The Chicago Tribune has fallen for the narrative that there's something terribly wrong with Social Security disability because the number drawing benefits is going up, up, up, even though they acknowledge that the number drawing benefits is actually going down. They want something done even though they have no idea what but we have to do something, anything to get these people back to work! It's this sort of confused thinking that brought us all the worthless, confusing work incentives in the Social Security Act.
Meanwhile Alexandra Petri has an amusing op ed piece in the Washington Post that touches ever so briefly on Social Security:
We need more Real Men in office.
When I see Donald Trump shoving that man out of the way at the NATO summit, my heart turns into an eagle and flaps its magnificent wings. When I see him crushing a Frenchman’s hand, I want to cry a tiny, manly tear of pure testosterone....
I want a president who will lock horns with foreign leaders for hours before shoving them off a cliff. I want a president who can transform into an aircraft carrier and emit jets of steam. I want a president with an enormous neck-frill which expands when he is threatened as he emits a LOW HISS of rage. ...
I want to smash the Social Security disability administration like a bug. I want to punch a rhinoceros and keep punching it until it goes EXTINCT! Dumb freeloader living on government support! Get out of the zoo and take back your own habitat. I also want to defund the EPA. If the environment wants to stick around, it needs to learn to PROTECT ITSELF. ...
Good Grief!!!
ReplyDeleteYou must not have read the Tribune piece very carefully, because it comments that payments are barely above poverty levels and suggests a system where working results in an incremental decrease in benefits rather than loss of all benefits. The article raises criticisms, but is hardly the "hit piece" you claim.
ReplyDelete@ Jeremy The Tribune piece could have been worse and did make a few points that made sense. However, the Tribune editorial staff also got suckered in by a false narrative promoted by groups whose aim is not to improve Social Security, but rather to cut or eliminate it. That suggests poor to mediocre research. A thorough look into the issues would have prevented the Tribune from inadvertently spreading information likely to mislead its readers. If it was a high school opinion piece I would give it a C-.
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