I'll have a lot more to say about the Republican Social Security memo (PDF), but I have to start by joining Matthew Yglesias in ridiculing this passage from a suggested speech, which might be the dumbest thing I've ever read:
Let me leave you with a question: Why should young people who will retire around the year 2035 be forced to live with a system that was invented in 1935, especially when that system is in such deep trouble?
So many things have since changed then. When Social Security was created the Golden Gate Bridge didn't exist and neither did Mount Rushmore. You couldn't see the Wizard of Oz because it hadn’t been filmed and Cheerios hadn't been introduced as a breakfast cereal. Americans in 1935 couldn't imagine our world of cell phones, computers, or landing a man on the moon—and that was more than 30 years ago!
Times have changed, even if the values behind Social Security haven't. Young people ought to have a chance to do it differently than their grandparents. So let's press our leaders for this change now, and start putting money into personal accounts as soon as possible.
No Cheerios? We must get add private accounts to Social Security immediately!
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