Baby Boomers, Flying Saucers and Social Sec...

Based on Dana Millbank's column in the Washington Post today, it looks like the Social Security commissioner got roughed up a little at the ceremony held to officially enroll the first baby boomer. On the plus side, Commissioner Michael Astrue says he thinks Congress and the White House will fix the problems of Social Security before he leaves office in 2013. On the minus side, Millbank and the other reporters there seem to think Astrue's blowing smoke.

Two points worth making on this story: Firstly, the fact that Kathleen Casey-Kirschling signed up for early benefits at age 62 doesn't change the overall financial picture at all. The problems of Social Security are not her fault.

Secondly, would it be too much to ask reporters to stop citing the survey that claims more young Americans believe in UFOs than in the likelihood that they'll get Social Security checks? I admit I haven't read the original survey, sponsored by the now-defunct group Third Millennium, but I have a good excuse: it was conducted in 1994. And 13-year-old data isn't much help in figuring out public attitudes now. (But if you still want to read a critique of the 1994 poll, this report examines the issue in detail.)

It is absolutely true that young people are much more skeptical about the future of Social Security than older Americans. In a 2005 Los Angeles Times survey, 45 percent of those aged 18-to-29 said they did not expect there to be money in the retirement system when they retired. There's a lot of skepticism among the general public, as well. The most recent data I can find says about a third of the public believes in UFOs, for what that's worth.

But this all begs the question of what to do about the problem. And opinion research shows that the public can, in fact, grapple with this problem and is open to a wide range of solutions, provided that politicians are willing to take the necessary steps.

I admit, that finding is not nearly as catchy as the data about UFOs. But at least it's more recent.