Seeking Shelter in the Storm
Posted on June 30, 2008
The clouds were dark and forbidding as I drove past the National Mall the other day. It was quite obvious -- at least to me -- that a storm was approaching. But to a couple of thousand of other people, who went about their business, it was as if it never rained in their world.
The heavens opened up, those poor suckers got soaked, and a thought crossed my mind.
Maybe I have been in Washington for too long. But to me, that rainstorm is like the impending disaster known as Social Security. While it may have been completely obvious to most people had they bothered to think about it, most people just didn’t want to think about that little old rainstorm. They had other stuff going on in their lives.
Same thing about Social Security. Unless you are on Social Security, you probably don’t think about it very much. You have too many other things going on in your life.
Like that rainstorm, Social Security is going to rain down on everybody pretty hard in a couple of decades. Because at the end of the day, taxes will go up dramatically to keep Social Security afloat, unless something is done now to keep the bulk of taxpayer dry.
Politicians have less credibility than weathermen when it comes to predicting future events. They can’t tell the future, because they don’t want to face the truth.
Democrats are the worst because they keep telling us that the weather is fine, even though we know the sky is darkening with each passing day. When it comes to Social Security, they see no problem. They refuse to take any steps now to keep Social Security solvent in the future. They won’t even entertain private accounts as a possible way to supplement the Social Security check, even though they know that the return on the Social Security investment dollar is practically negligible for most participants in the system.
Republicans deserve credit for trying to talk about how to fix the system. But let’s face it. With the current stock market situation, they shouldn’t put all of their eggs in the private accounts basket. They too need to start talking about other options, including the gradual increase in the retirement age.
This is not a big issue in this campaign. For too many Americans, talk about Social Security reform is just not how they want to spend a Sunday afternoon. But the storm clouds are gathering and unless action is taken soon, all Americans are going to get soaked in the ensuing fiscal hurricane