Liberals plan to kill Social Security

Man, I'm loving this editorial from the Washington Post which could have been ripped from the archives of this blog: "Never-cut-entitlements liberals would hurt the poor by not giving ground."

When it comes to Social Security, the no-benefit-cuts caucus argues that the program is not the major driver of current deficits. This is correct but irrelevant. The program is on a course to run out of enough money to pay promised benefits in 2036. The longer policymakers wait to make adjustments the more painful these adjustments will be - and the more risk they pose to the most vulnerable beneficiaries that Democrats assert they want to protect. Fixing Social Security is important for its own sake; it is going to have to happen sooner or later. If the debt ceiling debate presents a sensible occasion for getting that done, at least in part, so much the better.

As I've noted before "doing nothing" means that promised benefits will be automatically cut by about a quarter once the Trust Fund runs dry in 2036. There's little compassion in that, especially for the Americans who will need it most.