Social Security reform should be a very popular issue. More than 80% of the voting public thinks that without reform the system is heading for crisis. The problem is that the support for reform is highly fragmented across dozens of ideas and concepts.
The driver of that fragmentation is simply myths about the system. It is difficult to ignore the impact of myth on the Social Security debate, and the strength that myth holds on the voting public. And it isn't just the numbers of people, but the dogmatic belief. In one email, the myth holds that Social Security would be voluntary. Taxes aren't voluntary in this world.
One can see not only the belief, but the intensity, in the comments sections of articles, and the ratings of comments. When you look at the most popular comments, they are invariably grounded in myth. In an article about Obama’s offer to include a change to CPI portion of the benefits formula, the most popular comment was : “why not come up with a plan to repay the money stolen from SS !” It received 2,476 thumbs up versus 38 thumbs down. Those numbers mean that there are 65 people who thought it was a good comment for every one that thought the comment was inaccurate or irrelevant.
Here are the facts. The Social Security system has a 20.5 trillion dollar shortfall assuming that every penny in the Trust Fund is repaid with a generous assumed interest rate. (Page 15 of the 2012 Trustee Report) There is no one seriously suggesting the money won’t be repaid. There is no serious person who says that repaying the money will change the outcome of the system. After every penny is repaid, the system will still have 20.5 trillion in unfunded obligations, and will still be unable to pay full benefits in 2033 - and that is in a good economy.
Another comment garnering 50 to 1 support: “Leave Social Security alone, its not your money, its not the gov. money. It is our money, we have paid into it, its not the government checking account.” The money that is held in the Trust Fund is reserved for future benefits, and it is outweighed by the promises of the system by 10 to 1.
Any comment that blames LBJ, Reagan, Clinton, or Bush for stealing the money is guaranteed to get support of 40 to 80 to 1 depending upon who is blamed. The fact is that 90% of all money ever collected by the system was distributed to beneficiaries. Until Congress changed the system in 1983 to collect excess cash, the system was a paygo system that produced almost no money to ‘steal’. The system did not reach the 100 billion mark until 1988, when Reagan left office. No: Social Security did not pay for Vietnam, Starwars, unfunded wars, welfare, section-8 housing, or any of the other obligations of the general fund.
The problem is simple. Politicians have always enjoyed promising more than they can deliver. Social Security is no different. Politicians have altered to the system to generate more promises than it collects in cash, a difference that grows every year and amounts to trillions of dollars. That comment will get voted down 100 to 1.
