Molly Ivins: As a matter of fact

[Dudley_DUright]

Cheez, I go to all this trouble not to call the president of the United States a liar -- perhaps misinformed, did not seem to know about, no one has told him, etc. -- and then he just comes flat out with a whopper.

Drolly enough, he prefaced his latest with the unlikely statement, "As a matter of fact..." before he proceeded to do battle against truth: "...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. And that's what we're here to talk about, a system that will be bankrupt."

Let's try this again, slowly, for those who, like the president, seem to be having difficulty with reality. Social Security will not be bankrupt, will not be flat bust in 2042 or 2052 or even, as the president has also claimed, by 2018. According to the deliberately alarmist projections of the fund's trustees, it will have exhausted the trust fund in 2042. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, Social Security will be able to rely on the trust fund until 2052 and after that will still be able to pay 81 percent of scheduled benefits.

And that's if no changes are made to the current system.

I am sorry to disillusion any young people, who according to polls do not think Social Security will be there for them, but for once the pessimists are wrong: It will be. Even adjusted for inflation, that 81 percent of benefits will be considerably more than Social Security recipients get today. Making those benefits 100 percent secure can be accomplished quite easily by ending the regressive cut-off on Social Security payroll taxes, which are not now applied to income over $80,000.

more...

http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=18374

[papau]

1. Great Article! :-)

:-)

[fertilizeonarbusto]

2. Great as always

I love Ms Ivins :loveya:

[BlueInRed]

3. Excellent! n/t

[GOPFighter]

4. Well, Duh!

"The only people who benefit from are people who sell stock and manage portfolios. They stand to make billions of dollars in fees off this scheme, which is the reason it is being pushed."

GOPFighter's Law of Absolute Certainty: whenever a Republican proposes a new federal program you can bet the Farm that the rich will get richer and the working stiffs will get the shaft.

Thanks, Molly. I wish more pundits would this candid.

[immoderate]

5. Yeah, Molly is always great.

--IMM

[mahina]

6. I love Molly Ivins.

And Yllom Snivl too. She has been so strong and truthful and right on, and I love her way with words.

[Warpy]

7. I tell people under 40 that it's mother in law insurance.

Social security will insure that their mother in law won't be forced to move in with them, and for that reason alone, they want to prevent the rich from destroying it.

[yellowcanine]

8. Good for Molly. She never disappoints. As usual she aimed and fired and

hit the shrub right in the nuts. Poor George. Must really chafe him to have a WOMAN from Texas show him up.

[EC]

9. And her books make good gifts...n/t

[bpilgrim]

10. The Regressive Cut Off should be a TALKING POINT for the DEMS

the FORTUNEate LOOPHOLE :evilgrin:

http://images.globalfreepress.com

peace