Latest Atlantic Piece Ignores the Real Oligarchy
In his latest column for The Atlantic titled “An Oligarchy of Old People,” author Idrees Kahloon correctly identifies a troubling symptom
Fortune Columnist Would Rather Cut Social Security Than Make Payroll Wage Cap More Fair
The right-wing barrage of anti-Social Security propaganda continues. In fact, we’re finding ourselves having to shoot down at least one misleading (or misguided) opinion piece every month. Today’s response was provoked by a recent column in Fortune: “Social Security has 6 years left. The fix that sounds cruelest may be the smartest.”
Let’s start with the headline. Social Security does not have six years left. The program will go on indefinitely as long as people are working and paying into the system. It’s accurate to say that Social Security’s trust fund reserves will become depleted in some six years — in the unlikely event that Congress takes no pre-emptive action.
Associated Press Flubs Social Security Trustees Story
We blogged earlier this week about the inaccuracy of media reports about Social Security’s financial future. Some mainstream media journalists seemed to rely on conservative tropes when covering the recent Social Security trustees report. A prime example: a news story from the Associated Press (AP) with the alarmist headline, Medicare and Social Security go-broke dates pushed up.
Sorry, Slate Magazine, We Don’t Need to ‘Radically Rethink’ Social Security
Conservative think tanks and publications have been very busy this fall pumping out propaganda designed to undermine Social Security. Of course, the conservative movement has been working to weaken or eliminate the program since the 1980s, and its messaging seeps quite seamlessly into the mainstream media narrative about Social Security. A recent opinion piece in Slate magazine is the latest example of anti-Social Security propaganda from the political right.
NY Times Op-ed Attempts to Divide the Generations to Undermine Social Security & Medicare
In this "Equal Time" edition of our blog, we push back on a recent New York Times op-ed that attempts to divide the generations in order to undermine Social Security and Medicare.
Bloomberg Analysis Frames Social Security and Medicare as Debt Reduction Issues. That’s Misleading.
Fiscal conservatives continue to promote the narrative that Social Security and Medicare must be “reformed” to reduce the federal debt, which basically means cutting seniors' earned benefits. The latest foray in this propaganda campaign came in the form of an ‘analysis’ piece from Bloomberg’s Karl W. Smith, published last week in the Washington Post.
Don’t Trust Insurance Industry “News” about Medicare Advantage
Deb Gordon’s piece in Forbes entitled, 88% Of Medicare Advantage Enrollees Are Happy With Their Health Insurance, New Study Shows, is more like an industry press release than a bona fide news story. The writer herself is a representative of the insurance industry, hardly an objective author for a piece about the insurance industry.
Stop Scaring Millennials About the Future of Social Security
Some tropes never die. The one about Millennials not being able to rely on Social Security when they retire re-surfaces every few months, most recently in an article by John Csiszar on the financial news site GoBankingRates.
Sorry, Reuters: Payroll Tax Cut Would Not Benefit Lower Income Workers the Most
It’s crucial that the news media put President Trump’s harmful proposals for payroll tax cuts in perspective. Many publications are doing
Where is Social Security in Coverage of Trump Payroll Tax Cut Proposal?
The mainstream media have given ample coverage to President Trump’s proposal to cut payroll taxes, but many news outlets have ignored the potential