Back to the Future...

I ran across this short and sweet post from Commentary Magazine while I was looking through the papers this morning ~ is it really 'looking through the papers' when it is done via a series of clicks? (Answer: yes it is but way better.) The post addresses the busted Social Security system under the headline: I'm Crazy Ponzi-Man, Now Gimme That Money. As it works on the internet, this post is in response to a letter to the New York Times  written in response to an article about, um, yeah, the financial difficulties the Social Security system faces in the future based on the annual report released by its trustees. I know, TMI.

It's laughable to me, though, that the failure of the system is still under discussion. It's not old news, it's ANCIENT news. Decades ago it was obvious, and discussed by outliers, that the Social Security trust fund was headed towards inanition, and now of course, is beyond it.

It caught my attention, though, because of a blog I was looking through that included a well-written essay discussing the Chilean version of Social Security, a highly regulated privatized system. Most of the blog has to do with financial markets and stategies, important but not my area of interest, but the essays posted once or twice a week are interesting ~ written by Gonzalo Lira and worth checking out.

The Cato Institute, former outlier, now mainstream for those who want to reduce the size and reach of government, has been contrasting our Social Security system with the Chilean AFP system since before it was established in 1980, offering immeasurable support to Jose Pinera, who implemented the new system.

Cato's Michael F. Cannon can't quite bring himself to use the word ponzi, but in his post in response to the 2010 annual report by the trustees of Social Security, he translates government-speak into what the report really means to those of us who are forced to pay into the trust(!)fund.

Inside-the-beltway types call Social Security the third rail of politics. Certainly it was for Sharon what-was-her-name-again? in Nevada. The Dems started using their mantra Oh my God, the Republicans are going to privatize Social Security!! before the 2010 elections and will continue to sputter it as long as they believe it will frighten people away from considering the reality of what we face, and how we might be able to rein the system back into usefulness.

Here is one man's response to the deceitful rants from the Left:



It's in everyone's interest to understand our current Social Security system and why it long ago passed the line of sustainability, and what privatizing Social Security really means. Ya-da, ya-da, ya-da, of course the Cato Institute provides plenty of information for anyone who wants to educate themselves for the (hopefully) soon-to-be political storm.

Walter Williams gives a short tutorial on the social Security system, less screaming but with as much impact:



Social Security, along with Medicare, has long been the so-called elephant in the room. Everyone sees it but no one mentions it. Will the newly-elected Republicans Representatives, along with their born-again small government Republican friends waiting for them in Washington, be willing to take on the third rail?