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Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Robert Samuelson Is A Self-Righteous Fool
In an ongoing effort to define what exactly is so terrible about Robert Samuelson, fiscal policy columnist for Newsweek and the Washington Post, I present his latest "fun" column on the exploding behemoth of a entitlement crisis disaster. Mr. Samuelson now strikes a righteous, enlightened pose, and yet again fails to understand what is at issue.
St. Samuelson speaks of vitueless baby boomers whose retirement may cost more money:
First, a generational backlash is inevitable. It may not come as attacks on sunbathing retirees, but the idea that younger workers will meekly bear the huge tax increases needed to pay all boomers' promised benefits is delusional. The increases are too steep, and too many boomers—fairly wealthy and healthy—will seem undeserving.
To say that people who have worked hard all their life for their Social Security and Medicare benefits are undeserving is infuriating. What Samuelson cannot, and probably will not, ever grasp is that the vast majority of these extra costs are being generated not by babyboomer self-indulgence, not by greed, not by an aging society, but by the nation's dysfunctional health care system. This fact is not credibly disputed (See this Brookings paper for a good discussion of the issue).
Like any true saint, he recognizes his imperfections, too.
I was born in late 1945 and count myself a part of this failure. In our careless self-absorption, we are committing a political and economic crime against our children and perhaps—when they awaken to their victimization—even ourselves.
Indeed, Samuelson is very much responsible for the long-term budget problems. Occupying a position of immense power, yet oblivious to the dynamic driving the entitlement problem, Samuelson is helping to delay the implementation of systemic health care reform- the only way to resolve the long-term fiscal imbalance. Someone who understands the problem and isn't afraid to propose bold change could do the public a great service by taking Samuelson's place.
Posted by Matt Lewis
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