The truth is that, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, Social Security is fully funded until 2052, at which point, assuming no increase in productivity growth rates or dramatic demographic shifts, benefits would need to be reduced by a whopping… 20%. In the alternative, payroll taxes could be increased from their current 15.3% to 20%, or, more likely, a combination of both tactics could be employed. In any case, projected increases in standard of living suggest that the net effect on future generations of either lowering of benefits or increasing payroll taxes will be negligible at best. But if this is the case, why on Earth are so many politicians, journalists, pundits, and Wall Street types calling for urgent action to “fix” what simply isn’t broken? With all the issues that they SHOULD be addressing, why do both parties keep obsessing over making changes to Social Security?

There seem to be two main reasons for this wave of Social Security fixation. The first is that politicians and other civic leaders are subject to the very same misinformation as the general public. Many seem to actually believe that the trust fund is in imminent danger, or, worse yet, that the trust fund itself is nonexistent. But as the head of the C.B.O. has asserted,

“There is a trust fund. Statements that there is no such thing as a trust fund are overstated. It has in it U.S. Treasury securities. They are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, and they will not in fact be defaulted on.”

In other words, all funds received in Social Security taxes in excess of payment to retirees are invested in treasuries, much like the retirement funds of our most affluent citizens. There is, arguably, no safer place for funds to be invested. And what is the alternative? To stuff cash into a giant vault? Or to roll the dice and invest it in the private economy?

There is a second reason why so many leaders are calling for “reform” of Social Security is far more insidious. Many Wall Street moguls have long been lobbying for either investment of the trust fund into stocks or elimination of payments to retirees altogether. Those with this agenda are fond of lumping Social Security in with Medicare, labeling both as endangered and counting on the press to miss the distinction between the two plans. So far, their plan seems to be working - very few in the media have taken note that, while Medicare is in deed in dire trouble, with costs expected to TRIPLE in the next few decades, Social Security is well funded and robust.

Most people calling for a Social Security fix cite demographic changes and the drain on the system from retiring baby boomers, but the problem with Medicare and Medicaid has nothing to do with demographic shifts. No, the problem with these programs is the rapid nationwide escalation in health care costs. As Douglas Holtz-Eakin, former head of the C.B.O. under the Bush Administration put it, “The central domestic policy challenge of our time is rising health care costs.”

Politicians should be focusing like a laser beam on overhauling the medical system, not wasting time fixing a Social Security system that isn’t close to being broken. Of course doing so would involve taking on massively powerful interest groups, ranging from Big Pharma to the AMA. The question is, do they have the guts to do so?

Technorati Tags: Madicare, Medicaid, Social Security

I began to reflects on the workers, most of them likely here illegally and receiving wages far below what could be considered a “living wage”.  They are certainly hard working, fast, and reliable - quite a bargain for $7.50 an hour in this day and age.  Yet I couldn’t help but feel a lingering sense of resentment towards them.  I can understand why many are prone to empathize with these people.  They come from an environment of extreme poverty, and they want simply to make money to are for their families - a noble goal, to be sure.  Yet at the same time, there is little or no sympathy for the very workers they displace, workers who are unwilling and/or unable to work for such absurdly low wages.

As I pondered this scenario, it struck me that a perfect analogy exists for the situation with illegal immigrants:  scabbing during a labor dispute.   Scab workers, like illegal aliens, quite often are in desperate need of money - so desperate that they are willing to cross picket lines, facing extreme consternation, and even bodily harm.  Yet despite their often desperate situations, scabs receive little sympathy.  Why?  Because, in seeking financial betterment for themselves, they are causing untold damage to the careers of others, undermining the balance of power between labor and management, and ultimately worsening conditions for all workers, themselves included.  Sound familiar?

So why then do illegal aliens continue to receive so much sympathy from the very liberal establishment that is so inclined to vilify scab labor?  Why is it seen as somehow indecent or mean-spirited amongst these same liberal circles to even criticise illegal workers ? 

The answer is a bit complex, to be sure, for many politicians and labor leaders are prone to pander to the illegal immigrant community due to that group’s burgeoning demographic significance.  But to a large degree, the situation has arisen out of deference to that specter that haunts every member of the mainstream Caucasian elite - the fear of being labelled racist. 

There is no underestimating the brute power wielded by those community spokespersons deemed worthy of divining who amongst the majority is deserving of this label.  There is simply no other word in the modern lexicon (other than perhaps “molester”) so capable of destroying entire reputations, careers, and lives than the “R” word.  The “R” word has risen to the pantheon of labels capable of such destruction:   Heretic.  Witch.  Communist.  Racist. 

In environments of extreme fear, logic rarely sees the light of day.  Such is the case with the immigration issue.  Yet due to simmering resentment amongst an increasing affected populace, politicians have been forced to pay lip service to the issue, even though most clearly would rather continue look the other way. 

So we are left, inundated by wave after wave scab workers who have been granted “victim” status by the terrified caucasian elite.  We face a presidential election in which the Republican candidate sponsored a stealth amnesty bill, and the likely Democratic candidate considers displaced American workers to be simply “bitter”. 

