Here at Swampland, we get results. In April, I explained my principled refusal to join AARP, despite my advanced age, because it defends the ruinous practice of taking money from children and future children to give it to the wealthiest segment of our society: retirees. And not just the seniors who need it (we should definitely support them), but also the well-tanned geezers who use their government checks to buy AARP-sponsored cruises on the Adriatic Sea.
Well, according to today’s Wall Street Journal, I had quite an impact (I’m reading between the lines here), because AARP has decided to drop its adamantine opposition to fiscal sanity and allow a discussion of Social Security reforms and other changes to retiree entitlements.
Joking aside, this could be a significant step in the right direction. Deficit Commission Co-chair Alan Simpson compares the move to “the Arctic icecap breaking.” And this is not the only hopeful sign breaking through the depressing demagoguery of party leaders on budgetary matters. Yesterday, a bipartisan Senate voted overwhelmingly to kill wasteful subsidies for ethanol.
Evidently, people are listening to Grunwald, too.
