Mendacity at it's finest.

Who is this man and what is his motto?

Fool

My pension depends on 535 politicians who will be asked to vote for steep tax increases or budget cuts that they fear could cost them their jobs. Pablo's pension depends on people driving between Chile's two largest cities.

In theory, there is a trust fund to cover this shortfall. When Congress sharply raised Social Security taxes in the 1980's, the idea was to generate surpluses during the baby boomers' working years that would finance our retirement. Instead, Congress spent our money, leaving the Social Security trust fund with a file cabinet full of i.o.u.'s in the form of Treasury bills.

"In theory there is a trust fund ... in the form of Treasury bills.", Oh, my god.

The NYTimes is fair and balanced - they'll give a column to a rightist whore who'll convince readers that a government treasury bond is a high risk I.O.U. slip. Either the NY Times hasn't any respect for it's readers and would pass this crap off on them or they have decided to switch demographics and go after toe-to-toe with The National Enquirer.

The column should have been rejected for proposing nonsensical, inconsistent economic double-talk that demenas the intelligence of the NY Times readership.
OR
Accept the column and start reporting the GOP plans to default on US Treasury bills, making them riskier than private toll roads.