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You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Social Security & the Reverse Robin Hoods

Social Security & the Reverse Robin Hoods

by Anne Laurie|  October 31, 20111:56 pm| 56 Comments

This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Excellent Links, Republican Venality, All we want is life beyond the thunderdome

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Sometimes the headlines are almost enough. Almost. Via Charlie Pierce at Esquire, “In Which the Washington Post Pisses Off Krugman Again“:

On Sunday, The Washington Post, a once-great newspaper now d/b/a Graham’s Chicken ‘n Waffles, published a “news analysis” on the state of the Social Security system that explained that it’s time for us seriously to consider “reforming” the system in such a way that it never again does what it was designed to do by that spendthrift bastard FDR, and in such a way that the financial-services sector of our economy can grab as much of that Social Security money as it can and then do as much for old people as the financial-services sector has done for real estate in Nevada…

… Dean Baker at the Center for Economic & Policy Research explains how the “Washington Post Discards All Journalistic Standards In Attack on Social Security“:

… This article also repeatedly refers to the debate over cutting benefits as being an “ideological battle.” There is no evidence presented in this piece that there is any ideological issue at stake. On the one hand are hundreds of millions of workers who want to see the benefits that they paid for. On the other hand are many wealthy people, exemplified by people like Peter Peterson and Erskine Bowles who would rather use Social Security money to keep their own taxes low or to serve other purposes.
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This is a battle over who gets the money. The references to ideology just confuse the situation.

For truly scarey Halloween thrills, click the link and read Baker’s full dissection of the three-card-monte dishonesty of the busy, busy Kochsuckers. As the local tag does not quite phrase it, he guts these idiots so I don’t have to pretend to understand economics.

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Reader Interactions

56Comments

  1. 1.

    DougJ

    October 31, 2011 at 1:59 pm

    Thanks for writing about this, it made me blood boil as soon as I saw this crazy Kaplan piece.

  2. 2.

    Martin

    October 31, 2011 at 2:03 pm

    This is a battle over who gets the money. The references to ideology just confuse the situation.

    Very nicely stated, Dean.

  3. 3.

    slag

    October 31, 2011 at 2:14 pm

    Poor Kthug:

    What you can’t do is insist that the trust fund is meaningless, because SS is just part of the budget, then claim that some crisis arises when receipts fall short of payments, because SS is a standalone program. Yet that’s exactly what the WaPo claims.

    To actually have to write that! It must make him feel better about his students’ work, though. Imagine some of the comments he might make on their papers: “Your argument is totally without merit but your logic constructions would stand up well against those of the entire editorial staff at the Washington Post…A-“. Krugman’s “journalistic” colleagues are probably destroying the bell curve in all his classes.

  4. 4.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik

    October 31, 2011 at 2:15 pm

    Unfortunately, accuracy doesn’t matter a fucking whit. It just SOUNDS good and FEELS right that this means that Social Security is gonna disappear and it’s all the big bad fucking gubment’s fault so that means it has to disappear under the AMERICAN PEOPLE’S terms or else the GUBMENT IS SELLING YOUR FUTURE SHORT! WOLVERINESSZSSEHSDJKHSDF!

    The sad thing is that no matter how hard the Krugmans and the Pierces and the Bakers fight against the tide of idiocy, the die is cast. The real leeches are gonna ensure that Social Security is so fucking poisonous no one wants to fund it, and thus creating the self-fulfilling prophecy of fail. They’re winning and it already feels like it’s impossible to fucking stop them anymore.

  5. 5.

    jl

    October 31, 2011 at 2:16 pm

    Brad De Long keeps saying that the country would be better off if the WaPo ceased to exist at the end of the day. I thought he was exaggerating, but now I know he was not. That piece was complete trash. Full of demonstrable mistakes and inaccuracies, and ideologically loaded insinuendos.

    When you add in the reemergence of ‘weaponized Keynesism’ that will make the rounds in an attempt to sway, or justify, the train wreck coming out of the Super Doofus Duper Congress on the budget, the VSP have turned into gibbering idiots. If you take what they say at face value.

    The VSP have descended into the complete incoherence and irrationality, magical thinking, and solipsistic epistemology that that shifts and shapes itself to justify whatever their whim happens to be at the moment.

    This of course, is exactly one of their criticisms of the OSW crowd.

    Of couse, many of these VSP are simply lying. And, since I have passed as one of the club in my professional past, I know that many of them know they are lying. From their viewpoint, they usually justify it as lying for the greater good, though.

    But, some dim poor souls, such as the WaPo editorial staff, may also be seriously confused, as well. Not all liars are diligent or alert enough to understand how bad their lies are.

  6. 6.

    catclub

    October 31, 2011 at 2:19 pm

    @DougJ: “it made me blood boil as soon as I saw this crazy Kaplan piece.”

