The hysteria that never dies

Paul Krugman on social security fanatics:

A while back Jon Chait wrote a great piece about the peculiar insistence of many people in DC that Social Security is a looming crisis, despite the fact that the numbers say it ain’t so. I can’t find a link to the original, but there’s a good summary here. The key graf:

Ten or 20 years ago, you could plausibly deem Social Security’s finances among the most pressing national problems. Those who were willing to take on the problem were admired for their farsightedness, bipartisanship, and seriousness of purpose. Social Security’s place on our list of national problems has long since been overtaken, but, among Washington establishment types who remember those days, the issue retains its totemic significance. Entitlement hysteria has become less a response to a crisis than an expression of statesmanship.

And to prove their seriousness, people are ready to repeat any number they’ve heard about Social Security’s problems — or, worse yet, a number they think they’ve heard, which isn’t remotely correct.

George Bush launched his political career campaigning upon the vow to "fix" social security. He said, in 1978, that social security would be bankrupt by 2000. He also said we'd find weapons of mass destruction... uh oh. I'm not even going to go down that road again.