It's Broke; Fix It

Two op-eds today in favor of Social Security reform. First up, John Kasich:

How do we get out of this mess? To preserve the system for the long term, we must change the way first-time benefits are calculated. Growth in initial benefits should be linked to the consumer price index – not to wage growth.

A switch to price-indexing from wage-indexing would accomplish two things. It would eliminate the need for future payroll tax increases, and it would still allow initial benefits to rise over time, albeit at a slower rate. Instead of rising eighteenfold over the next 75 years, benefits would likely increase by a factor of eight.

Sensible, perhaps – but any kind of “cut” in benefits is almost certainly doomed to failure. You and I know that an eightfold increase is hardly a cut, but that’s not how it would play in Washington and the MSM.

Next up, Chile’s Jos