Health Care BS

Paul Hsieh, in his latest column for Pajamas Media, provides the perfect metaphor for that Social Security Trust Fund we keep hearing about from people inside the Beltway: 

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.’

Funny? Well, sort of. That’s exactly how the fictional trust fund works. OK, you say, let’s reform the system. Good idea. Hsieh outlines the only reform that will work:

Given the economic and moral bankruptcy of Social Security, the proper question is not how to “reform� it, but rather how to privatize and eventually eliminate it. Eliminating Social Security will not be easy, but it must be done if this country is to survive economically.

Only one problem: Every time anyone in a position of real responsibility even hints at this, a propaganda campaign is initiated by the Democrats in which the reformer is vilified.

Remember how President Bush was demonized? The Democrats and their allies, like the grifters of the AARP, demagogued the issue shamelessly. The same fate awaits anyone who tries to reform Social Security.

And yet it must be done. Read the rest of Dr, Hsieh’s column here.