A Brief Moment of Wonkdom:

Not to get wonky (and, assuredly, the Rude Pundit is not an economist), but reader David S., a former Social Security claims rep, did send a link to the Office of the Chief Actuary of the SSA. In the Summary of the 2004 Annual Reports on Social Security and Medicare, signed by the Boards of Trustees of the programs, including Secretary of Treasury John Snow, outgoing Secretary of HHS Tommy Thompson, and Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, "Social Security could be brought into actuarial balance over the next 75 years in various ways, including an immediate increase in payroll taxes of 15 percent or an immediate reduction in benefits of 13 percent (or some combination of the two)." So if you increase FICA by 15 percent, it's all no problemo? Wouldn't this end up costing each taxpayer less than the "transitional" costs of "personal savings accounts"? And is the above recommendation even on the table?



Now, back to the rudeness . . .