R.I.P. Social Security Crisis: "We hardly knew ya"

Time for this adopted Angry Bear to go into hibernation for the winter. Events out of Alaska and now out of Wall Street make it extremely unlikely that Social Security itself will return to the center of the policy table anytime soon. Rather than rallying to crush one of the remaining cornerstone’s of the New Deal, Wall Street and the Market Absolutists will be lucky not to be Glass-Steagel’d.

Which doesn’t mean I won’t be sticking my snout in where I sniff something interesting, or that I am going to take my eye off the numbers. Right around Halloween the Treasury will release Trust Fund balances for Sept 30th which is to say the Q3 numbers. I’ll certainly check in with a comparison of those right to the penny balances with projections from the 2008 Report. And the same Report for year end balances is scheduled for release around Jan. 31. (People who want to play the home version of the Social Security game are urged to do so at Treasury Direct: Trust Fund Monthly Reports). And even more importantly the Annual Report of Social Security is due for release around March 31st of 2009. Which is about when I expect to come out of my den. But barring real surprises I propose to put this Social Security Bear to bed for the next six months or so.

(Of course if someone decides to poke this sleeping bear with a sharp stick they might be surprised at the reaction.)

Don’t imagine that this means the Right is not hell-bent on destroying Social Security, because they are. It is just that their plate is a little full right now. See you in Spring (or in Comments).