    Solution: Don’t read the Kaplan test-prep paper.

  7. 7.

    catclub

    October 31, 2011 at 2:20 pm

    @jl: insinuendos

    great new word!

  8. 8.

    DBrown

    October 31, 2011 at 2:25 pm

    Kochsuckers

    Fantastic name! I have been looking for something like that – simple and to the point. All trolls here have truely earned this title since that is all they are serving – giving head to the the 1% and kocksuckers brothers. I’ll steal this for sure since it is so good.

  9. 9.

    Tom Q

    October 31, 2011 at 2:27 pm

    @catclub: I believe it was coined — inadvertently — by the original Chicago Mayor Daley back in the late 60s.

  10. 10.

    jl

    October 31, 2011 at 2:27 pm

    @catclub: Glad you like it, but not new. A Wallace Stevens poem was first time I saw it.

  11. 11.

    cathyx

    October 31, 2011 at 2:30 pm

    From David Dayen’s column:

    The pressure on WaPo writer Lori Montgomery has been intense. Here was her response to a reader:

    I am a journalist, not an economist. If you view Dean Baker as the voice of
    god, then I’m afraid we’re not going to get very far.

    My article is as accurate and as objective as I could make it. Perhaps you’d like to point out some of these blatant falsehoods so I can respond to them directly.

  12. 12.

    jl

    October 31, 2011 at 2:30 pm

    @Tom Q:

    I think it is the kind of combination word that must have been invented dozens of times, but for some reason never caught on as it should. There certainly is a need for it these days. Perhaps this word’s day has arrived!

  13. 13.

    Redshift

    October 31, 2011 at 2:31 pm

    I saw that appalling article when I passed by the newspaper rack in the store yesterday. As a bonus, another front-page article was fluffing a Newt Gingrich comeback — guess they’re going to try to make him the new non-Romney!

  14. 14.

    jl

    October 31, 2011 at 2:34 pm

    @cathyx: Looks like it is ‘hacks, all the way down’ for some beats at that newspaper.

  15. 15.

    Villago Delenda Est

    October 31, 2011 at 2:35 pm

    It’s interesting that one of the people most “concerned” about “out of control entitlements” is one Pete Peterson, a guy whose fortune is…wait for it…inherited.

    This very, very, VERY entitled sack of shit is deeply concerned that people not as smart as he was to be born into fabulous wealth and privilege as he was are not dining on cat food tonight…if they dine at all.

    Pete Peterson (and any heirs he might have) is precisely the sort of person who really needs a tumbrel ride to their final and just desserts.

  16. 16.

    slag

    October 31, 2011 at 2:37 pm

    @cathyx:

    My article is as accurate and as objective as I could make it.

    Not much hope for the profession can be found in this statement. Aim low, LM! Aim low!

  17. 17.

    Reality Check

    October 31, 2011 at 2:41 pm

    Social Security and Medicare are bankrupt ponzi schemes. They’re going away sooner or later. We can do this the easy way (personal investment accounts) or the hard way (watching the whole system collapse in the next 30 years).

  18. 18.

    Reality Check

    October 31, 2011 at 2:43 pm

    The Leftists talking about the Koch brothers really reminds me of how evangelical Christians talk about Satan.

  19. 19.

    PeakVT

    October 31, 2011 at 2:44 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: If it’s Peter G. Peterson you’re talking about, it sure doesn’t look like he inherited his wealth.

  20. 20.

    Villago Delenda Est

    October 31, 2011 at 2:45 pm

    OT, but mind blowingly brilliant:

    “Mitt Romney couldn’t stand firm on a metal plate in magnetized boots.” — Charles Pierce

    The man is, as the kids playing WoW say, uber.

  21. 21.

    slag

    October 31, 2011 at 2:46 pm

    @jl: I blame the unions.

  22. 22.

    Bulworth

    October 31, 2011 at 2:50 pm

    And today, to continue the budget shell game talk, the Post has its anti-Social Security, anti-health care spending opeder, Robert Samuelson, write to warn about the dangers of “gutting” the war budget. So, just so we know, any cuts to the war budget amount to “gutting” the military. They really are so transparent, aren’t they?

  23. 23.

    comrade scott's agenda of rage

    October 31, 2011 at 2:51 pm

    I read this shit over the weekend.

    I’m a DC native and have been reading the (com)Post since the 60s. It’s a sad publication now and this article is a poster child for how far the paper has fallen into the toilet.

    I hope they eventually go to some kind of pay-to-view system online. They won’t get a dime of my money.

  24. 24.

    jl

    October 31, 2011 at 2:52 pm

    @Reality Check: This is a DougJ spoof, amirite?

