Nevin's Data "Points"

Despite long being called the “third rail” of American politics, Social Security—or more precisely its viability—has reemerged as an issue in the 2024 presidential campaign. It came up most recently in a mini-GOP debate between former U.N. ambassador/South Carolina governor Nikki Haley and Florida governor Ron DeSantis. Haley reaffirmed her previous statements that changes would be required to shore up the financial viability of that system (and, arguably more critically, Medicare)—taking pains to emphasize that she wasn’t calling for changes that would impact current/close-to-retiring individuals.  For his part DeSantis—to whom the question was initially posed—maintained that there was no need to raise the age for full retirement benefits (apparently due to COVID’s impact on life expectancy), as though that were the only potential remedy required [i] (he did express confidence that something would be worked out long-term). And both former President Trump and Pres...

If you have turned on a TV, walked by a radio, driven down a residential street, or answered a phone (or more likely let it go unanswered) in the past month, you will, of course, be aware that our nation will officially go to the polls today.  Of course, our nation has been “going” to the polls—or at least casting votes—for several weeks now. And while some states (and voters) have done so in elections past, a combination of factors (not the least, concerns about the current pandemic) means that the process of voting, like so much of our lives this year, is going to be “unprecedented,” both in terms of the breadth and volume of votes cast prior to election “day”—and perhaps on that day itself. And yes, it’s been a particularly nasty—one feels compelled to say “unprecedented”—election cycle.  In that regard, I recently came across this:  “Certainly, politics has never been a pretty business, but I doubt that I would get much argument in stating that this p...