John Tierney, the newly anointed Times op-ed columnist, didn't take long to
begin piling up the frequent flier mileage that comes with one of the most coveted jobs in journalism. He
just jetted to Santiago, Chile, to interview his old friend Pablo, a Chilean
economist who purportedly will receive a bigger retirement benefit than Tierney
will from Social Security. Tierney's jaunt yielded a scintillating description
of Pablo calling up his account on his computer and studying his projected benefits.
The paper, and its readers, got a lot more from Larry Rohter's January 27, 2005
article, "Chile's Retirees Find Shortfall in Private Plan," which
contained actual reporting. Among Rohter's conclusions about Chile's system
of private accounts, often cited by President Bush as a model for the United
States:
- "Even many middle-class workers who contributed regularly are finding
that their private accounts - burdened with hidden fees that may have soaked
up as much as a third of their original investment - are failing to deliver
as much in benefits as they would have received if they had stayed in the
old system."
- "Because many of the claims initially made on behalf of the privatized
system turned out to be exaggerated or inaccurate, the transition period has
turned out to be longer and more expensive than anticipated."
- According to a Chilean government official, "If people really had freedom
of choice, 90 percent of them would opt to go back to the old system."
Suppose a newly hired liberal columnist had settled in by catching up in Paris
with his old ami Pierre to hear about the wonders of France's universal health
care system. How much abuse do you think he'd take from the right-wing echo
chamber?
Greg Anrig, Jr., is vice president for programs at The Century Foundation.
|
