Media Matters to Tierney: Read Your Own Paper

In an April 26 column comparing Chile's retirement program favorably with Social Security, New York Times columnist John Tierney used the example of an economist friend in Chile to argue that that country's pension system -- which includes private accounts -- provides a better return on contributions than Social Security. Tierney offered the caveat that "Chileans may someday long for a system like Social Security if the stock market crashes and takes their pensions down with it," but said, "The relative risks of the Chilean and American systems are a question for another column."

One would think that "the relative risks of the Chilean and American systems" would be precisely the type of topic to examine in a column about the Chilean and U.S. systems. Nonetheless, we eagerly await that follow-up column from Tierney in which he addresses the risks of the two systems. As Tierney prepares to write it, we hope he'll take a bit of advice: Read your own paper.