As we – unlike the major U.S. media – have noted in previous posts (here, here and here), an ongoing political scandal has emerged in Haiti following revelations that, contrary to statements by CEP spokesperson Richardson Dumel, only four of eight CEP mem

You have to give Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and his wealthy patrons credit. Here we have a situation where Wall Street fat cats wrecked the economy — people like Richard Fuld, Robert Rubin, and Angelo Mozilo — and they've somehow managed to blame schoolteachers and the highway patrol.

Now we have a situation where the villains are sitting on their hundreds of millions of dollars, while tough guys like Gov. Walker are beating up school teachers to take away their $2,000-a-month pension. And, the best part of the story is the Walkers are being heralded as statesmen for their efforts.

This situation speaks to the incredible corruption of U.S. politics. There have been numerous studies done by serious economists that all show the same thing, public-sector employees are not paid on average more than their private-sector counterparts.

Dean Baker
TPMCafé, February 18, 2011

The Honorable Mark Warner
459A Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator Warner:

During an interview on NPR's Morning Edition today you stated that the retirement age for Social Security was set at 65 by President Roosevelt when the average life expectancy was 64 and that now we are living much longer. The implication of this comment was that the retirement age must be raised to better reflect life expectancy.

As can be seen from the Social Security Trustees’ Report, the normal retirement age for Social Security has already been raised to 66 and is already scheduled to rise to 67. Raising the retirement age further would amount to a cut in benefits with each successive increase in the retirement age. If the normal age of retirement is phased in to reach 70 by 2036, it would result in a 4.0 percent reduction in benefits for workers between the ages of 50-54 in 2007 and a 10 percent reduction for workers between the ages of 40-44 in 2007.

February 17, 2011