Krugman on Social Security Circa 1996: 'The Ponzi Game Will Soon Be Over'
As NewsBusters reported Tuesday, liberal media outlets and their members have been talking about Social Security being a Ponzi scheme since at least 1967.
Add New York Times columnist Paul Krugman to the list of detractors as demonstrated by something he wrote for the December 1996/January 1997 issue of Boston Review:
Social Security is structured from the point of view of the recipients as if it were an ordinary retirement plan: what you get out depends on what you put in. So it does not look like a redistributionist scheme. In practice it has turned out to be strongly redistributionist, but only because of its Ponzi game aspect, in which each generation takes more out than it put in. Well, the Ponzi game will soon be over, thanks to changing demographics, so that the typical recipient henceforth will get only about as much as he or she put in (and today's young may well get less than they put in).
This was in stark contrast to what Krugman wrote at the Times in November 2007 partially in response to Chris Matthews and the late Tim Russert having the nerve to discuss the Ponziesque nature of Social Security on live television:
Consider, for example, this exchange about Social Security between Chris Matthews of MSNBC and Tim Russert of NBC, on a recent edition of Mr. Matthews’s program “Hardball.”
Mr. Russert: “Everyone knows Social Security, as it’s constructed, is not going to be in the same place it’s going to be for the next generation, Democrats, Republicans, liberals, conservatives.”
Mr. Matthews: “It’s a bad Ponzi scheme, at this point.”
Mr. Russert: “Yes.”
But the “everyone” who knows that Social Security is doomed doesn’t include anyone who actually understands the numbers. In fact, the whole Beltway obsession with the fiscal burden of an aging population is misguided.
So in 1996/1997, Krugman was comfortable discussing Social Security as a "Ponzi game."
Ten years later, such talk made him feel a tad squeamish.
It seems the closer Social Security is to going bankrupt and therefore subject to meaningful reform the more uncomfortable he is discussing its shortcomings.
Far more importantly, it's for decades been acceptable for liberal media members to delve into the financial deficiencies of our nation's retirement plan.
It's only verboten when conservatives do it, especially if they're running for president.
(H/T Zero Hedge via NB's Aubrey Vaughan)
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Comments
If only the Nobel dorks vetted glugman.
Submitted by upcountrywater on Wed, 09/14/2011 - 1:25am.
Bernie Madoff may of thought other wise.
You Didn't Build That.
But they did!
Submitted by Caringwhiteguy on Wed, 09/14/2011 - 1:31am.
But they did!
Nobel? Vetting??!
Submitted by ThisnThat on Wed, 09/14/2011 - 6:33am.
I don't think the Nobel Peace Prize committee has a brain.
__________
“Didn't win the Medal of Honor? Didn't even serve? Then lie about it. We'll support you." — 9th Circuit Court
I believe they have a brain
Submitted by HockeyKid on Wed, 09/14/2011 - 6:36am.
It's just that they've parceled it out between the committee members.
"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me
Bernie's clients were all
Submitted by jkwtrading on Wed, 09/14/2011 - 11:37am.
Bernie's clients were all elitist people.. Once all the writing is on the wall, we will see the entire democrat party as a ponzi scheme.
Evidently Krudman was a
Submitted by killa37 on Wed, 09/14/2011 - 1:37am.
Evidently Krudman was a little more lucid and coherent back then than he is now........
As you age memory begins to
Submitted by Granite on Wed, 09/14/2011 - 10:03am.
As you age memory begins to dim.......
"Klugman" is the epitome of...
Submitted by Wildcatter1980 on Wed, 09/14/2011 - 11:15am.
..."Me" Generation. That is, he thinks everything is about him and nobody else and everyone should just hang on his every word.
NOT!
--
If you want to know what liberal secular progressives are really doing, just listen to what they are accusing others of.
Recommended reading: Liberal Fascism by Jonah Goldberg
I give up, NS.
Submitted by Gary Hall on Wed, 09/14/2011 - 2:20am.
I was looking all over the place today, including Zero Hedge, for evidence that the late Senator Patrick Moynihan, D., had used the "Ponzi" label, but all I found was, "thievery." Oh vell.
(;~/ gary
What Nobel prize winner will
Submitted by johnsonl on Wed, 09/14/2011 - 6:28am.
step up next and denigrate the award?
Old, old concept
Submitted by HockeyKid on Wed, 09/14/2011 - 6:51am.
The earliest cite I've found with a casual Google search was an AP story from 1985 that quoted economist Paul A. Samuelson, writing in 1967, referring to Social Security as "the greatest Ponzi game ever contrived".
[sarc]Wow, the MSM sure is right on top of these fast-breaking stories! [/sarc]
"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me
Samuelson
Submitted by Caringwhiteguy on Wed, 09/14/2011 - 7:16am.
Just remember that Samuelson was a Keynesian of the first order. And while I don't know this for certain, he must have been a very wealthy Keynesian indeed.
