From Michael Hiltzig writing in the Los Angeles Times:
The career of Garrison Keillor, the folksy host who revived the American tradition of gathering every week in front of the radio, appears to be in something of an eclipse. ...
An allegation of “inappropriate behavior” with a female assistant spurred Minnesota Public Radio, his broadcast home for more than four decades, to sever its ties with Keillor. ...
So it’s conceivable that a recent column posted on his website in which he equates the Social Security Administration with the Nazi Schutzstaffel — that is, the SS — represents nothing more than his attempt to grasp at the public attention that has been slipping away. Even in those terms, however, it’s over-the-top and repugnant.
Describing his travails getting caught in Social Security phone message hell when he tried to obtain a replacement Medicare card, Keillor wrote of “Social Security, whose initials are the same as Hitler’s Schutzstaffel, which is no mere coincidence.” ...
Social Security Administration has been systematically underfunded for years, leading inexorably to a decline in customer service. ...
President Biden is calling for a 10% increase in the program’s budget, but that’s not nearly enough to bring customer service up to where it should be — indeed, where it was more than a decade ago. ...
OK Boomer. Or you could actually register for a medicare.gov account and print out a valid Medicare card within 5 minutes. But then you wouldn't have anything to complain about would you.
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ReplyDeleteI don't think it's old age I'm a boomer too but I would not write such a thing.
Nazi comprisons and analogies should always be avoided.
I've noticed lots of organizations, both public and private, are using the Pandemic as a catch-all excuse for terrible customer service.
ReplyDeleteComparing the SSA to the Nazi SS is outrageous and offensive. Lately, however, the similarities between the SSA and the Keystone Cops have become truly striking.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's just me but I simply cannot muster any sympathy for folks with that much money having problems that are easily mitigated with some of all that money. Hire someone to do it for you if it's that hard, Garrison, you're surely worth a few if not tens of millions, sheesh.
ReplyDeleteThis radio host needs to have his mic taken away. Comparing the SSA to Nazis? What in the actual F.
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ReplyDelete9:13 Garrison Keillor was born before the first year of the baby boom generation. He is not a boomer.