Tierney and Chile (Again)

John Tierney still thinks Chile is a model for the US social security system. But then again, government funded social security is a program that "in practice promotes greed and sloth" and "creates ugly political battles between generations." Never mind that millions of working-class elderly Americans need their social security checks to eat and put a roof over their head. Never mind that the social security privatization is not a battle between generations but a battle with stock brokers and wealthy powerful Republicans on one side and the entire rest of the nation on the other. Never mind any actual facts. Who needs them?

But then there's the economic paradise of Chile, thanks to the benevolent policies of Pinochet and his Friedman and Hayek trained henchmen. Clearly they were the best thing to ever happen to Chile. After all not only did they torture and kill all those socialists and labor unionists but they also created a system where the old in the country still work, whether their privately funded social security accounts actually give them enough money to work or not. After all, if we just eliminate retirement, we can cut the taxes on the upper 1% even more!