August 09, 2011
Steve Inskeep allowed former Wyoming Senator Alan Simpson (who is also the son of a Wyoming senator) to misrepresent the deficit reduction plan that he co-authored with Morgan Stanley director Erskine Bowles. Simpson complained that most of the criticism he got came from people in their 70s, which he said was foolish because his plan would not even hurt people in their 70s.
This is not true. Senator Simpson’s plan calls for changing the indexation formula for Social Security. Under Simpson’s plan benefits would fall by roughly 0.3 percentage points annually compared with the current benefit schedule. After 10 years this would imply a benefit cut of 3 percent, after 20 years the cut would be 6 percent, and after 30 years it would be almost 9 percent. (Simpson’s plan does provide a 5 percent boost to benefits after 20 years of retirement.)
Senator Simpson’s plan would be a much larger hit to the income of seniors than most of the tax increases that were discussed in the debt ceiling debate. He should not have been allowed to so grossly misrepresent his plan to listeners.
Senator Simpson also was allowed to imply that President Obama’s health care plan would be hugely costly, telling listeners that we could not afford it. The Congressional Budget Office’s projections show that the plan would actually reduce the deficit while extending coverage.
Comments