Social Security is in trouble, but not because of any fundamental imbalances, OtherWords partner Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), says, citing the Aug. 5 broadcast of CNN’s Situation Room program. It’s just under attack by ideologues.
“Social Security reaches the final financial tipping point. The system is now paying out more than it’s taking in. Will Washington do anything anytime soon to fix this problem?”host Wolf Blitzer, referring to the fact that this year Social Security is paying out more in benefits than it receives in tax revenue. However, as FAIR explains, this is “a mostly meaningless fact, given the system’s $2.5 trillion long-term surplus.”
FAIR says that Blitzer relied on just one guest, “Beltway fixture and former presidential adviser David Gergen to echo his alarmism.”
Gergen fretted about all the money the government is theoretically going to put into Social Security. He means, according to FAIR, “that the government is going to start paying back some of the trillions of dollars it has borrowed from the Social Security system. He and Blitzer see this as a crisis; others would see it rather as the deserved and anticipated return of enormous amounts of wealth to the working people who contributed to the surplus over the last three decades, specifically so that it could be paid back now as the baby boomers begin to retire.”
As Martha Burk predicted in her recent OtherWords op-ed,” the next big dance these days could be called the Social Security double shuffle.”
Read FAIR’s action alert about this Situation Room broadcast online.
