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Annette Laing's avatar

Don, bravo. Thank you for rightly pointing out the argument in that article is unreasonable. I wouldn't put much stock in the authors of that piece being "highly educated" . One is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, rightly (no pun intended) identified in Wikipedia as "the most prominent think tank associated with American neoconservatism, in both the domestic and international policy arenas." In. other words, an economist who favors social security would be extremely unlikely to be hired by the AEI, and by "unlikely", I mean "not a snowball's chance in hell" This is why thinktanks are not a suitable substitute for universities, where departments long have had a variety of viewpoints represented among scholars. The other is not a scholar, but a retired NYT editor who teaches writing part-time at Stanford's Business School, itself not exactly the fan base for social security.

Contrary to what the public thinks, not all scholars agree with each other, or are even scholars. Their article is best understood as part of a long-term campaign to push back on social security. It's been around less than a century, and the forces that rebelled against FDR for introducing it have repeatedly regrouped again and again to push back against it. It's a nonsense to say that the country can't afford it. This is about political. choices.

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Judy Jones's avatar

You go, Don! Your grass-roots, close-to-the-ground take on retirement and aging is right on the money. I look forward to the book. Judy

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