New Reports on Social Security and Medicare

Recession drains Social Security and Medicare

Not exactly, says Robert Greenstein of the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities:

The trustees’ report on Social Security shows that the program does not face an immediate crisis and isn’t at risk of collapsing and lacking funds to pay any benefits, even in the long run, but that Congress needs to restore Social Security’s long-term solvency so it can meet its promises — and the sooner it does so, the better.

Better yet:

These budgetary pressures underscore the importance of President Obama’s proposal to allow tax cuts for Americans making over $250,000 to expire after 2010, as scheduled. If Congress does not enact that proposal, the revenue loss over the next 75 years will be almost as large as the entire Social Security shortfall over this period. Members of Congress cannot legitimately claim that the tax cuts for people at the top are affordable while the Social Security shortfall constitutes a dire fiscal threat.

Medicare isn't the problem, it's health care costs:

The fundamental cause of Medicare’s financing problems is the rapid rise of health care costs throughout the U.S. health care system, not the nature or structure of Medicare itself. For more than 30 years, the rate of growth in Medicare costs per beneficiary has essentially mirrored the rate of growth in health care costs systemwide, including in the private sector. Numerous health and budget experts across the political spectrum — including White House budget director Peter Orszag, former Comptroller General David Walker, and Republican health care expert Gail Wilensky — have noted that addressing Medicare’s financing problems will entail slowing health-care cost growth systemwide.

The 100 Days of FDR

Arthur Schlesinger Jr. from his 1983 op-ed:

The time had come, Roosevelt said, to ''restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of that restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit. ... These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and our fellow men.''

Perhaps our nation will be more united, more equitable and more prosperous, too, if we abandon the current program of cutting taxes for the rich and social programs for the poor and recall the proposition Roosevelt set forth in his second inaugural:

''The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.''

Going Dutch

I love this piece from this week's NY Times Magazine. Living in Spain for 6 months in 2006 opened the door to many questions about the existential differences between Europe and the United States, and how those differences translate into political feelings and public policy decisions. Here's an excerpt:

For the first few months I was haunted by a number: 52. It reverberated in my head; I felt myself a prisoner trying to escape its bars. For it represents the rate at which the income I earn, as a writer and as the director of an institute, is to be taxed. To be plain: more than half of my modest haul, I learned on arrival, was to be swallowed by the Dutch welfare state.

But to ponder relative tax rates is only to trace the surface of a deeper story. In fact, as my time abroad has coincided with the crumpling of basic elements of the American economic and social systems, and as politicians, commentators and ordinary Americans have cast about for remedies or potential new models, I have found myself not only giving the Dutch system a personal test drive but also wondering whether some form of it could be adopted by my country.

Gay rights and the Big Picture

From the NY Times:

In the words of David Mixner, a writer, gay activists are beginning to wonder, “How much longer do we give him the benefit of the doubt?” Last weekend, Richard Socarides, who advised President Bill Clinton on gay issues, published an opinion piece in The Washington Post headlined, “Where’s our fierce advocate?”

Tobias Wolff, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania who was Mr. Obama’s top campaign adviser on gay rights, said the president needed time to build political consensus. “I think he has a genuine sense,” Mr. Wolff said, “that in order to move these issues forward you need broader buy-in than you are going to get if you poke a stick in too many people’s eyes.”

I wanted to echo what Professor Wolff mentioned above. President Obama has taken a lot of flack (it comes with the job!) for being irresolute or vague in his policy positions during an already uncertain time. People are looking for a leader that takes firm stands on issues, and reassures the public with certainty in all areas. Its not that President Obama doesn't embody these qualities, but with all due respect, this just isn't his style. Unlike his predecessor, Obama is not ideologically intractable. He is a consensus builder, a pragmatist, and a firm believer in the idea that the change he wants to create is centrifugal--that is, it requires the action of everyone outside of Washington. He understands that to placate our collective fears about the economy, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, climate change, etc. requires careful consideration of all sides of the argument, not catering to special interests or partisan politics.

No doubt many people (myself included) will be frustrated in the short run with the slow pace in progressive policy making, no matter how high our approval rating for President Obama. Nonetheless, I am optimistic that President Obama's consensus building tactics and deliberate political strategies will pay long run dividends in the form of real, sustainable change. There is a time for quick, experimental policy making (FDR, and to an extent President Obama, did quite a bit of this in his first 100 days), and there is a time for careful, deliberate consensus building to usher in a new era of progressivism. I think for the most part, President Obama's style is the latter.

A Stronger Safety Net

Jacob Hacker from The American Prospect:

If ever there were a time for an alternative to the reigning orthodoxies of risk management, this is it. Now is the time to adopt a vision not of individuals managing economic uncertainties on their own with limited government help but of all of us providing the common foundation for economic prosperity and advancement through smarter and broader sharing of risk.

In an era of partisan polarization and gridlock, we have failed to update our nation's safety net to reflect the changing economic and social realities of our nation.

The Good and the Bad News about Civil Service

Gregory J. Junemann, president of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers during the testimony of John Berry, director of the Office of Personnel Management:

“Ever since President Reagan vilified government as ‘the problem,’ the civil service has borne the brunt of this slander and has been unjustly scapegoated for many of the country’s ills...However, the hostility towards government service only came to full fruition under the administration of George W. Bush. Although different agency directors used different tactics, the goal was the same: to undermine the independence of the civil service and to provide the flexibility to co-opt the federal workforce and its resources for political ends.”

On a more positive note, Max Stier, president and chief executive of the Partnership for Public Service alludes to Obama's effect on the stigma against government:

With Barack Obama’s election, many of them feel a new sense of energy in their mission of public service. “I believe that we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to revitalize our federal government,” Stier said.

I hope to expound on this topic in the days and months to come. For me personally, my interest in politics and better policymaking has as much to do with George W. Bush as it does with Barack Obama. The politics and policies of the last 8 years--as atrocious as they were--have only galvanized my desire for better politics and policies. And the emergence of one Barack Hussein Obama during that time has further inspired me to pursue public policy as a vocation. The current administration's first 100 days alone have set a new tone with effective, public-minded policy, and I hope the next 100 days (and beyond) will be as exciting as the first.

1.6 Million New Jobs during Obama's First 100 Days

From GovCentral:

The $819 billion Recovery Act has been estimated to create or save more than 3 million jobs by the end of next year...According to Recovery.gov, the funds will be allocated to infrastructure, healthcare, education and training, and energy. Among the first to receive funds will be shovel-ready projects, or those projects that are ready or nearly ready to be started...According to the total tally of StimulusWatch.org, there are 1,604,371 jobs lined up for the next year.

Here's a list of Stimulus projects in my home of North Carolina. I am most excited about the North Corridor light rail line additions from downtown Charlotte up to southern Iredell where I live now. Charlotte is one of the fastest growing cities in the US and keeping up with demands for improved infrastructure has been a challenge for city planners. A light rail network will be a huge step for bringing the city together, creating jobs, reducing congestion on highways and roads, and reducing pollution from cars.