CBS Marketwatch article - Bush exaggerates (lies?) about SS problem

You have to "register" with CBS Marketwatch to read this article.

Fact-checking Bush on Social Security
President exaggerates problems in retirement system
By Rex Nutting, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 4:20 PM ET Jan. 11, 2005

WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) - President Bush made several factual errors Tuesday about Social Security's long-term financing problems at a photo op event designed to educate the public about the retirement system.

<snip>
(CBS.MW) - President Bush made several factual errors Tuesday about Social Security's long-term financing problems at a photo op event designed to educate the public about the retirement system.

<snip>
Before a specific plan is unveiled, the White House is holding a series of events to convince the public that the system must be radically altered to prevent a crisis.
According to the Social Security Administration and the Congressional Budget Office, the retirement system faces long-term funding problems, amounting to about 0.7 percent of gross domestic product over the next 75 years, or $3.7 trillion. The SSA says the system's trust fund, financed by payroll taxes and interest payments, will probably be exhausted in 2042, requiring the government to reduce benefits by about a fourth or a third. The CBO says the fund will be exhausted by 2052.

Bush vs. facts

Bush: "As a matter of fact, by the time today's workers who are in their mid-20s begin to retire, the system will be bankrupt. So if you're 20 years old, in your mid-20s, and you're beginning to work, I want you to think about a Social Security system that will be flat bust, bankrupt, unless the United States Congress has got the willingness to act now."

The facts: The Social Security system cannot go "bankrupt," for it has no creditors. By law, the trustees will continue to pay reduced benefits even if the trust fund is exhausted. Payroll taxes will continue to come in and benefits will continue to be paid. According to the trustees' intermediate economic forecast (neither doom nor boom), the trust fund will be able to pay about 73 percent of scheduled benefits in 2042 and about 68 percent of scheduled benefits in 2078. Future presidents and Congresses could also choose to fully fund scheduled retirement benefits from general tax revenue.

Bush: "Most younger people in America think they'll never see a dime."

The facts: Social Security says younger people will see a lot more than a dime. Their retirement benefits - even under a "flat-bust" system -- will be significantly higher than today's benefits in real terms. For low-income Americans, currently scheduled benefits for those who retire in 2080 are $19,906 per year in 2004 dollars. If Social Security can pay only 68 percent of those benefits, that would be $13,536 per year, compared with benefits of $8,804 for low-income retirees who retired last year. For the highest earners, Social Security is currently promising $53,411 per year for those who retire in 2080 (or $36,319 per year if Social Security can pay only 68 percent). Current maximum benefits are $21,891 per year for those who retired last year.

Bush: "In the year 2018, in order to take care of baby boomers like me and - (laughter) - some others I see out there - (laughter) - the money going out is going to exceed the money coming in."

The facts: According to the SSA, costs are projected to exceed income, including tax revenues and interest income from the trust funds' bonds, starting in 2028, not 2018. The 2018 date is when tax revenues alone no longer meet costs; workers have been paying extra taxes since 1983 to build up the trust funds' assets for just this eventuality.

Bush: "The problem is, is that times have changed since 1935. Then, most women did not work outside the house, and the average life expectancy was about 60 years old - which for a guy 58 years old, must have been a little discouraging. Today, Americans, fortunately, are living longer and longer. I mean, we're living way beyond 60 years old, and most women are working outside the house. Things have shifted."

The facts: According to the SSA, the life expectancy for a 65-year-old man in 1940 was 76.9 years. Today, a man aged 65 can be expected to live to 81. Most of the increase in life expectancy in the past half century has been for infants, not for the elderly. The increase in the percentage of women working outside the home has boosted Social Security's resources, rather than depleted them. Today, many women who worked receive a widow's pension rather than their own earned benefits. All the payroll taxes they paid are funding someone else's retirement.

http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/archivedStory.asp?archive=true&dist=ArchiveSplash&siteid=bizjournal&guid=%7B6D56656B%2DD357%2D4082%2DBD70%2D35F6E6D0AA71%7D&returnURL=%2Fnews%2Fstory%2Easp%3Fguid%3D%7B6D56656B%2DD357%2D4082%2DBD70%2D35F6E6D0AA71%7D%26siteid%3Dbizjournal%26dist%3D%26archive%3Dtrue%26param%3Darchive%26garden%3D%26minisite%3D

is hitting back at 'shrub for brains'.

and others in the stenography corps. I wonder if they are loosing so much market share that they are now trying to recover it?

Also they are all talking of second term woes, like already innoculating to why bush will not be able to get his agenda advanced....

That said, I avoid ANY stenography outlets no more. Ohly get the snipets posted here.

I'm hearing more EXPERTS who are coming out siting inaccuracies in Bush's SS lies.

We should post EVERY EXPERT who comes out AGAINST Bush and post the info here. Also we should begin a MASSIVE EMAIL CAMPAIGN. Tell all our family and friends. Notify SENIOR groups about the expert opinions.

Mail our Congress people and Senators.

~~DEFEAT BUSH'S INSANE PLANS TO TAKE SOCIAL SECURITY PRIVATE~~

Today they're "factual errors." Now that the record has been corrected publicly, will those factual errors be called lies? After all, Stupidhead has no excuse whatsoever to be ignorant of the facts, right?

Or will his stubborn insistence on his way or the highway be grounds for another major media rollover to say that Mr. Bush, as usual, is exhibiting his great leadership, steadfastly refusing to acknowledge any facts that stand in the way of his vision of an America where money is funneled directly into brokerage house coffers while people starve in the streets.

I've seen this scenario too many times already to believe that it will be anything but the latter.

In fact, doing NOTHING would be much, much better than any of Bush's leaked schemes.

As they note in the article, there would be ample money for retirees in those out-years, although not quite as much as they would get if the FICA tax were raised 1 percentage-point. As dictator, Bush ruled out any increase in the FICA tax.

More importantly, doing nothing would not present any risk to the Social Security system. Bush's crazy scheme to borrow tens of trillions of dollars would be a CODE RED risk, and probably would destroy the whole system! And putting safety-net retirement money in a Wall Street-controlled fund is a crackpot idea.

Bush's real plan is to destroy Social Security.

dont forget http://www.bugmenot.com just enter the URL and they give you a login/password.