Paging Mr. Swift...

The Smirking Chimp

Paul Krugman explains why the latest push to dismantle Social Security is a scam. He's saying that if the economy grows as expected, the trust fund will last through this century, which is what I gather Bruce Webb was saying in a comment below.

Meaning that nothing needs to be done to Social Security, probably.

And then this section of the interview caught my eye:

If you really want to get scared about something that can happen between now and 2052, you should talk about Medicare and Medicaid. The entire system of private health insurance is gradually collapsing. And as the share of people getting medical insurance through their employers continues to decline, the number of people who have to rely on the government for health insurance keeps going up. At the same time, medical costs keep on rising, because doctors keep on figuring out new stuff to do -- procedures that didn't exist ten or twenty years ago.

So if Medicare and Medicaid go bellyup, the people who rely on both programs will die, and end the pressure on Social Security!

It would be nice to have a reality-based president again, wouldn't it?