I really enjoyed watching Jan Schakowsky school Dylan Ratigan the other night on Lawrence's show. They weren't talking about gay issues, lest my headline sow confusion on that score, but rather about the Catfood Commission and fiscal policy. Where we all REALLY need a fierce advocate or two.
Interesting that she and Krugman use the same talking point about lawyers and janitors. Krugman:
Let’s turn next to Social Security. There were rumors beforehand that the commission would recommend a rise in the retirement age, and sure enough, that’s what Mr. Bowles and Mr. Simpson do. They want the age at which Social Security becomes available to rise along with average life expectancy. Is that reasonable?
The answer is no, for a number of reasons — including the point that working until you’re 69, which may sound doable for people with desk jobs, is a lot harder for the many Americans who still do physical labor.
Schakowsky: (click on the embed above to go to the MSNBC page, and then find the transcript button, sorry, no way to link directly to the transcript that I could find)
i want to say something about the longevity. for women, longevity has gone down in recent years. for poor people, they aren't living longer. this idea of a janitor having to make less social security in order for a lawyer who's going to live longer, no, i don't think that is fair or necessary to do that.
She said it first, for the record, lest anyone say she read his column and parroted it. It seems like someone is coordinating for the media on the Democratic side. Although Krugman's talking point about life expectancy used to be about infant mortality: life expectancy has increased since FDR's day because infants don't die as much, but that has no impact on Social Security since said infants don't pay in. Ok, as I am writing this I am figuring out that the infant mortality talking point is about the contrast between now and the start of Social Security, whereas lawyers/janitors is about more recent trends. Got it.
Anyway, it's nice to see a Democrat standing up and not taking any guff. Are you listening, Mr. President?
Maybe Jan could give a seminar.