, Columnist
Social Security Is Becoming More Generous, Not Less
We don't have to cut benefits from their current levels. We just have to stop, or at least moderate, their growth.
Beneficiaries, future and current.
Photographer: Jeffrey Greenberg/UIG via Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
Ronald Reagan once quipped that he didn’t worry about the budget deficit, because it was “big enough to take care of itself.” On that theory we should be relieved to learn that the Congressional Budget Office is projecting a deficit larger than $1 trillion in 2020.
Five eminent Democratic economists have offered one interpretation of this report, under the headline: “A debt crisis is coming. But don’t blame entitlements.” Their actual argument is a little more nuanced than that: They want a “balanced approach” to deficit reduction rather than one that relies entirely on cuts in future spending on Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.