Social Security and UFOs

Having recently taken on an editorial on Social Security by Ruth Marcus, I was going to let the latest Washington Post "the sky is falling" piece on Social Security and how it is headed for crisis pass by without comment (other than in the title I gave it in the daily links of "The Washington Post Continues to Promote the Lie that Social Security is Headed for a Crisis"), but on second thought, let's review. Here's Brad DeLong:

Hoisted from Comments: Low-Tech Cyclist Writes:

Grasping Reality with Both Hands: Brad DeLong's Semi-Daily Journal: I know bringing up Fred Hiatt is like shooting fish in a barrel on this score, but the WaPo has a subset of its unsigned editorials where it comments on what it calls "the ideas primary."

Five of the last seven Ideas Primary editorials have been on the Social Security 'crisis.' There have been 15 editorials in this series. One has been on global warming - the greatest crisis of our era - and two have been on our greatest domestic crisis, the lack of universal health care and the upcoming crisis in the Medicare trust fund. None have been on Iraq and the power vacuum we've created in the center of the Middle East. Interesting set of priorities, huh?

The most recent piece in the Washington Post on the "crisis" isn't from their "Ideas Primary," but it's just as bad. Dean Baker has the description:

Main THE UFOs Are Back at the Post (literally), by Dean Baker: I praised the Post a couple of weeks ago for printing a coherent column by Robert Ball in support of protecting the current level of Social Security benefits. This was an extraordinary departure from its never-ending drumbeat of SS crisis news stories, columns, and editorials.

Since that day, the Post has run a strange column by Ruth Marcus, a former editor, that seemed to attack Paul Krugman for changing his mind on Social Security. In another forum, I quipped about this column that "the UFOs have landed," referring to a nutty effort to discredit Social Security by claiming that more young people believe in UFOs than they will receive a Social Security check.

Well, today the Post actually has the UFO story in its full glory. It appears in an oped column by Amity Shales which is apparently further payback for the Robert Ball column. It looks like we must pay a high price for this modest dissent from the Post's dogma on the SS crisis.

On the substance, I am not quite sure why the opponents of SS believe that the effectiveness of their lies is a basis for gutting the program. This would be comparable to claiming that tens of millions of people believe that Saddam was responsible for September 11th, therefore we should invade Iraq. The fact that the public has been so terribly misled on the financial condition of its most important social program (even if they don't actually believe in UFOs) is a strong argument for putting off any changes until the public can learn the true facts of the situation.

After all the basic issues about the SS program -- how much money it should provide in retirement, how much people should be taxed in their working years, and how late in life they should have to work -- are issues that should be decided democratically, not by people who control major media outlets. And the public cannot possibly make such decisions in an intelligent manner when they are being deliberately misinformed about the true financial status of the program.

Where did the misleading UFO story come from? Here's President Bush on February 10, 2005 giving what was a standard speech at the time:

THE PRESIDENT: ...Somebody was telling me the other day ... he read an interesting poll; he said that a lot of younger workers felt like they're more likely to see a UFO than get a Social Security check. (Laughter.) It's an interesting dynamic, isn't it, when you think about it? There are a lot of young people, when they analyze Social Security and think about it, that they just don't think the government can fulfill the promise, which is a powerful -- it's powerful leverage for members of Congress to listen to.

In other words, the dynamic has shifted. The reason people are comfortable about taking on the Social Security issue..., there's a lot of folks out there who are demanding change -- for their sake. They're saying, what are you going to do about saving the system for me? I'm coming up; I have a better chance of seeing a UFO than getting a check from the government. What are you and the government going to do to make sure I get my check? That's the dynamic that's happening.

And that's why I'm optimistic something is going to get done, because people are beginning to speak out. Younger Americans who understand the math and know the reality are beginning to say to those of us who have been elected, what are you going to do about it? You're up there in Washington, D.C. -- do more than just occupy the office, solve problems and do your job. (Applause.)

I think the last quote should be:

Younger Americans who understand the math and know the reality are beginning to say to those of us who have been elected, why are you lying to us about it? (Applause.)

Why is the Washington Post participating in this attempt to mislead people about the nature of the problem? Brad DeLong is right:

Without major personnel changes, I give the Washington Post five years.

