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When Policy Geeks Attack
ByEzra Klein goes in for the kill. I'm the prey:
Social Security does not threaten our fiscal future. This is not an argument. There are not two sides. There are just the numbers.
If nothing is done -- if Social Security is left untouched -- then over the next four decades, federal spending on all entitlement programs that aren't Medicare and Medicaid will increase by one percentage point of GDP. One percentage point does not threaten to destroy our fiscal future. The CBO estimates that Social Security's 75-year projected shortfall is 0.56 percent of GDP. Again, 0.56 percent of GDP does not threaten to destroy our fiscal future.
To make the point more sharply, take something else that liberals don't like: The Bush tax cuts. They are regressive. They are expensive. They are a poor use of dollars. They crowd out important projects and priorities. But they do not threaten our fiscal future. Yet making them permanent -- something that Andrew, as far as I know, has previously supported -- would impose a much greater long-term cost than Social Security...