  25. 25.

    soonergrunt

    October 31, 2011 at 2:53 pm

    OT–Orly Taitz has filed to run for Senate from California.
    Good times.

  26. 26.

    Reality Check

    October 31, 2011 at 2:54 pm

    @Bulworth:

    Yes, let’s cut spending on worthless things like national security so we have more money to spend on programs like this:

    http://tinyurl.com/6dtg7us

    That’s the ticket!

  27. 27.

    cathyx

    October 31, 2011 at 2:54 pm

    @jl: No, I’ve said this before. I think Balloon Juice pays him to repeat right wing talking points to get the comment numbers up.

  28. 28.

    YoohooCthulhu

    October 31, 2011 at 2:56 pm

    @The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik:

    The real leeches are gonna ensure that Social Security is so fucking poisonous no one wants to fund it, and thus creating the self-fulfilling prophecy of fail. They’re winning and it already feels like it’s impossible to fucking stop them anymore.

    If you follow British politics at all, you’ll see that a very similar structure of arguments are being leveled against the NHS, and the arguments involve a similar amount of BS around inability vs unwillingness to fund government programs. Owing to the interchange of political strategists here and there, I’m sure similar people are involved.

  29. 29.

    Chyron HR

    October 31, 2011 at 2:58 pm

    @Reality Check:

    Can you convince Romney and Cain to start bad-mouthing Social Security, too? That “Ponzi Scheme” thing did wonders for Perry’s poll numbers.

  30. 30.

    DBrown

    October 31, 2011 at 2:59 pm

    @Reality Check: I see our resident kocksucker is out today with his stupid.

  31. 31.

    Bulworth

    October 31, 2011 at 2:59 pm

    @Reality Check: Your side started all the debtdeficit hysteria. Live with it.

  32. 32.

    Reality Check

    October 31, 2011 at 2:59 pm

    @Chyron HR:

    No, Romney will talk about “personal accounts”, the first step is already done–most people dont’ believe social security will still be around when they retire (especially the younger generation) so they’re willing to experiment.

  33. 33.

    Rafer Janders

    October 31, 2011 at 2:59 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Um, no, whatever else is wrong with him, Pete Peterson didn’t inherit his wealth. His father was a Greek immigrant who ran a small-town diner (The family name “Peterson” was originally Petropolous). Peterson’s wealth is entirely self-made through a long career in business.

  34. 34.

    Rafer Janders

    October 31, 2011 at 3:00 pm

    @cathyx:

    Jesus. What a truly pathetic response.

  35. 35.

    Chyron HR

    October 31, 2011 at 3:02 pm

    @Reality Check:

    “Personal accounts” works, too. Look how popular George “The W is for Messiah” Bush was after he started talking about those.

  36. 36.

    Calouste

    October 31, 2011 at 3:02 pm

    @YoohooCthulhu:

    Liam Fox, who earlier this month resigned as Minister of Defence has a “charity” thinktank that has all kinds of contacts with the usual suspects via ALEC.

  37. 37.

    Reality Check

    October 31, 2011 at 3:04 pm

    @Chyron HR:

    Things are different now, the public is up in arms over the debt, and they blame Medicare and Social Security and “wasteful spending”.

  38. 38.

    Reality Check

    October 31, 2011 at 3:05 pm

    Besides, Obama’s numbers are around 40% and unemployment is sky high with no relief in sight and a double-dip recession right around the corner–things are setting up very ,very nicely for whoever the GOP nominee is to take the Presidency and for the GOP to take all of Congress. After the filibuster is either abolished our enough blue dogs scared into voting with us, nothing will stop the conservative Tea Party agenda from being fully instituted.

  39. 39.

    brewmn

    October 31, 2011 at 3:11 pm

    @Rafer Janders: None of which of course, makes his opinions any more factually accurate or any less morally reprehensible.

  40. 40.

    jl

    October 31, 2011 at 3:16 pm

    @Reality Check: Completely wrong on something that can be easily checked with magical potions and spells called ‘population survey statistics’.

    DougJ’s spoof game is in the toilet these days.

  41. 41.

    lacp

    October 31, 2011 at 3:17 pm

    Looks like it isn’t just WaPo that wants to cut entitlements: http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3605

    Fuckin’ social safety net. How’s that work?

  42. 42.

    R-Jud

    October 31, 2011 at 3:25 pm

    @YoohooCthulhu:

    Owing to the interchange of political strategists here and there, I’m sure similar people are involved.

    Exactly the same people, in fact– Liam Fox’s Atlantic Bridge Linked Top Tories And Tea Party Activists.

  43. 43.

    Amir Khalid

    October 31, 2011 at 3:32 pm

    @soonergrunt:
    She’ll have a lock on the dentist/lawyer/real-estate agent/kook vote, for sure.

