Should former Sen. Alan Simpson be fired from the Deficit Commission for using the T-word? Here’s an excerpt of his recent email to feminist activist Ashley Carson, who basically says Simpson doesn’t know what he’s talking about and that Social Security is healthy and doesn’t contribute to the deficit:
And yes, I’ve made some plenty smart cracks about people on Social Security who milk it to the last degree. You know ‘em too. It’s the same with any system in America. We’ve reached a point now where it’s like a milk cow with 310 million t*ts! Call when you get honest work!
Carson is correct that currently Social Security runs a surplus and is not responsible for the red ink in our operating budget. But Baby Boomers haven’t started to retire yet in great numbers. After 2037, for example, only 76% of benefits will be available (PDF). Medicare is in even worse shape with a $36 trillion unfunded liability. Social Security’s is $8 trillion.
What happens when those bills come due? Where do you think the money will come from to pay out promised benefits? Raise the payroll tax? How can we do that if we also have to raise income taxes to get ourselves out of debt? The tax burden would be too great. We will never address our long-term deficit problems unless we get a handle on the unfunded liabilities of those two massive programs.
People who accuse Simpson of demagoging this issue miss the point. Simpson is about to turn 79 years old. What is he doing? Stirring up the masses in preparation for a run for the zoning board in Laramie, Wyoming?
Simpson is guilty of nothing more than being a cranky old man. And he happens to be saying things of substance that the geezer lobby doesn’t want to hear – and certainly that they don’t want recommended to Congress.
Long live old Alan. We need his grumpy voice.