Sycophant economics instructors at colleges all around this great land made an entire generation of students buy Samuelson's famous textbook. 40 million copies sold . . . and of course Samuelson's true genius was not Keynesian analysis but to take out a few sentences here and add a few sentences there, send the text back to the publisher as a "new edition" . His legion of faculty followers would then require students to purchase the new edition. Sort of like requiring everyone to contribute to Social Security or purchase health insurance.
Thanks for the info
Submitted by stunned on Wed, 09/14/2011 - 8:06am.
I saw a Paul Samuelson quote on a site in a story about the ponzi quote which seemed so familiar but I couldn't imagine where I would have read it. I had economics in college and it was his textbook we used. Thanks for clearing that up, now if I could just find my spare car keys.
Funny how the brain dead MSM can't do a simple Lexus/Nexus search and find out the ponzi quote has been flying around in economic lexicon for 40 years. But they are soooooo brilliant.
tired of liberal lies
But they can (and likely do)
Submitted by Model850 on Wed, 09/14/2011 - 4:38pm.
I doubt that it's the media can't find these facts. Indeed it is likely they know all about them. What they count on -- hope for -- is that it is the consumers (readers, viewers, etc.) of their product who can't find the facts (or are too lazy to look).
So they know those facts are out there; but reporting those facts does not play into the "demonize Republicans" meme that is their raison d'etre, so they don't.
Slugman is a Lying Dope
Submitted by Motormouth KOS on Wed, 09/14/2011 - 7:54am.
Poor Paul Slugman.
He's a midget with a bad case of Napoleon Syndrome.
He has a phony Nobel "Prize" lodged in his colon and he can't think straight.
He is in love with President Downgrade, but he knows he can't get him away from Moosechelle.
He is a congenital liar.
The Obamination... A crisis leading to a catastrophe..(please donate to MRC)
Ponzi redistributes
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Wed, 09/14/2011 - 8:41am.
When will they talk about the obvious?
It's true, white men live considerably longer than black.
Seems like everybody should be in agreement this Ponzi scheme is also racist in its application.
Life expectancy as of 2006
Submitted by Red Jeep on Wed, 09/14/2011 - 8:54am.
Black male: 69.8 years
White male: 75.7 years
Black female: 76.5 years
White female: 80.8 years
http://www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/news/20060419/record-us-life-expectancy
→ Exactly!
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Wed, 09/14/2011 - 9:29am.
I get to collect for 10 years beyond retirement while the black man collects for just under 5.
If this were the real world, a class-action suit would be in order.
Great research, Noel
Submitted by Galvanic on Wed, 09/14/2011 - 9:14am.
The MSM and Left have gone ballistic on Perry for his analogy, but they themselves have admitted the truth for years.
The next time he debates and SS comes up, he ought to cite this quote from the Nobel Prize for Econimics winning Krugman as evidence that he's merely pointing out the truth. That ought shut the MSM up, but of course, his GOP rivals will ridicule his quoting of wing-ding Krugman. To that Perry can retort that he's merely reaching agreement with the other side.
Speaking of fake heroes...
Submitted by USMC8411 on Wed, 09/14/2011 - 2:11pm.
To use his own words of his 9/11 attack on Bush...
"Paul (K)urmudgeon has become an occasion for shame. And in its heart, the nation knows it." (K) replaced (C) for emphasis!
Related to CURMUDGEON:
Synonyms: bear, bellyacher, complainer, crab, crank, croaker, crosspatch, grouch, fusser, griper, grouser, growler, grumbler, grump, murmurer, mutterer, sourpuss, whiner or even A. Weiner...
Related Words: malcontent, sorehead; grinch, killjoy, party pooper, spoilsport; defeatist, pessimist; faultfinder, kicker, nagger, nitpicker, objector, quibbler, repiner; crock [slang], hypochondriac
Krugman
Submitted by Morganfrost on Wed, 09/14/2011 - 3:09pm.
The Wall Street Journal occasionally runs a "gotcha" piece pointing out that some recent Krugman screed makes an assertion which is flatly contradicted by something else Krugman had said before.
In truth, Krugman is actually very consistent-- he holds any opinion that will support the current political goals of the left.
Also
Submitted by KornKing on Wed, 09/14/2011 - 4:20pm.
Tends to be wrong with consistency
I Disagree on the Ponzi Label
Submitted by polijunkie100 on Wed, 09/14/2011 - 3:20pm.
I have to disagree about the characterization of the Ponzi label. It may not accurately describe what's really going on. My best description of Social Security would involve the kids' game of 'hot potato'. Whichever party is in power will defend the status quo and the one out will attack it. So, when the whole thing (eventually) comes crashing down, the party in power will take the blame. Until then, the game is to keep passing the 'potato'.
Except that Bush-43 tried to begin fixing it
Submitted by Galvanic on Wed, 09/14/2011 - 3:29pm.
He suggested a voluntary program where by workers could opt to put to put as much as 5% of the SS tax into a true investment account that the Congress could not touch. That way, if SS collapsed, retirees would at least have something.
His proposal was soundly slammed by the Democrats and more than a few Republicans.