Wrap Up

Here are a few articles from recent reading which you might find interesting

• The 7 Percent Delusion (Daniel Gross, Slate) - I find Daniel Gross's pieces quite interesting since he tries to put numbers to a lot of the Discussions of the Day. In this case, he compares results you can expect from stocks versus bonds. Just a little more information about why you should be sceptical about Social Security & private account projections. He certainly has liberal leanings but I appreciate the numbers based approach he takes. That being said, just remember that statistics can always be worked to make your argument look good ;)


• Many Uphappy Returns (Paul Krugman, NY Times) - Gross refers to this Krugman op-ed from February. When I originally read it back then I meant to post a blog about it but didn't have time to really comment on it. Anyways, here's the time to read this short op-ed. Again, when it comes to numbers you can only be more sceptical about the plans for privatization. Let's be frank and say that the real debate is about the philosophical underpinnings of Social Security and not the financial viability. Some politicians are finally being honest about that so that's good. I don't mind a debate on the philosophical reasons for and against SS. In fact, I welcome honest debate on that. If you're going to talk financials, the program in real trouble is Medicare, not SS. So let's move on


• What Bush Got Right (Fareed Zakaria, Newsweek Online) - Good piece. Zakaria mentions that Bush needs to get the "small things right". On the second page, he goes on to detail the small things. I wouldn't say that they're exactly "small" things, but this one line from his piece summarizes it: "Every country, culture and people yearns for freedom. But building real, sustainable democracy with rights and protections is complex." I honestly hope Bush gets this right. No matter how dishonest I believe his policies, politics, and methods are, I sincerely hope this ends up right. Make sure you read onto the second page of this piece as I believe the real meat is in the latter half.

That's it for now. Happy reading.