Wednesday, February 23, 2005
Beware the Scary Strawman Slappers
I was amazed by the amount of money the Social Security Ad Warriors were planning to spend and thought it useful to name some of the bigger warriors. But I failed to give equal prominence to the editorial Strawman Slappers, who can use their newspaper pulpits to participate in an Ad War without the costs of Ads ( and often without declaring their partisan colors); just as they do in any other political campaign. Today's New York Times woke me up to this failing with their editorial : Some Inheritance . This is a great example of how to construct a strawman and then slap it shapeless to scare people away from the truth. Half way through the chatter, they admit that what would happen under the President's plan is unclear ( that is, they don't know), but that doesn't stop them from making up the scariest possible outcomes and whining about them - regardless of their liklihood or even their clear unreality. There are too many scare fantasies presented to deal with here. So let's deal with two big ones.
First,the 'annuities won't go to your heirs once started' scare - well, Maybe. Depends on how they are set up. The 2 main models are the TSP and TIAA-CREF plans which allow annuities to be paid out over the lifetime of a single annuitant, or over the life of both of 2 joint annuitants (husband and wife) ; in either case, they can be be set up to provide a continuing payout to heirs if you die within 10-20 years of starting the annuity. These different payout options provide different amounts of monthly payments . Options are personal choices; existing plans have these; so why assume there will be no choices in the President's plan when he is emphasizing "choice"?
Second, the 'if you die before retirement, MAYBE, the government won't pay anything Because of the Big Debt to create personal accounts' scare - Wow! A double Fantasy Scare! There are 2 fallacies here - one about a phoney debt and one about a government grab of your account. They admit that all responsible source deny that "grab" scenario; so why raise it except to offer a scary strawman fantasy for their side's Ad Warriors to cite as coming from a "respectable" news source?? As for the huge "debt" to create personal accounts; it's a fantasy too. There is no debt created by these accounts, that individuals are expected to 'pay back'. Quite the opposite! Since the accounts represent real future savings to pay for their owner's retirement, they reduce the future traditional SS obligation (debt). Of course, if you put some of your FICA taxes into a personal account, you also forego some of the traditional SS benefit in order to get a larger combined benefit upon retirement; but that is your personal choice. Beware of Strawman Slappers trying to scare you out of your choices!
First,the 'annuities won't go to your heirs once started' scare - well, Maybe. Depends on how they are set up. The 2 main models are the TSP and TIAA-CREF plans which allow annuities to be paid out over the lifetime of a single annuitant, or over the life of both of 2 joint annuitants (husband and wife) ; in either case, they can be be set up to provide a continuing payout to heirs if you die within 10-20 years of starting the annuity. These different payout options provide different amounts of monthly payments . Options are personal choices; existing plans have these; so why assume there will be no choices in the President's plan when he is emphasizing "choice"?
Second, the 'if you die before retirement, MAYBE, the government won't pay anything Because of the Big Debt to create personal accounts' scare - Wow! A double Fantasy Scare! There are 2 fallacies here - one about a phoney debt and one about a government grab of your account. They admit that all responsible source deny that "grab" scenario; so why raise it except to offer a scary strawman fantasy for their side's Ad Warriors to cite as coming from a "respectable" news source?? As for the huge "debt" to create personal accounts; it's a fantasy too. There is no debt created by these accounts, that individuals are expected to 'pay back'. Quite the opposite! Since the accounts represent real future savings to pay for their owner's retirement, they reduce the future traditional SS obligation (debt). Of course, if you put some of your FICA taxes into a personal account, you also forego some of the traditional SS benefit in order to get a larger combined benefit upon retirement; but that is your personal choice. Beware of Strawman Slappers trying to scare you out of your choices!