Yet we shouldn’t lose hope.  History teaches us that words eventually lose their potency, as do those endowed with the power to label others.  Eventually, the Sharptons and Jacksons will go the way of McCarthy and Ferdinand of Aragon.  We can all do our part, clinging to ration, resorting not to petty name calling and emotional outbursts but reasoned argument and logic as debate over immigration progresses. 

Like scab workers, illegal immigrants can be wonderful, exceptionally hard working people.  That does not mean that our ability to empathize should overwhelm our sense of fairness and legality.  Like the people that hire them, illegal aliens are in the wrong and are harming those they displace.  This undeniable reality must drive policy from here on out.

Technorati Tags: illegal immigrants, immigration

I remember 2 years ago when a much larger protest ended with a rally just blacks from my house. I checked out the scene and was a bit surprised to see an overwhelming percentage of Mexican flags in the crowd. However, news coverage of that same event was carefully edited to make it look as though American flags predominated.

Now I’m hardly the obsessive flag-waving type, yet I mention all this because such abject manipulation of press coverage is appalling. The job of reporters is to report, not to editorialize , sanitize, or vilify.

That same local L.A. newscast spent several minutes tonight emphasizing the “clear message” and “peaceful behavior” of the protesters (who were continually referred to simply as “immigrants”). Then the station ran a very brief interview of a man from a group called “Friends of the Border Patrol”, and this clip was framed by a title that read simply, “Anti-Immigrant”.

I find this type of manipulative and inaccurate labeling and editing to be particularly appalling, and it is evident in almost every newscast covering the immigration situation. Anyone speaking against illegal immigration is called “anti-immigrant”, despite any evidence at all that they are against legal immigration.  This phenomenon is, in fact, beyond mere misrepresentation.  It is lying.

I would venture to guess that the vast majority of Americans are strong supporters of legal immigration. In fact, the United States admits more immigrants legally every single year than the rest of the world combined. Yet anyone who stands up for the rule of law is labeled as a nativist or worse? This is sheer insanity.

I for one would LOVE to see levels of legal immigration increased, particularly for doctors and engineers, be they from Mexico, South Africa, or India. Yet levels for professional are strictly capped. Even those medical professionals who manage to get green cards are made to go through ridiculously complex re-training and to navigate serpentine bureaucracy, often for years, before they can hope to practice medicine.

True, the employers who hire illegal immigrants are the heart of the problem and must be punished. But the illegal immigrants themselves are breaking the law and causing untold damage to the workers they displace (and yes, they DO displace workers!) An actually unbiased media report would highlight not only the plight of the illegal immigrants but ALSO the plight of the very workers they displace, who have been slammed by both illegal immigration AND outsourcing do to the “free trade” policies of the past 10-15 years. Of course, this type of coverage is all but unheard of.

So why do new reports empathize only with law-breaking illegal immigrants while ignoring displaced native workers? If the recent coverage of the writers’ strike taught us anything, it’s that news coverage in this day and age of concentrated media ownership tends to reflect the agenda of the media corporations. Large corporations reap huge benefits from the suppression of wages that results from illegal immigration. They have come to depend on the constant infusion of cheap labor like a heroin addict depends on his next fix. Like an addict, they will lie, cheat, and steal in order to keep getting their next fix.

In all likelihood, reporters are not strong-armed by their corporate bosses into supporting one point of view or another. Instead, they have grown lazy, simply regurgitating press releases. They are, in essence, easily manipulated, and corporations are far better prepared to manipulate the press than are grassroots organizations.

So on this May Day I am left to reflect on the sad state of the press in America. Only with a truly free and unbiased press can a democracy thrive. Our best hope is that the proliferation and dissemination of diverse points of view through blogs and other online sources will continue to flourish. Long live bloggers!

Technorati Tags: illegal immigration, immigrants, media bias

• Not lower prices at the pump one bit
• Just put more money into the pockets of the oil companies

How can this be? It’s simple supply and demand. With refineries claiming to be operating at full capacity, no more gas can be produced. Gas prices are determined by market forces - as long as there is continued demand and supply is maxxed out, prices will not decline.

So while there would be a momentary drop in pricing when taxes were suspended, the lower price would increase demand, thus leading to the price at the pump rising right back to where it was before the tax was suspended, if not higher.

Brilliant idea, huh?

Of course, an astute politician might take note that gas prices have risen due to skyrocketing oil prices and that oil prices have gone up due to:

• The dollar’s decline (which was in turn powered by the Fed’s lowering interest rates)
• Extreme speculation in the oil markets (brought to you by the very same hedge fund managers who brought you the real estate bubble)

So basically, the Fed has bailed out the irresponsible hedge fund managers and banks in part with lower interest rates. This in turn has led directly to the escalation in gas prices. As a result, politicians have proposed “helping the consumer” by putting billions right into the pockets of oil companies.

This is the government we get when we allow corporate and other special interests to drive policy, and, worse yet, to literally draft legislation.

Technorati Tags: gas tax, hillary, mccain

This blog is an attempt to interject a pragmatic counterpoint to the onslaught of emotion-based reporting in the media. Clearly I won’t get it all right, so correct me when I’m wrong. I’m always looking to learn new things and to expose myself to new points of view.

Technorati Tags: logic