Insecurity

I haven't commented on the whole Social Security flap, mostly because I'm not a trained economist and haven't the time or inclination to try to figure out all the subtleties of the debate. However, this same lack of knowledge hasn't precluded a host of similarly ill-informed politicians from pontificating on the same subject, so I will at least offer two pedantic observations.

First, for as long as I can recall, going back to when I was in high school (the mid 1500s), people have been crowing about how Social Security would "run out." In short, this is hardly a new political football being punted about. So it's a little baffling to me why Democrats are suddenly pulling a "Huh? What Social Security problem?" just because their political rival has raised it as a front-burner issue. It doesn't take more than a few googling minutes to find that the Democratic presidential predecessor mentioned the Social Security problem a multitude of times. So fellows, cut the shit. If you want to argue about the relative merits of private accounts, go for it. But stop playing dumb.

Second, what is it about Social Security that makes otherwise (seemingly) rational folks become deathly fearful of the stock market? Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid warned that "we could be playing Social Security roulette." He's not the first to raise the spectre of stock market collapse. I can only ask: Do these men not have investments? Do they not have IRAs, 401(k)s or other individual retirement vehicles? Why do they have such little fear of the stock market regarding their own investments? I don't know, maybe people like Reid have been stuffing their money in their mattresses.

UPDATE: (via Instapundit): Harry Reid appears to have changed his mind since 1999:

Last night, Senate minority leader Harry Reid likened the president’s proposal to allow Americans to divert a portion of payroll taxes into personal security investment accounts to "gambling." But in 1999, the Nevada Democrat proposed something very similar on our own "FOX News Sunday" saying, "Most of us have no problem with taking a small amount of the Social Security proceeds and putting it into the private sector."