A False Dilemma Over Social Security

[Owlet]

"It's always good to get a silly caricature to begin the week and Fred Hiatt at the Washington Post is happy to supply one. He presents us with the divide between "nostalgia liberals" and "accountability liberals."

The story is that nostalgia liberals are opposed to means-testing Social Security while accountability liberals say "the only way to protect benefits for the poor is to scale back expected benefits for the wealthy." Nostalgia liberals support traditional public schools, while accountability liberals support charter schools and testing. More generally, "accountability liberals put more stock in market forces and individual empowerment." Of course the picture of "nostalgia liberals" is a ridiculous caricature by someone who is a charter member of the "accountability liberals" masquerading as a neutral voice.

<snip>

Also, contrary to what Hiatt claims, Social Security is not a subsidy to middle class and wealthy people, it is a government-run insurance system. The middle class and wealthy pay for their benefits."


http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/fred-hiatts-accountability-liberals-dont-know-arithmetic

[vi5]

1. Unfortunately.....

All the Democrats who we seem to give the most power to appear to be "accountability liberals".

And that's a big part of the reason why we're so fucked.

[LiberalFighter]

2. They are under the misconception that everyone pays Social Security tax

on all of their income. And don't understand that Social Security income is based only on the income that is taxed for Social Security.