Michael Maiello's picture

    Still Can't Quit Brooks

    But I'll be quick about it.

    "The average Medicare couple pays $109,000 into the program and gets $343,000 in benefits out, according to the Urban Institute. This is $234,000 in free money."

    No! No! No! No!  It is not free money.  It is paid, as a tax, over the course of a working life.

    The Monyechimp Compound Interest Calculator will tell you that if a person works 30 years, and pays one thirtieth of $109,000 annually, that they would earn $344,639.70, modestly in excess of what Brooks claims as the ultimate "get," with just an average 6.4% annual return.

    What Brooks calls "free money" is what an investor would call a reasonable "expected rate of return."  So, not a damned thing about it is free.

    I said I'd be brief.

    Better stop.

    Topics: 

    Comments

    I would be embarrassed to have to pretend to be that stupid to arrive at a point in favor of a desire to deprive the majority of their retirement. Says a lot when this is the best Brooks can come up with, and even more that his editors let it slide past them.


    • My guess is that these guys are no longer "edited," in the sense that they don't have to pitch their column ideas, they just turn them in.  At best, they're copy-edited for clarity and Times style.  I'd like the think that here at Dag, if I regularly went off the deep-end like this that Wolraich or, more likely Mona, would at least warn me that I was making an ass of myself.

    I'd like the think that here at Dag,

    Fuhgeddaboudit. I suspect they'll tell you once "You're a professional, you should know better"

    Me, I'd forgive you, because your a good addition to Dagblog.


    Happy New Year, Res. (But, seriously... Mona would tell me.)


    Yes. And the rest of us would point out the stupidity to you. Mr. Day would give you his daily dumb ass award. You would never live it down. LOL

    Potential shame is a powerful motivator.


    Uh uh, Michael; not if it had anything to do with money.  I don't understand money matters at all

    You would just have to make an ass of yourself without me.  Sorry.  (Lord knows I've done it alone plenty of times. blush)

    However, even an economics idiot like me can see that Brooks is digging a deep, deep, very deep hole.  How mortifying for him.  And deliciously satisfying for us. (Let's just let him keep on digging.)


    Brooks doesn't only pretend to be stupid, he gets paid to teach others how to pretend to be stupid. Give him some credit for using what he's got.

    http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/the-10-most-pretenti...


    On further thought, I'm being way too generous to Brooks with this calculation.

    For one thing, it's not inflation adjusted.  So, knock off 2% a year for a 4.5% annual return on this taxed money.

    But, even worse, the money isn't paid out all at once over 30 years.  The real return of around $210,000 is paid out, as needed over another 15-20 years after retirement.

    This is some very expensive "free" money.


    Maybe Brooks is trying to get people to ask, "Why not privatize"?

    He takes an absurd position in the hope, you'll analyze the situation, and come over to his deeply held position. 


    I laud your brevity, Michael. Brooks is being an ass, and you are not. 


    I love your anti-crush on David Brooks. I think I might have a crush on your anti-crush (not on David Brooks, you understand--on your not-crush on David Brooks). I don't read anything he writes because I think he's an idiot. I just love reading what you write about the fact that he is.


    Latest Comments