SOCIAL SECURITY SHELL GAME

The new Paul Krugman essay courtesy of Eschaton:

And the reason Social Security is in fairly good shape is that during the 1980's the Greenspan commission persuaded Congress to increase the payroll tax, which supports the program.

The payroll tax is regressive: it falls much more heavily on middle- and lower-income families than it does on the rich. In fact, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates, families near the middle of the income distribution pay almost twice as much in payroll taxes as in income taxes. Yet people were willing to accept a regressive tax increase to sustain Social Security.

Now the joke's on them. Mr. Greenspan pushed through an increase in taxes on working Americans, generating a Social Security surplus. Then he used that surplus to argue for tax cuts that deliver very little relief to most people, but are worth a lot to those making more than $300,000 a year. And now that those tax cuts have contributed to a soaring deficit, he wants to cut Social Security benefits.

Government of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich. So much for Greenspan the oracle: he's clearly full of poo. The mighty Wizard of Oz stands revealed as the nerdy little snake oil salesman that he actually is--"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain. I am the great Oz!"

Yeah, Alan, whatever.

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