Social Security Lies

Mad props to Brian Montopoli at CJR for calling our president exactly what he is, a liar:

So little Rachel learned in grade school that she'd never get any money from Social Security. If Brock is now 26, and she waits until full retirement age to start receiving monthly Social Security checks, the year will be 2046 and she will be 67. True, if the system is not altered between now and then, Social Security will be in the uncomfortable position of taking in a little less than 75 cents for every dollar due to be paid out to retirees. So each month, the system would go further into debt, or the now-retired Rachel would only get three-quarters of what she assumed she would. But that's not the same as saying there won't be any money available in the federal retirement program by the time Rachel Brock retires. In fact, money will still be pouring in every week from payroll deductions. Upshot: Rachel was lied to as a child. Just as she was essentially lied to by the president yesterday, when she was told the system would be "bankrupt" in 2041.

On a slightly different note, does it strike anyone else as a ridiculous that Bush is so damn concerned about Social Security going into debt but he doesn't seem give a rat's ass that we have a $400-plus billion dollar budget deficit? It'd be a little easier to buy his Social Security rhetoric if he wasn't spending our tax dollars like a drunken sailor. Why should we trust him to put Social Security in the black after he squandered Clinton's surplus? And, perhaps more importantly, why hasn't the media called him on this somewhat glaring inconsistency?