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Article Artículo

Economic Growth

Government

Go After Wall Street, Not the Teachers
You have to give Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and his wealthy patrons credit. Here we have a situation where Wall Street fat cats wrecked the economy — people like Richard Fuld, Robert Rubin, and Angelo Mozilo — and they've somehow managed to blame schoolteachers and the highway patrol.

Now we have a situation where the villains are sitting on their hundreds of millions of dollars, while tough guys like Gov. Walker are beating up school teachers to take away their $2,000-a-month pension. And, the best part of the story is the Walkers are being heralded as statesmen for their efforts.

This situation speaks to the incredible corruption of U.S. politics. There have been numerous studies done by serious economists that all show the same thing, public-sector employees are not paid on average more than their private-sector counterparts.

Dean Baker / February 18, 2011

Article Artículo

Health and Social Programs

Letter to Senator Mark Warner on Social Security Comments
The Honorable Mark Warner
459A Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator Warner:

During an interview on NPR's Morning Edition today you stated that the retirement age for Social Security was set at 65 by President Roosevelt when the average life expectancy was 64 and that now we are living much longer. The implication of this comment was that the retirement age must be raised to better reflect life expectancy.

As can be seen from the Social Security Trustees’ Report, the normal retirement age for Social Security has already been raised to 66 and is already scheduled to rise to 67. Raising the retirement age further would amount to a cut in benefits with each successive increase in the retirement age. If the normal age of retirement is phased in to reach 70 by 2036, it would result in a 4.0 percent reduction in benefits for workers between the ages of 50-54 in 2007 and a 10 percent reduction for workers between the ages of 40-44 in 2007.

Dean Baker / February 17, 2011

Article Artículo

Economic Growth

Government

Is New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie Presidential Material?

POLITICO's blog, The Arena, recently asked: In a Wednesday afternoon speech at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington D.C., New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie called for raising the retirement age on Social Security. His willingness to tackle politically delicate entitlement programs follows his approach in New Jersey of taking on teachers’ unions and other groups.

Can Christie portray himself as a teller of difficult truths and become a credible White House candidate in 2012 or 2016? Or will his YouTube-friendly shtick soon wear thin and render him largely irrelevant in Democratic-leaning New Jersey?

The fact that Gov. Christie is willing to do whatever Wall Street and the elite media tell him does not suggest that he has strong leadership qualities. If he had strong leadership qualities, he might take a moment to look at the Social Security trustees report himself, or at least talk to someone who had.

He would discover that the program can pay 100 percent of all scheduled benefits through the year 2037 and nearly 80 percent of scheduled benefits after this date for the indefinite future. After 2037 retirees would always get a larger benefit than current retirees even if Congress never does anything.

Dean Baker / February 16, 2011