Seven-Year Bitch

Seven! Ha ha ha! Seven Years of Solvency! (And yes, I know I'm mixing my vampires)

Josh Marshall notes that Indiana Rep. Chris Chocola -- I wonder how often he gets called "Count." Because that would be hilarious -- and other Republicans are going around claiming that bumping up the level of wages subject to Social Security tax will only extend the life of the program for 7 years.

Josh incomparably points out that this is ... well, not to put too fine a point on it, horse shit.

He points out that a new memo from the Soc. Sec. trustees says that fix would bump the date at which Soc. Sec. receipts start lagging behind Soc. Sec. payments to 2025 from 2018 (their projections). But the trustees also point out that it will extend the ability of the program to pay 100% of benefits until the year 2079 -- the furthest year of the trustees' projections. For all we know, it will take the program further than that.

Josh predicts, rightly so, that we will hear this seven-year marlarkey over and over and over again, probably all over Russert and Matthews and all the other vapid gasbags of the Sunday talk shows. He also wonders, rightly so, whether the Democrats will counter adequately.

If you've been reading Bob Somerby lately, you'll guess they won't.