At the start of last week the latest report from the Social Security Trustees (link) was released, leading to predictable but misleading warnings that the system was going to “run dry.” For example, the headline on this article from the … Continue reading
Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich gives a brief, straightforward explanation for why switching to chained CPI isn’t appropriate for Social Security cost-of-living adjustments: Link: http://youtu.be/fvXuANd2l80 (I’m not sure why some ninny thought the ticking kitchen timer sound effect was … Continue reading
Conservatives have never been fans of Social Security and for years have advocated fully or partly privatizing it (which Wall Street would adore) or at least pushing through major cuts, which they are often inclined to call “entitlement reform” because … Continue reading
On April 23 the U.S. Social Security Board of Trustees published a press release summarizing its newest annual report. The big news was that the Trustees now estimate, based on the depressed state of the economy, that the Trust Fund … Continue reading
With the possible exception of highways, the federal program that most directly affects the vast majority of Americans is Social Security, so in a rational world we’d all have a pretty good understanding of it. Yet from discussions I’ve seen … Continue reading
As Steven Benen pointed out this morning, Texas Governor Rick Perry is backing away from his earlier suggestions that Social Security was an unconstitutional bad idea. I suppose that’s good news, but it’s perhaps worth noting that Perry also made … Continue reading
I’m a little late getting around to this, but back on May 6 of this year former Senator Alan Simpson (R-Wyoming) appeared at an Investment Company Institute program, also broadcast on C-SPAN, to discuss the recommendations of the National Debt … Continue reading
At Vox, Dylan Matthews interviews former White House chief economist Jason Furman about the Trump budget proposal, which Furman finds alarming because while he has no problems with using large deficits to escape a serious recession, he doesn’t like President … Continue reading
In the video below Hank Green does a good job of addressing one of my hobbyhorses, namely the popular misunderstanding of life expectancy. Current U.S. life expectancy at birth is about 76.5 for men and 81.2 for women, but if … Continue reading
As you’ve probably heard, the major credit reporting bureau Equifax had its database broken into by criminals a couple of months ago and sensitive personal information was stolen for nearly half the U.S. population. Equifax has a website where you … Continue reading