It was always bound to happen, and now Senator Harry Reid and Senator Charles Schumer have unveiled their version of a Social Security versus Personal Retirement Account comparison calculator. I've been contributing to discussions of the validity of the Senators' math in other forums, so I won't re-address my points here at Political CalculationsTM. I prefer to focus on my own math, and others are doing an excellent job in taking apart the cherry-picked assumptions behind the senatorial Democrats version, in some cases picking up things I had missed in my own analysis. Here is the short list of sites to pick up on my thoughts and those of others:
- Patrick Ruffini picks up many of the frayed threads I found in his official debunking of the Reid/Schumer calculator. Mitch Berg of Shot in the Dark excerpts Patrick's rebuttal, which I only mention here because I'm quoted, and that's a big thing when a big-league blogger from Minnesota notices!
- Will Franklin of Willisms offers a comprehensive look in his post Total Bull Donkey: Democrats Develop Social Security Calculator. Good overall analysis.
- The Spear Shaker of Shaking Spears has played with the Reid/Schumer calculator and provides his insights in Schumer's Fuzzy Math Calculator.
- Andrew Roth at Social Security Choice has two posts reviewing his group's initial reaction to the Reid/Schumer calculator and their followup of others' reactions, including those of the Republican National Committee, the CATO Institute and the Heritage Foundation.
In news from MSM sources, Robert Robb of the Arizona Republic notes that "a cottage industry has sprung up calculating what sort of returns personal accounts would have to generate for workers to be ahead." He continues, observing:
But these are based on reductions in traditional benefits Bush hasn't specified, compared to a current Social Security system that somehow gets miraculously fixed.
If I'm not mistaken, he is referring to the Reid/Schumer comparison calculator - I wonder if this recognition was dropped for space limitations for the print edition. In any case, you would think the effort put forth by a major political party wouldn't be described as being the product of a "cottage industry."
I'll continue updating this post as more insights are added around the blogosphere.
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