social security
people seem to be pretty conflicted about social security. surveys seem to indicate that they want smaller cheaper government. and since social security is 50% of the government, it sure seems like that's an obvious place to aim the knife. yet simultaneously and contradictorily seemingly people are just as opposed to slashing this sacred cow. so what's up with that? do people really want smaller government? or are they just aping the currently popular political meme? or are people so stupid they don't understand what smaller government means? some researches decided to find out. they suggest that people think about the social security program in two different ways. one view is it's a retirement fund. ie they expect to get back the money they paid in. kinda like a federal pension. the other view is that it's an entitlement program. i'm not sure i like that phrase. it implies that people are getting something they don't need or haven't earned. which i think might be the researchers' point. people want to keep the pension program part of social security. but they're happy to cut the "big government" entitlement part of social security. which seems like a completely reasonable position. so the conventional wisdom that it's political suicide to propose cutting social security might not be truth after all.