CAMPAIGN AGAINST SOCIAL SECURITY IS FULL OF FALSEHOODS

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Sun, 06 Feb 2005 04:54:45 -0000

 

 

CAMPAIGN AGAINST SOCIAL SECURITY IS FULL OF FALSEHOODS

 

 

 

CAMPAIGN AGAINST SOCIAL SECURITY IS FULL OF FALSEHOODS

 

http://news./news?

tmpl=story & u=/ucas/20050206/cm_ucas/campaignagainstsocialsecurityisful

loffalsehoods

or

http://tinyurl.com/5kohj

 

Sat Feb 5, 7:59 PM ET

 

By Cynthia Tucker

 

The plan to topple Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) dates back to

the mid-1990s, when a group of neoconservatives formed a virtual

government-in-exile at a think tank called the Project for a New

American Century. They devised strategies, sat back and bided their

time, waiting for what they called a " Pearl Harbor-type event " to

provide convenient cover to invade Iraq (news - web sites).

 

The plan to topple Social Security (news - web sites), however, is

much older -- dating back to the 1930s, to the very formation of the

program. Conservatives have always hated it and wanted to get rid of

it. So, taking the long view, they devised strategies, sat back,

bided their time, and waited for political circumstances to provide

cover to demolish Social Security.

 

They have found their circumstances: the re-election of George Bush

(news - web sites), which conservatives have claimed as a mandate to

revamp the tax structure to benefit the rich, to destroy government

regulation of water, air and consumer affairs, to move the Supreme

Court to the right of Archie Bunker, and to dismantle the social

safety net -- including Social Security.

 

As he did with the invasion of Iraq, Bush has mounted a campaign

against Social Security using half-truths, misperceptions and

falsehoods. In the State of the Union speech, he declared, " By the

year 2042, the entire system would be exhausted and bankrupt. "

 

That's simply not true. According to its actuaries -- who have done a

lot better job over the decades in predicting the system's finances

than Bush has done in predicting the deficit -- Social Security will

be able to pay every dime promised to beneficiaries until 2042. (The

Congressional Budget Office (news - web sites) gives it another

decade.) After that, with no fixes, it will begin to run a deficit

and will only be able to pay three-fourths of the benefits promised.

Does that sound like " exhausted " ? " Bankrupt " ?

 

Even that crisis of diminished benefits (which won't kick in until

the Bush twins are nearly old enough to collect Social Security

themselves) could be headed off with a modest increase in the payroll

tax, which is currently quite regressive, costing people who earn

less a higher percentage of their incomes. As of 2005, workers pay

the payroll tax on every dollar of their income up until $90,000. If

the tax were increased to the first $100,000 or $110,000 of income,

which would not touch average workers, Social Security could pay full

benefits well into the distant future.

 

To gain perspective on Bush's plan to dismantle Social Security,

consider the excellent historical forensics done by business writer

Daniel Gross, who found a trove of hysterical predictions about

Franklin Roosevelt's new program made by conservatives 70 years ago.

 

Writing recently in The New York Times, Gross quoted Silas Hardy

Strawn, a former head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (news - web

sites), as calling Social Security one of many " attempts to Sovietize

America. " Sen. Daniel Hastings, a Republican from Delaware, said the

bill's passage would " end the progress of a great country and bring

its people to the level of the average European. "

 

But conservatives are undeterred by the fact that none of their

predecessors' sky-is-falling predictions came true -- just as the

White House is undeterred by its wrongheaded predictions about Iraq.

The facts simply don't matter. They have an agenda, and they are

willing to distort, conceal and misrepresent to pursue it.

 

Before the invasion of Iraq, Bush and his minions predicted that

combat would be a cakewalk, that Saddam had not only WMD but also

ties to al-Qaida, that nation-building would be paid out of Iraqi oil

resources. Two years later, more than 1,400 U.S. troops are dead,

there were no ties to al-Qaida, the nuclear program turns out to be

in Iran, and U.S. taxpayers are paying nearly $4.5 billion a month

for our presence in Iraq.

 

Do you dare believe them about Social Security?

 

 

 

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