01/2005 03:08:00 AM
What? More GOP apologetica from the NYT? You were maybe expecting honesty? A forthright look at how Bush's gross mismanagement of the government has brought us to this state?
Silly boy! The elephant in the room is Republican policy, and nobody at the NYT, WaPo, or any other "responsible" media outlet is going to discuss that elephant. They will look at the huge steaming heap of elephant shit on the coffee table--and do exactly as Kristol does: Blame it on anything except the elehpant.
ok, so i don't follow each thomas friedman piece that comes out, so i was taken back when i saw him on cspan and heard him defending outsourcing (no suprise) but he went further than that. he went to blame americans for their "sense of entitlement" for having the audacity in expecting american corporation to provide american jobs. friedman's "unreasonable expectations" segues quite nicely with kristoff's "boomer greed".
the finger pointing flies everywhere but where it belongs. how did these guys get the majority vote again?
i swear, is this stuff coming out from some think tank where psych testing has determined exploiting some inherent sense of guilt has potential?
-bizzaro
As a baby boomer who has been disabled by inherited mental and nervous problems, and who is struggling to live on Social Security benefits (the corporate cronies decided in 1989 to limit Long Term Disability Benefits for anyone with a mental/nervous condition to two years, needless to say my savings are gone) I am most fearful of a destitute retirement and I blame conservatives and Republicans. I have earned the right to blame them.
Jon in NYC
