Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Hsieh PJM OpEd: The Homer Simpson Approach to Social Security

The April 12, 2011 edition of PajamasMedia published my latest OpEd, "The Homer Simpson Approach to Social Security".

My theme is that the economic and moral bankruptcy of Social Security is becoming increasingly obvious to all. And that the proper question is not how to "reform" it, but rather how to phase out and eventually eliminate Social Security.

Here is the opening:
In a classic episode of The Simpsons, a hungry Homer Simpson runs out of donuts and breaks into his emergency stash. But when he opens the box, it's empty except for a note that reads: "Dear Homer, IOU one emergency donut. Signed, Homer." Homer curses his earlier self: "Bastard! He's always one step ahead."

It's easy to laugh at Homer Simpson's folly, but America is doing the same thing with Social Security financing, and the end result won't be amusing...
(Read the full text of "The Homer Simpson Approach to Social Security".)

I'd also like to thank Tony Donadio and Milton Wolf for their earlier blog posts that helped inspire this piece. In particular, I recommend reading Tony's piece in its entirety:
Tony Donadio, "On Eliminating Social Security"

Milton Wolf, "The United States of Greece: The Welfare State's Death Spiral"