Democratic Governor and presidential hopeful, Tom Vilsack of Iowa, called for common sense changes to Social Security reform in a debate broadcast by CSPAN this week. He is quoted as saying:


“First and foremost, you’re going to have to take a look at the way in which Social Security is indexed. Currently, it’s indexed based on wages and price; we can index it on price and still maintain the stability of Social Security and maintain the purchasing power of Social Security without necessarily jeopardizing the future of Social Security.”


How did I learn about Gov. Vilsack’s statement?  Because of the angry reaction on liberal blogs, see here and here


The Democrat base, of course, likes to pretend that Social Security can continue indefinitely.  It can’t, of course, at least not without becoming an increasingly hefty burden on the federal budget and on taxpayers.  Moving to price indexing would greatly reduce government’s liabilities in a manner that is fair and responsible.  That would make it easier to make other important changes to the system, such as giving younger workers the opportunity to invest. 


Gov. Vilask didn’t go that far of course, but I applaud his willingness to take this issue seriously.