We few, we elite few, we band of brothers

Longtime readers know that I certainly found nothing inappropriate by such comments, other than the failure to understand that speaking freely to people you don't know may fuel the Mighty Wurlitzer of Outrage.

And Krugthug's view on blogs pretty much mirrors mine.

Some have asked if there aren’t conservative sites I read regularly. Well, no. I will read anything I’ve been informed about that’s either interesting or revealing; but I don’t know of any economics or politics sites on that side that regularly provide analysis or information I need to take seriously. I know we’re supposed to pretend that both sides always have a point; but the truth is that most of the time they don’t. The parties are not equally irresponsible; Rachel Maddow isn’t Glenn Beck; and a conservative blog, almost by definition, is a blog written by someone who chooses not to notice that asymmetry. And life is short …

So, cue the (commercial) forces of anti-elitism!

As for efforts to cut funding for NPR, NPR receives a relatively small portion of its funding from taxpayers, but many local stations -- especially rural ones -- depend on it.

And I'm reminded of a conversation I had with someone outraged (there it is again) that my company was sponsoring an NPR program. I asked him, if NPR so outraged him, why did he listen to it. He explained that his job required driving in parts of the country in which local NPR stations were the only thing on the radio.

It'd sure be a shame if Congress eliminated such funding and the only things that guy could listen to were the voices in his head.

Forgotten men and women

As per usual, the New York Times fails to point out that Social Security is not on the verge of insolvency, nor do they mention any alternatives to raising the retirement age to help long term financing for the program. Nevertheless, the story raises an important point overlooked by the elites who have been commissioned to "fix" Social Security: not everyone as it as easy as they do.

In all, the researchers found that 45 percent of older workers, or 8.5 million, held such difficult jobs. For janitors, nurses’ aides, plumbers, cashiers, waiters, cooks, carpenters, maintenance workers and others, raising the retirement age may mean squeezing more out of a declining body.

Mr. Hartley had planned to retire at 58, but he and his wife had high medical expenses, and the company froze one year of its pension plan, reducing benefits. He is, he said, “stuck here.”

Workers like Mr. Hartley present a conundrum for a Social Security overhaul, said Eugene Steuerle, a fellow at the Urban Institute, who favors raising the retirement age. People are living longer, and providing “old age” benefits to them when they are relatively young and healthy, he said, makes less available to them when they are older and frailer.

“We’re close to the point when one-third of adults will be on Social Security and will be retired for a third or more of their adult lives,” Mr. Steuerle said. “It’s true that some people in late middle age have issues of physically demanding jobs, but saying we’re going to give everyone more years of retirement is not an efficient way of dealing with that issue.”

Any changes in Social Security’s retirement age will not affect workers currently in their late 50s and their 60s, who are eligible for full benefits at age 66. But their experiences now are a harbinger of things to come, said Teresa Ghilarducci, a professor of economics at the New School for Social Research in New York, who opposes raising the Social Security retirement age because she says it will have a disproportionate impact on lower-income workers and minorities, who tend to have lower life expectancies and so fewer years of collecting benefits. At the same time, blue-collar workers often spend more years paying into Social Security because they start full-time work younger, she said.

“People who need to retire early — and they need to — are folks that start working in their late teens, whereas people who are promoting raising the retirement age are people who were in graduate school or professional school and got into jobs that would logically take them into their late 60s and 70s,” she said.

A study by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics found that for workers ages 55 to 60, the share who said their jobs required “lots of physical effort” all or almost all of the time declined between 1992 and 2002, to 18 percent from 20 percent, but the percentages who said they had to lift heavy loads, stoop, kneel or crouch increased.

But for our elites, these people are no more than coddled infants, sucking at the public teat.

"I know Hawaii is a state"

Cokie Roberts, providing insight as only she, the anti-elitist, can.

Minimizing public appearances may have provided less fodder for those detractors who have portrayed his vacation spot as elitist or exotic. Last weekend, Cokie Roberts, an ABC News analyst, said, “I know his grandmother lives in Hawaii, and I know Hawaii is a state, but it has the look of him going off to some sort of foreign, exotic place.” Ms. Roberts added, “He should be in Myrtle Beach if he’s going to take a vacation at this time.”

The photo accompanying the story shows him eating ice cream with his kids. Exotic, indeed.

But this is the best.

To conservatives, particularly the neoconservative set, Mr. McCain’s forceful responses have been welcomed. Conservatives have pointed out that Mr. Obama looks a bit out of touch this time. “I didn’t think that Obama had to do much during his week’s vacation — everyone deserves a break,” wrote Jim Geraghty of National Review Online. “But this week is starting to really turn into a week where you don’t want to be seen golfing.”

No, that would be bad. Now watch this drive.