WARNING: This post is MEAN to John McCain

… because it quotes him accurately as calling Social Security “a disgrace.”

… because it quotes him as saying what he said, not what he wishes he’d said.

McCain said that the Social Security system is “an absolute disgrace” because it pays current pensions out of current earnings.

Americans have got to understand that we are paying present-day retirees with the taxes paid by young workers in America today. And that’s a disgrace. It’s an absolute disgrace, and it’s got to be fixed.

Yep. That’s what he said. Social Security is “an absolute disgrace.” And it’s a disgrace because it works the way it’s always worked.

Every Democratic speech between now and November should include the sentence “John McCain said Social Security is a disgrace.”

Author: Mark Kleiman

Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out. Books: Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken) When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993) Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989) UCLA Homepage Curriculum Vitae Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com