ImathowupBy James Hamilton

"Imathowup."

That’s what the people in an office where I once worked would say whenever they heard politicians – regardless of party affiliation – spout the same tired old arguments for or against the issue du jour.

Those same tired old arguments are starting to emerge about the future of Social Security and Medicare and – YOU GUESSED IT – IMATHOWUP.

Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has taken to the stump in recent weeks proclaiming that her husband saved Social Security through 2055 so there’s no need to worry. This is blatantly incorrect.

Presidential candidate Barack Obama loudly claims removing the wage cap on earnings subject to FICA will fix the problem just fine. While Obama's idea would narrow the funding shortfall, it is incorrect to say it would fix the program's solvency crisis.

Not to be outdone, presidential candidate Jonathan Edwards wants to subject wages over $200,000 to FICA. More reasonable, of course, but still a long way from fixing the program's problems.

In reality, it's probably a good thing that the candidates are talking about Social Security's future, but they show tremendous short-sightedness and irrresponsibility by ruling out of raising the retirement age, "cutting benefits," "privatization," indeed anything that would make possible any outcome other than huge tax increases for our kids.

Now if you'll excuse, I'm not feeling well.