Paul Starr explains how the Democratic candidates got themselves into a Social Security fix:
From the beginning, Social Security has been built on an ingenious political compromise that's been the secret of its durability. Overall -- that is, considering both how it takes in revenue and how it pays out benefits -- the program has a strongly progressive effect on the distribution of income. No other social policy has been so successful in reducing poverty. But because taxable earnings are capped, the program has avoided generating a tax revolt.Since Franklin Delano Roosevelt got the program enacted, most Democratic leaders have understood that the cap was crucial for Social Security's political support and survival. Apparently, however, Biden, Obama, and Edwards don't get it.
Read the whole thing (and comment) here. --The Editors