  44. 44.

    kay

    October 31, 2011 at 3:42 pm

    They’re polling the wrong question. This is a comparison, a “choice”. The question they’re asking doesn’t include the alternative (privatization) that the Washington Post and conservatives are selling.

    The relevant question is: “do you trust Wall Street to handle your bare-bones, last resort finances when you’re too old to work or should those funds remain with Social Security?”

    Talk about 1%. I bet that would poll at 1%.

    They could even take it one step further: “do you currently trust Wall Street with your private retirement account, or would you prefer a safer, guaranteed, public-option investment?” That might be interesting to poll.

    The greedy bonus crew better watch what they lobby for. Maybe they don’t want to start discussing how trustworthy they are when playing with other peoples money. Not a good ‘conversation’ for them to start, right now.

  45. 45.

    Rafer Janders

    October 31, 2011 at 3:44 pm

    They could even take it one step further: “do you currently trust Wall Street with your private retirement account, or would you prefer a safer, guaranteed, public-option investment?” That might be interesting to poll.

    Or “would you trust the people who were running Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, Citigroup and AIG with your hard-earned retirement money”?

  46. 46.

    kay

    October 31, 2011 at 3:51 pm

    @Rafer Janders:

    Liberals could have a lot of fun with it. Just go further Left. Scare the shit out of them, and back them off their attempts to get at the public trough, and on to defense of what they already have.

    “Given Wall Street recklessness, greed and propensity for inventing bubbles based on imaginary assets, how confident are you, really, in your 401k?”

  47. 47.

    soonergrunt

    October 31, 2011 at 3:56 pm

    @Amir Khalid: Well, that’s it, then!

  48. 48.

    ET

    October 31, 2011 at 3:58 pm

    My current big time annoyance with the WaPo is the editorial pages. Today there is a total piece of dreck from Robert Samuelson with the “charming” title of “The Pentagon vs the welfare state.” The last sentence just had me gnashing my teeth.

    The need to maintain an adequate military is another reason why social spending needs to be cut and taxes need to be raised.

    He basically throws this out at the end as pretty much an afterthought. So I can’t decide if he really thinks that cutting social spending (with some taxes) is going to help maintain military spending.

  49. 49.

    Butch

    October 31, 2011 at 4:11 pm

    I made the mistake of working in DC for several years and read the Post daily. Its political reporting is OK – and I’d say given the location it would be an effort for it not to be OK – but the rest of the paper really is mediocre and has been for a long time.

  50. 50.

    xian

    October 31, 2011 at 4:21 pm

    Royalty Check is a wonderful living embodiment of Poe’s Law. Clap louder little serf and someday you’ll be a king too.

  51. 51.

    alien_radio

    October 31, 2011 at 4:26 pm

    Others have got there before me re: liam fox and atlantic bridge. But observers of british politics may remember this nugget. http://m.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/06/tory-madrasa-young-britons-foundation?cat=world&type=article

    Again the presence of many of the usual suspects makes clear the conspiracy to gut the british state for the benfit of people like the kochs

  52. 52.

    Rafer Janders

    October 31, 2011 at 4:28 pm

    The need to maintain an adequate military is another reason why social spending needs to be cut and taxes need to be raised.

    An “adequate” military? ADEQUATE? We spend more on our military than the rest of the world COMBINED. We are so far beyond “adequate” military that it’s not even funny. We have an “adequate” military the same way that John McCain’s wife owns an adequate number of mansions.

  53. 53.

    toledored

    October 31, 2011 at 7:37 pm

    Is Kay the only one that leaves her house?

  54. 54.

    Arclite

    October 31, 2011 at 7:45 pm

    Hey Anne Laurie, thanks. “Kochsuckers” is too funny.

    Also, this could use the tag, “Our failed media experiment”

  55. 55.

    joeshabadoo

    October 31, 2011 at 9:59 pm

    @Reality Check:
    I don’t believe it will be around when I get older and it has nothing to do with actual funding but the fact that an entire party is trying to kill it.
    Of course I wish it would be around but looking at the political environment if you are under 40 I think you should be very worried about it not being around. There has been so much talk on the issue that it seems obvious someone is going to “fix” it, screwing it up entirely.
    When you look at the financial crisis and the bailouts I can’t help but think its only a matter of time until the thieves get at that money too.

    If you were the younger generation why would you think it would still be there? Why would they trust the boomers not screw them over one last time?

  56. 56.

    Ian

    November 1, 2011 at 6:55 pm

    @Reality Check:
    Both the unemployment and the double-dip recession are continuing because of Republican-budget plans in the house and the refusal to even allow a vote on the presidents job plan.

    Think about that, senior spoof.

    I also like how you believe military spending is more important than people having homes.

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