You probably didn't know that Mitt Romney was ill and in need of saving, but of course neither is Social Security, according to the projections from the Congressional Budget Office. But that doesn't stop the Washington Post from talking about "saving federal health and retirement programs from insolvency." The projections show that Social Security will be fully solvent through 2046, with no changes whatsoever. That probably beats Governor Romney's life expectancy at this point. So if the Post is worried about Social Security's insolvency, I guess we all should be worried about Mr. Romney's health. The article is about Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's aspirations and accomplishments in his position. In addition to fueling phony fears on Social Security the article also brings back "free trade" and includes warnings of "rising protectionist sentiment." I don't know of any economic theory that shows that protection for items like clothes and cars is more harmful to the economy than the protection that we have for items like physicians' services and lawyers' services, so it's a bit hard to see why the bulk of the public should be concerned if a few other workers are able to secure some of the protection enjoyed by the most highly paid workers. It would have been useful to point out to readers that Mr. Paulson is apparently quite concerned that some less educated workers might get protection for their jobs, but completely unconcerned about the economic damage caused by the protectionist barriers that keep wages up for highly educated professionals.
--Dean Baker
