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THE LIBERAL CASE FOR SOCIAL SECURITY REFORM

November 27, 2007

Surprisingly, the issue of Social Security solvency has cropped up in the Democratic presidential nomination campaign. Unfortunately, the debate seems to be whether to raise taxes, or to declare the topic taboo.

Howard Gleckman at TaxVox says ignoring the problem is unwise:

What is especially interesting is the reaction of the Democratic Left. The New York Times' Paul Krugman, for instance, calls Obama a "sucker" for even talking about Social Security. For him, "Social Security isn't a big problem that demands a solution, it's a small problem."

...

Years ago, Brookings Institution scholar Belle Sawhill warned liberals about the long-term entitlement problem. Left unchecked, she reminded them, entitlements would absorb funds for programs that were important to Democrats, such as education and children's health. In recent months, we have learned how hard it is for a Democratic Congress to boost spending for these programs, even while the Social Security surplus masks the real deficit. Over the next decade, as the retirement program's annual benefits inexorably exceed its revenues, Democrats will learn just how right Sawhill was, and how wrong Krugman is.

It is baffling that "progressives" are so wedded to a program that taxes the working population to transfer cash, with no means-testing, to a comparatively well-off part of the population. Maybe they think they'll get it back with the estate tax.

Tags: social security.TaxVox.

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