Broder can't say the one without the other:

From his latest "the Social Security Trust Fund surplus is worthless" essay: (excerpts, emp add)

[There] is an effort to revive the idea of a bipartisan effort to head off the bankrupting of America by runaway entitlement programs.

... unless ways are found to reform the financing and benefits of Social Security and Medicare, the demands imposed by the retirement of millions of baby boomers will consume the federal budget and blight the prospects of the next generations.

... the first of the baby boomers filed for Social Security benefits this year -- and millions more will soon follow. By most official estimates, by 2034 Medicare and Social Security will eat up 20 percent of the gross domestic product -- equivalent to the entire federal budget of today.

[Approvingly quotes a Republican who said] "There is no way to support this system as it is constituted."

Broder looks at 2034 and sees a big problem with Social Security, but as Dean Baker remarks, "Remember Social Security is Fully Solvent Until 2046". So why include SS in a 2034 apocalyptic scenario? (answer at the end of this post)

Broder notes that "the government has added $500 billion to the national debt this year" but doesn't say why:

• Because Bush is putting the Iraq War on the nation's credit card.
• Because Bush is treating the current surplus of Social Security funds as free money to pay for tax cuts.
• Because Bush is not responsibly paying down some of the federal debt (which could be raised later to payback SS trust bonds).

None of this is unexpected, since Broder is a Republican political hack.


posted by Quiddity at 10/30/2007 02:48:00 AM