The Social Security WMD Story

By Dean Baker, truthout Columnist

truthout, Tuesday January 23, 2007

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/printer_012307C.shtml

We all remember President Bush's false claims about Saddam Hussein's
weapons of mass destruction. These claims were the basis for getting the
country into the Iraq War, a disaster with no obvious end in sight. The same
sorts of claims are being made about Social Security, with the goal of
inflicting a similar disaster on the country's workers and retirees.

Just to get the facts straight, according to the projections from the
non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Social Security can pay all
scheduled benefits until 2046 with no changes whatsoever. CBO projects that
even if nothing is ever done, the program could continue to pay almost 80
percent of scheduled benefits forever, providing retirees in the second half
of this century with benefits that are far higher than today's seniors
receive. In short, the idea that Social Security is about to go bankrupt
that there will be "nothing there" for young workers is nonsense, as
everyone familiar with the projections knows.

But, we keep hearing the drumbeat about Social Security's looming
bankruptcy for the same reason that we heard the stories about Saddam's
weapons of mass destruction: powerful interests who, in this case, want to
gut and/or privatize the program. The financial industry could make a
fortune in fees and commissions if they could ever get their hands on Social
Security.

Also, because the program is progressive, high-income workers, the folks
who finance the presidential campaigns of both political parties, don't get
a good deal from Social Security. These people would likely do better
putting their money in the stock market. And, they have no qualms about
gutting the country's most important social program to increase their
returns, just as they don't mind giving the country a huge deficit to get
another tax cut.

While the Bush administration is likely to lead the charge on any renewed
effort to cut and/or privatize Social Security, because of the power of the
constituencies behind the gutting of Social Security, he is likely to find
allies among leading Democrats in Congress. Remember, when President Bush
was spinning his scare stories about Saddam's WMDs he also had plenty of
assistance from top Congressional Democrats.

Similarly, the media can be counted on to help sell the Social Security
scare stories, including so-called "liberal" outlets like the New York
Times, CBS, National Public Radio, and Jim Lehrer's "News Hour." In the
lead-up to President Bush's invasion of Iraq, these outlets gave ample time
to the administration and its allies to promulgate their tales of WMDs,
while almost completely excluding the experts who tried to point out the
flaws in their arguments. There is no reason to believe that the media has
become more responsible in the last four years. In short, it is entirely
possible that we will see the same kind of massive attack on Social Security
as the "shock and awe" campaign that President Bush launched on Iraq four
years ago.

But an informed public can defend the program.

First, know the numbers. The CBO report is readily available.

Second, listen carefully for the tricks. Even those who knew nothing about
the Middle East could recognize that President Bush had no real evidence for
his claims about Saddam's WMDs, because he was pushing stories that were
obviously bogus. For example, he had British prime minister Tony Blair
present a compilation of intelligence reports that was largely based on a
grad student's research paper. People with real evidence don't put forward
such nonsense.

One can find similar cues in the Social Security debate. All budget
experts know that Medicare is projected to pose a huge problem because
health care costs in the United States are projected to rise out of control.
Those planning the attack on Social Security routinely talk about the costs
of "Social Security and Medicare" and report huge numbers. Of course, the
cost of mowing the White House lawn and Medicare will also be enormous. The
problem is not the cost of Social Security or the cost of mowing the White
House lawn. The problem is the cost of health care in the United States:
let's fix it.

The other standard trick is to question the integrity of the Social
Security trust fund, which is now approaching $2 trillion, more than $13,000
for every worker in the country. The trust fund is routinely derided as an
accounting entry. Of course it is an accounting entry. Almost all claims to
wealth in a modern economy are accounting entries few people carry around
gold these days. The Social Security trust fund is a legal obligation to our
country's workers that is supposed to be paid out of the government's
general budget. This money, in turn, comes primarily from progressive
personal and corporate income taxes, which are paid primarily by the wealthy
people who pay for political campaigns. In other words, the trust fund is an
obligation to tax rich people to pay for workers' retirement benefits. Now
you understand why so many people say it doesn't exist.

Social Security is a hugely successful and popular program. The people can
save it if they refuse to buy another WMD story.

Posted by Miriam V.