Krauthammer: "2042 lies somewhere in the Matrix"
Charles Krauthammer has an interesting piece on Social Security up this morning. Here's a quote:
Charles Krauthammer - February 18th, 2005 I do not know if President Bush's Social Security reform will pass, but if it does not, its demise will be traced to that point in the president's State of the Union address when he warned that the system would go bankrupt in 2042. It was a disastrous moment.
...
Moreover, the new millennium was always a science fiction idea, and now that we are there, years beginning with a "2" still seem fictional. Even 2011, the first boomer retirement year, has a Stanley Kubrick feel; 2042 lies somewhere in the Matrix.
My first thought upon reading this was "wait a second; Bush made a point to emphasize that the system will be spending more than it takes in in 2018." And indeed he did, saying "I recognize that 2018 and 2042 may seem a long way off. But those dates are not so distant, as any parent will tell you. If you have a five-year-old, you're already concerned about how you'll pay for college tuition 13 years down the road."
Krauthammer, to his credit, concedes as much:
Charles Krauthammer - February 18th, 2005 True, he mentioned 2018, but bringing up 2042 simply muddies the logic. It reinforces the idea that there really is a trust fund from which we will be drawing to pay the elderly for the quarter-century between the years 2018 and 2042. There is not. It is just paper.
Now, I'm quite a fan of Krauthammer's, and this is a fair point, but I think he overstates it a little.
Keep in mind that the group least likely to look forward -- young people -- is already the group most likely to support the President's proposal. He doesn't have overwhelming support in any age group, as far as I've seen, but in most polls he has a slight edge with the younger age groups, so it's only logical that most of his selling is aimed at older generations. He recognizes that this is one issue he cannot win with base supporters alone.
» February 18th, 2005
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