The Wall Street Journal has apparently abandoned any separation between its news and editorial section. In a news article, the paper referred to "the frightening long-term problems America was going to face anyway to pay for Social Security and Medicare in coming decades." While the claim that Social Security and Medicare are unaffordable are consistent with the WSJ's editorial position, it is not consistent with the evidence. The Congressional Budget Office reports that Social Security will be fully solvent for the next 40 years with no changes whatsoever. Even after the program is first projected to run a shortfall in 2049 it will always be able to pay a higher benefit than current retirees receive. Medicare is projected to face greater budget problems, but only because projections assume that the U.S. health care system becomes ever more uncompetitive. If U.S. health care costs were comparable to those in countries where people enjoy longer life expectancies, the projections show that the government would enjoy enormous surpluses. While the article's assertions about SS and Medicare are not accurate, they are consistent with the WSJ editorial position, which calls for cuts in these programs and also supports protectionist measures to sustain the high profits/incomes of insurance companies, drug companies and highly paid medical specialists in the United States.
--Dean Baker
