it seems at least slightly ironic that Caplan points to Medicaid as proof that the American people will pay for poor-only programs, when the right has made enormous efforts over decades to cut or eliminate many poor-focused programs exactly like Medicaid, and at time when a rampant right is indeed doing exactly that.
It also requires a gimmick where the states decide if they want more Medicaid but the Feds pay for 90% of it, so politicians run on a policy of “make other people pay for our free stuff”.
Social Security System is challenged as you well know and any number of fixes have been suggested. I have my own which as an over 66 year old i would willing give up my SS, but not for free; it would require allowing my IRA account to be freely( no tax) converted to the equivalent of a Roth IRA in return for no future gov payments to me of SS.
I have run this by several who find it meritorious, but of course like many things question its feasibility.
Prof Caplan, if interested in seeing it in a bit more detail( some big picture calculations) please send me your email.
FDR insisted that social security NOT be means tested because he understood his own class so well. He knew that if they had to pay into it, they would insist that they get what they were entitled to. That trait among others is how they got rich.
That turned out to be sagacuous, as Cohen said. I saw the effect personally. I once worked for a boss who had kept on running his company well past retirement age. Even though he was a multimillionaire when that meant something, he would watch for his social security payment like a hawk and get on the phone if it was even a day late.
it seems at least slightly ironic that Caplan points to Medicaid as proof that the American people will pay for poor-only programs, when the right has made enormous efforts over decades to cut or eliminate many poor-focused programs exactly like Medicaid, and at time when a rampant right is indeed doing exactly that.
It also requires a gimmick where the states decide if they want more Medicaid but the Feds pay for 90% of it, so politicians run on a policy of “make other people pay for our free stuff”.
Social Security System is challenged as you well know and any number of fixes have been suggested. I have my own which as an over 66 year old i would willing give up my SS, but not for free; it would require allowing my IRA account to be freely( no tax) converted to the equivalent of a Roth IRA in return for no future gov payments to me of SS.
I have run this by several who find it meritorious, but of course like many things question its feasibility.
Prof Caplan, if interested in seeing it in a bit more detail( some big picture calculations) please send me your email.
"at Cohen fleshes out his story"
At Cohen WHAT? At LEAST? At LAST?
We'll never know. Shitty editing never tells.
FDR insisted that social security NOT be means tested because he understood his own class so well. He knew that if they had to pay into it, they would insist that they get what they were entitled to. That trait among others is how they got rich.
That turned out to be sagacuous, as Cohen said. I saw the effect personally. I once worked for a boss who had kept on running his company well past retirement age. Even though he was a multimillionaire when that meant something, he would watch for his social security payment like a hawk and get on the phone if it was even a day late.