Must Be Something In The Air Or Water

Joe Klein of Time picks up on Matt Bai's theme that only wild left-wing Democrats could oppose a "few minor fixes" to Social Security, such as raising the retirement age to 70 and reducing benefits. After all, "a move toward federal fiscal responsibility might encourage the U.S. business community to start investing the $1.8 trillion in cash it is hoarding and thereby create some jobs."

The Washington punditocracy is nuts. The idea that deciding to reduce Social Security benefits decades from now could provide an economic stimulus today is preposterous on its face. The changes that Klein favors are not "minor" in any sense. What is wrong with these people?

New Regs On Step-Children

From today's Federal Register:

We are revising our regulations to reflect changes made in the Contract with America Advancement Act of 1996 (CAAA) to the entitlement and termination requirements for Social Security child's benefits to stepchildren. Under the CAAA, we consider a stepchild as dependent on a stepparent to receive child's benefits based on the stepparent's earnings only if the stepchild receives at least one-half support from the stepparent. Also, we terminate a stepchild's benefits that are based on the stepparent's earnings if the stepchild's parent or adoptive parent and the stepparent divorce, unless the stepparent adopted the stepchild and the stepchild can qualify for benefits as the stepparent's adopted child.

Why Raising The Retirement Age Isn't Such A Good Idea

From Hard Work? Patterns in Physically Demanding Labor Among Older Workers by Hye Jin Rho:

Employment in physically demanding jobs or in jobs with difficult working conditions is a major cause of early labor-market exit among older workers. Raising the retirement age is particularly concerning for near-retirement age workers with such jobs. Despite the fact that the retirement age increase is supposed to encourage workers to work longer, many workers would be physically unable to extend work lives in their jobs, and they would most likely be left with no choice but to receive reduced benefits.

An analysis of the Current Population Survey (CPS) and Occupational Information Network (O*NET) shows that in 2009 6.5 million workers age 58 and older (about 35 percent) had physically demanding jobs, while 5.0 million workers age 58 and older (about 27 percent) had jobs with difficult working conditions. More than 8.5 million workers age 58 and older (about 45 percent) were employed in difficult jobs (physically demanding jobs or jobs with difficult working conditions).

Physically demanding jobs include general physical activities, handling and moving objects, spending significant time standing, or having any highly physically demanding work. Highly physically demanding jobs involve such elements as dynamic or trunk strength, or kneeling or crouching. Difficult working conditions include cramped workspace, labor outdoors, or exposure to abnormal temperatures, contaminants, hazardous equipment, or distracting or uncomfortable noise.

It is easy to think that raising the retirement age to 69 or 70 would be no problem -- if you work in an office and seldom have any significant interaction with people who truly labor for a living. Unfortunately, the people making decisions about this work in offices and seldom have significant interaction with people who truly labor for a living.

New Edition Of Social Security Disability Practice

The 2010 edition of my book, Social Security Disability Practice, has been released. It is available for sale from the publisher, West, which is now part of Thomson Reuters. I just received my author copies this afternoon so you know the book is hot off the presses.

OIDAP Agenda

Social Security's Occupational Information Development Advisory Panel (OIDAP) is holding a meeting in Boston next week. Below is the "Public Agenda" for the meeting.

A couple of reports are mentioned in the agenda. I hope these reports will be released to the public in the near future but I fear they will not. Rapid dissemination of information that OIDAP receives or develops is essential for the panel's credibility but that is not the way OIDAP has operated. They seem to have a conspiratorial bent. I would be suspicious of OIDAP under any circumstances. The way they have operated has made me very suspicious.

WEDNESDAY—September 1, 2010

8:30 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. Call to Order

Overview of Today’s Agenda

v Terrace, Lower Level

Mary Barros-Bailey, Ph.D., Chair

Opening Statement

Richard Balkus, Associate Commissioner

Office of Program Development and Research

Social Security Administration

8:45 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Occupational Information Development Project Report

Sylvia E. Karman, Director, OID Project & OIDAP Member

9:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Evaluation of 2008 Occupations Held by SSDI and SSI Disability Claimants

Renee Ferguson, Statistician

Office of Program Research

Office of Program Development and Research

9:30 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. Briefing on the Occupational/Medical-Vocational Study

Deborah Harkin, Social Insurance Specialist

Social Security Administration

10:15 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. BREAK

10:30 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. Status on the Development of the OIS—Content Model

Shirleen Roth, Social Insurance Specialist

Social Security Administration

11:45 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. LUNCH ON YOU OWN

WEDNESDAY—September 1, 2010 (continued)

1:00 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. OIDAP Comment Process

Mary Barros-Bailey, Ph.D., Chair

v Terrace, Lower Level

1:15 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Public Comment

2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Update on User Needs Report on Comments on the OIDAP Recommendations

Shanan Gwaltney Gibson, Ph.D., Member, User Needs & Relations Subcommittee

3:00 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. BREAK

3:15 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. Subcommittee Report—Research Subcommittee

Mark Wilson, Ph.D., Subcommittee Chair

3:45 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Panel Discussion and Deliberation