Comments

[Robinia]

And this is the President who wanted to be known as the "education president," huh? As in, we will re-educate you to know what we think you should know, I guess.

"Our consolidated-media colleagues will help us get the job done. Don't believe that you can, through collective action in a democracy, achieve anything through government for the common good, like a safety net in old age or a health care system. Ignore the fact that the rest of the civilized world seems to be doing just that, and with better results (longer lives, less poverty in old age, better health stats). Instead, believe in UFOs. And Jesus. Join my Crusade, 9-11, 9-11, 9-11....."

Psst. WaPo, Bush, and the rest of the crew: we have located the military dictator with the WMDs, who has shared them with terrorists and is hiding Osama Bin Laden-- his name is Musharrif, and, rurmor has it, you're funding him while he represses his own people. Can you send the UFOs, please? I heard we were running out of Marines...

[anne]

"I quipped about this column that 'the UFOs have landed,' referring to a nutty effort to discredit Social Security by claiming that more young people believe in UFOs than they will receive a Social Security check."

There was an extended time in which Microsoft was advertising the usefulness of the encyclopedia "Encarta," using just this analogy. The student smart enough to use Encarta would know there is less chance in receiving Social Security in future than finding UFOs.

Remember that Amity Shlaes * has been busily re-writing the history of the New Deal, proving it was really an Old and ineffectual Deal

* Correctly spelled, though I am the worst of spellers.

[Lee A. Arnold]

Perhaps a beltway principle, two headtrips are better than one!

[anne]

I believe that the President's staff picked up the analogy from the Microsoft advertisements.

Also Amity Shlaes repeatedly uses a trick that fooled and puzzled me in reporting New Deal employment improvements from 1932. Shlaes does not include employment in programs created during the New Deal, so the effect of the programs seems muted for workers, especially so when recession set in in 1937. The New Deal however strikingly cut unemployment once the programs of the period are properly counted.

[robertdfeinman]

The mistake is to think that the Washington Post thinks of itself as a newspaper rather than as a soldier in the war of privilege against the populace.

In this war it is a necessary weapon and will be kept alive (if necessary) by those who benefit from its editorial policies. Did GE buy NBC because it was a good investment or because they wanted an outlet to promote their interests (talking up militarism) and suppressing stories that treat GE in an unfavorable light?

Do a quick search and see how much coverage the story of GE's foot dragging on cleaning up the Hudson has gotten. This is just a minor issue, try to find some stories on how well it is doing with military contracts, especially related to the wars and homeland security.

Not getting into the press is sometimes more important than slanting stories in the first place.

[evagrius]

This is on the MSN site;

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/News/FedsBudgetTricksHideTrillionsInDebt.aspx

[Bruce Webb]

Well RDF might be right as it relates to the WaPo and NBC/GE. I think something else is going on.

The MSM is waking up to the understanding that people who were inflicted with BDS on Iraq were not do because they were simply unserious DFH's, by and large they were people who had read Molly Ivins. Now they are frantically trying to find ways to keep the most informed elements of the country in the BDS category. Sure we were factually correct, but we were wrong to be right before the serious people agreed it was okay to be right. Well that is only working out so far, people who think are more likely to say "What Digby said".

The same thing is happening on Social Security. The serious people thought they knew what they were talking about, after all everybody they knew agreed and surely someone had done their homework. Well it turned out that almost everyone who had done their homework was ideologically committed to destroying Social Security as currently configured. People like Andrew Samwick are not mistaken, they simply have another agenda. The LMS Social Security Reform Plan is legitimate when taken on its own terms, you just have to understand that the authors don't define 'Reform' in a way that includes the notion 'Better return for workers than doing nothing'.

Well the serious people who do not in fact know the numbers are now slowly awakening up to the fact that they have been conned, and since there is no visible single identifiable con man are lashing out at bystanders who saw through the con in real time. And of course the bystander with the best perch and best opportunity to crow 'I told you so' is Paul Krugman. Nobody likes a Know it All, and this is especially true when Mr. Know it All turns out to be right on the substance.

[Barry]

Mark Thoma: "Why is the Washington Post participating in this attempt to mislead people about the nature of the problem? Brad DeLong is right:

Without major personnel changes, I give the Washington Post five years."

