by Paul Wylie

Created on: August 12, 2010

The Sky Is Not Falling On Social Security

Here we go again. Another election cycle, another spate of 'sky is falling' screaming from far right activists intent on foisting bold faced lies upon the electorate in order to get them to vote against their own self interests. Whether they use the 14th Amendment to our Constitution to try to deny birthright citizenship in the United States to the children of illegal immigrants as their test case for their ultimate transparent goal of having the ability to deny that same right to citizens who disagree with them should they regain power, to the outright misleading articles being shoved under the noses of a gullible public about the true state of Social Security, the stories all boil down to one thing. Lies.

Pointing to a recent report by the Social Security and Medicare Board of Trustees, those who try to fool the public with these bogus claims twist the report's own words into a pretzel, leaving out little facts that point to a more solvent program rather than one in dire straights. Depending upon the fact that most people's eyes glaze over when confronted with a bunch of numbers and the human desire to believe what we are told, the huckster brigade sets about their fear campaign in order to strike terror into the hearts of their intended victims over nothing. You, dear reader, are their intended victims.

The report shows that the Social Security program is in a better state than it was following the raiding of the trust fund by Republicans during the Bush years. It is in fact, expected to GROW for the next 14 years, and be able to pay out full benefits for the next 27 years. Of course, that news was skewed to the media by such bastions of truth as the Wall Street Journal as a dire emergency in the affairs of a program designed to make sure gramdma and grandpa don't eat cat food. In fact, the campaign to falsify the true impact of the Trustee's report has it's very roots in Wall Street ala former Lehman Brothers chief executive Peter Peterson who is launching a multi-million dollar campaign to convince voters that without immediate cutbacks to Social Security benefits, our country faces imminent financial collapse.

Why would Wall Street wish to stoke the flames of the imminent collapse of Social Security? Simple. If they can buy enough far right candidates into office, they can begin to realize another of their goals of privatizing the program and getting their grubby little hands on the $2.5 trillion dollar fund. Making

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