B
aconauts and Boomergeddons are something of a cult. They have their own leader, their own religion, their own pecking order and at times, their own Kool-Aid. Since it is a somnambulent August Monday morning, here are a few things to wake you up.
Happy Birthday, Social Security!
That’s right! The federal program that has proven funding and comfort for millions of Americans in their old age is 75 today. Conservatives of all stripes HATE SS because it shows that the government can do some good. And plenty have fought Social Security through the decades, including my late grandfather, who was a minor Republican official and absolutely despised FDR. The program is so electrified with conflict that it has been called a “third rail”
in politics.
in politics.
Now comes Paul Krugman, one of my favorite economist-columnists and I am sure, one of yours, too, with his assessment about the lies being spread about Social Security. I am trotting out the Nobel Prize winner because he raises points that, if true, kinda turn the “Boomergeddon” thesis upside down. His points:
- Costs of Social Security are not unsupportable by the federal budget. SS has its own budget.
- “The program won’t have to turn to Congress for help or cut benefits, which the program’s actuaries don’t expect to happen under 2037 — and there’s a significant chance, according to their estimates, that that day will never come,” write Krugman.
- While it is true that a lot of Boomers will be applying for SS in the near future, “Boomergeddon” might be slight exaggeration. Krugman says they will increase payouts from 4.8 percent of GDP to 6 percent of GDP. How much is that, in plain terms? Krugman says it is significantly LESS than the rise in post 9/11 defense spending which was considered such a non-crisis financially that Bush was able to go ahead with his tax cuts for the rich.
If I were Jim Bacon, I might be calling my publisher right now.
Of, any by the way, on another federal spending riff, check out Page A6 of the Wall Street Journal. There’s a page-long graphic showing just how little of Obama’s stimulus has actually been spent. Let’s see, only 15 percent of energy funds have been spent, only 23 percent of health and human service funds are gone, and only 35 percent of transportation infrastructure funds have been spent. The largest category is justice with half funds gone.
And we’re facing a budgetary crisis of Biblical proportions?
Maybe we should hit the “reset” Buttons. To Baconauts, I say, “Harroog, Harauga!” To EMR, I say, “Listen to this! (chuck, thud, chuck, thud).”
Peter Galuszka