No. It's something that (IMHO) economists don't like to face - the Post is serving its customers, who are major advertisers, large corporations. It's not trying to inform us anymore than is needed to make us read it. It's on the side of the economic elits, with occasional liberal articles to salve their consciences.

[howard]

Barry, the best way for the wapo to serve its customers is to attract readers. instead, they are driving readers away: that's prof delong's point.

[ken melvin]

I saw Krove in the debate at Regents the other night. Rather the genius as purported, he was a loud overbearing lout. When someone tried to offer a counter view point, even at MC's bequest, Krove would simply get louder and talk over the opposition (in this case Cleland and McCaffery). This is the tactic of the right. It worked for them in Florida and it worked for them pre-invasion. They're convinced that they can determine reality by dint of repeating something ad nauseam. Right out of grade school, no?

[Gigi]

Wherever you stand on the health care crisis and the growing concerns of Social Security, it is our duty as an American to take a stance and take responsibility for these issues. The insurance premiums are skyrocketing and our paychecks are dwindling. I found out about a great site that AARP his to inform us on the issues using videos, email, and a petition that we can all sign to make our voices heard. The site is: http://www.thisissoridiculous and I highly recommend we all visit and take part in the action. I am working to support this with AARP as I feel we all should.

[ndd]

To Bruce Webb:
Somebody who acknowledged his deep indebtedness to you got a top-recommended diary on the Great Orange Satan today, entitled "The Truth about Social Security"

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/11/26/103428/73

[Bruce Webb]

Thanks for the heads up ndd .

I still remember the day when someone (probably at MaxSpeak) commented "Maybe this guy has actually read the Report". I did not know whether I should have been proud of the recognition or amused that so few had felt the need to review the data tables for themselves.

[Bruce Webb]

Actually New Deal that was quite the informing thread. It was remarkable how many people actually got it, believe me there was not anywhere near that level of understanding back in November 2004, and I have the scars and fading bruises to prove that.

Clearly there is still a lot of work to do, but posts like yours show that we can spread this beyond the wonkosphere.

[kotika]

well, me i'm a young person, and there is definitely better chance of seeing UFO's than a paycheck from any government (european or american). the reason is that young citizens of the world like myself move around from country to country every few years, and so there is zero chance we ever qualify for any government benefits. so it is very natural that we feel the social security taxes the various government collect from us are going to go to paying pensions to the huge portion of the population called the "baby boomers", while we will have to fend for ourselves eventually.

[Bruce Webb]

kotika, an interesting point and maybe something the EU will need to take a look at, but really not particularly relevant to the typical American experience. That is while it is certainly true that fewer Americans qualify for pensions due to job mobility and failure to vest under any given system, this is actually an argument for the current American Social Security system. It quite seamlessly moves with you as you go from job to job and picks up even part time and temporary employment. Most Americans do in fact have their entire job history within the borders of the United States

What this country really needs is for the Federal Thrift Savings Plan to be opened up to everyone. Rather than having to worry about how to transfer your 401k, workers could simply invest as much as they wanted into a transportable retirement plan. In that context we could even re-examine the level of the cap. The key for me is not the details of the system per se, but instead insuring that all workers have a level of dignity after a lifetime of work. (Which certainly doesn't start with tinkering with the current benefit formula.)

[ndd]

Thanks, Bruce. Coming from you I'm honored.
I suppose we can give backhand thanks to Candidate X who stepped into the stinkpile and stirred up the inevitable stink-storm afterward.
What was really heartening was how many people said they intended to bookmark the post and/or forward it to others in order to educate them as well.

[Lafayette]

km: They're convinced that they can determine reality by dint of repeating something ad nauseam. Right out of grade school, no?

Earlier, much earlier. It is anal-retentive behaviour.

[Anal retentive : ... an infant's attention moves from oral stimulation to anal stimulation (including the bowels and bladder), usually synchronous with learning to control their excretory functions, a time of toilet training. Freud theorized that children who experience conflicts during this period of time may develop "anal" personality traits, namely those associated with a child's efforts at excretory control: orderliness, stubbornness, a compulsion for control.]

Instead of moving their bowels, as adults they move their mouths. Same effect, nevertheless.

[max johnson]

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