Social Security Basics

An interesting article by economist Dean Baker, in response to Alan Simpson's intemperate and ill-informed (read "stupid and inflammatory") comments about Social Security.

Once again, class: there is no Social Security crisis. The only "crisis" is the Grover Norquist faction of the right wing that wants to dismantle it so that retirement savings will become to sole province of their buddies on Wall Street -- and we've seen how that works out. Oh, they also want to eliminate Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment insurance, veterans' benefits, roads, bridges, public transportation, and probably the U.S. Mint. You know, all those pesky government intrusions into daily life.

Anyway, read Baker's piece -- it's good basic information that you need to have.