Mary Barros-Bailey, Ph.D., Chair

5:00 p.m. ADJOURN

THURSDAY —September 2, 2010

8:30 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. Call to Order

Overview of Today’s Agenda

v Terrace, Lower Level

Mary Barros-Bailey, Ph.D., Chair

8:45 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. Subcommittee Report—User Needs

Robert Fraser, Ph.D., Member, User Needs & Relations Subcommittee

9:15 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. Status: Job Analysts Ad Hoc Group

Deborah Lechner, Ad Hoc Chair

9:45 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. BREAK

10:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Public Comment

10:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Administrative Meeting

Mary Barros-Bailey, Ph.D., Chair

11:00 a.m. ADJOURN

More Signs Of The Deep Penetration Of Republican Myths About Social Security

From Firedoglake:

Matt Bai and the editors of the New York Times have printed an article ostensibly about Democratic Congressman Earl Blumenauer and his willingness to cut wasteful spending to reduce the deficit — as though eliminating unhelpful or harmful programs were an unheard of position for Democrats ...

With no apparent oversight from the Times’ editors, Bai turns the “news analysis” article into a Republican talking point attacking Social Security and the US Government’s credit worthiness ...

Here is how Matt Bai, who apparently gets his understanding of how Social Security works from Alan Simpson, describes how the Trust Fund works:

The liberal groups that are already speaking out against the debt panel’s unfinished work have chosen to start with Social Security because it is likely to be at the center of any budget compromise. “If there’s a place where it looks like Republicans and Democrats can reach agreement, we’re afraid it’s Social Security,” says Frank Clemente, the director of Strengthen Social Security. (In other words, the two parties might actually work together on something. They must be stopped!)

The coalition bases its case on the idea that Social Security is actually in fine fiscal shape, since it has amassed a pile of Treasury Bills — often referred to as i.o.u.’s — in a dedicated trust fund. This is true enough, except that the only way for the government to actually make good on these i.o.u.’s is to issue mountains of new debt or to take the money from elsewhere in the federal budget, or perhaps impose significant tax increases — none of which seem like especially practical options for the long term. So this is sort of like saying that you’re rich because your friend has promised to give you 10 million bucks just as soon as he wins the lottery.

Contracting Intrigue

From Network World:

The Social Security Administration says it will announce in September a new award for data networking services, jumpstarting a critical IT [Information Technology] project that has been delayed for more than a year following a successful -- but secretive -- legal protest of the original awards.

In June 2009, SSA awarded two data networking services contracts through the U.S. government telecommunications program known as Networx Universal. SSA chose Verizon Business as its primary data services provider and AT&T as its secondary carrier. A month later, failed bidder Qwest Government Services protested these awards to the General Accounting Office, which sustained the protest in October 2009.

For more than a year, SSA has been quiet about its WAN [Wide Area Network] plans. Now SSA says it is proceeding with its efforts to migrate its data services to the Networx program. ...

How SSA will move forward with its data networking services has prompted curiosity across the federal IT market. The General Accounting Office never released a public version of its decision to uphold the Qwest protest, so industry observers aren't sure what problems existed with the original awards. ...

Ray Bjorklund, a senior vice president with consulting firm FedSources, of McLean, Va., says he was "scratching my head why I couldn't find the full text of the GAO bid protest decision…For whatever reason, there was never a public version of the decision and…it remains under protective order." Bjorklund referred to the SSA WAN deal as an "intrigue."

SSA, meanwhile, says it needs to transition both its wide area network and toll-free voice services to the Networx contract from the predecessor program, FTS 2001, which expires in June 2011. "We are 87% complete with the transition from FTS 2001 to Networx," according to the SSA spokeswoman.

"Like A Milk Cow With 310 Million Tits"

From Ryan Grim at the Huffington Post:

Alan Simpson believes that Social Security is "like a milk cow with 310 million tits," according to an email he sent to the executive director of National Older Women's League Tuesday morning. Simpson co-chairs the deficit commission, which is considering various proposals to cut Social Security benefits.

Simpson's email, which OWL chief Ashley Carson released publicly, (PDF) was sent in response to an April blog post Carson wrote for the Huffington Post. Carson criticized Simpson for repeatedly describing his Social Security opponents as "Pink Panthers," arguing that the description had sexist connotations.

His email is peppered with exclamation points and condescension.

There could not be a better person to lead this effort to cut Social Security than Alan Simpson.

Update: The American Association of Retired Persons is not amused by Simpson's rant.

Further Update: Simpson has now apologized.

Even Further Update: Paul Krugman on Simpson's comments:

At this point, though, Obama is on the spot: he has to fire Simpson, or turn the whole thing into a combination of farce and tragedy — the farce being the nature of the co-chair, the tragedy being that Democrats are so afraid of Republicans that nothing, absolutely nothing, will get them sanctioned.

Obama did not fire him.

I have to say that I see far more farce here than tragedy. I do not want to see Simpson replaced. He should stay the public face of this effort to cut Social Security benefits.

The Updates Just Keep Coming: This is not the first time that Simpson has gone out of his way to e-mail someone who criticized his efforts to cut Social Security benefits. I am getting miffed that I have not yet received a crude, condescending e-mail from Simpson!