Confronting the Entitlement Crisis Deniers

Stephen Keen / February 23, 2009

Liberal author Robert Kuttner doesn’t believe in the entitlement crisis. His argument – reflecting conventional far left thinking on the issue – goes something like this:

1. Conservatives exaggerate the entitlement problem by using shady figures.
2. Social Security is just fine, so don’t worry about it.
3. Medicare is a problem, but only because of rising health care costs. Once the country embraces socialized medicine the costs will fall, thus solving the problem.
4. History proves this correct because the government ran up heaps of debt during World War II setting the country on the path to prosperity.

Let’s face this argument point by point. (more…)