> Moynihan's a complicated guy...
[snip]
> Think of a U.S. Senate in which Daniel Patrick Moynihan is the left wing...
Gack! Well, he *is* complicated. One guy tells me Moynihan is an alky. That makes sense. The tax on TIAA/CREF went thru with no complaints from Moynihan that I could see. But after its passage, Moynihan lashed out in boozy anger, as if that would make up for his bottle nipping when he should have been fighting.
He is a leader in privatizing Social Security. But his privatizing plan is complicated, in that the privatizing part is voluntary. Practically speaking, most wage earners would spend their FICA savings without even noticing it, and wouldn't dream of "investing" it. In other words, Moynihan's privatizing wouldn't happen. Instead, Social Security would be kept a pay-as-you-go taxing system with no pre-funding. Does he not trust the political system with a huge sum of money, supposedly dedicated, in its care? That is what his proposed Social Security bill seems. In effect, it is a huge benefit reduction and tax increase to avoid pre-funding.
Maybe he detests Social Security (it's his bailiwick in the Senate) because it interferes with his real love, the bottle?
It's hard for me to figure him out. Does he know something, is he the Senate's left-winger (such as that is), or is he a drunk?
-- I've been able to string more words into fewer ideas than anybody I know, and I'm continuing to do that.
- Alan Greenspan to the Senate Budget Committee, Sept 23, 1998