At 01:53 PM 1/14/2005 -0800 Nick Arnett wrote: > FAIR-L > Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting > Media analysis, critiques and activism > >http://www.fair.org/activism/abc-socialsecurity.html
Does it really contribute to the debate here to repost propaganda talking points? I mean, I can understand reposting arguments from partisan sources, but outright propaganda? >On World News Tonight, anchor Peter Jennings started off the distortions >in the show's "A Closer Look" segment. Having allowed that there is "some >argument" about whether Social Security would, as Bush argued recently, >"go bankrupt" without congressional intervention, Jennings continued: "But >there's no question that baby boomers will place great strain on Social >Security as they retire. And by 2042, by some measures, the system may not >have enough cash to pay full benefits." > >Actually, there's plenty of question about the notion that baby boomers >will strain the system; If you don't understand that when baby boomers retire that the average number of workers per retiree will decrease dramatically, then you simply aren't trying to be an honest participant in the debate. >Even if the system does need more cash four or five decades from now, it's >not clear that this should be characterized as a "great strain." The >amount of money necessary to keep paying full benefits could be raised by >a tax increase that was about one-fourth the size of the Bush tax cuts >(Washington Post, 1/12/05). I snipped quotes attribute to mysterious sources like "The Political Animal." The above quote seems *highly* suspicious. That is not the sort of analysis The Washington Post would publish unattributed, I don't think.... >The IOU argument is a favorite of pro-privatizers, but it has little basis >in reality. Those trust fund "IOUs" exist in the form of U.S. government >bonds, just like those held by private investors and foreign countries >like Japan and China. There is a lot of question as to whether or not those bonds have economic meaning. Since they aren't traded, it isn't clear if they really have "value." In this sense, they are much more akin to an IOU than a "bond." At any rate, one sure way to find out is to have the SSA suddenly start cashing all of those bonds all at once..... that would certainly put strain on the system. Not only would it effectively cause revenues available to fund general US expenses to go down, but if the SSA starts flooding the market with bonds, the value of US bonds will go down as well, making it even harder for the US government to borrow money. >ACTION: Please write to ABC and urge them to include a full range of <snip> >_______________________________________________ >http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l I guess we're all liberals now on brin-l, so we can forward leftist action items to all of us, right? JDG _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
