The Media Bias Continues...

Andrew Roth

As I've written in the past, the Mainstream Media refuses to recognize the fact that 450 economists have publicly endorsed personal accounts for Social Security. According to the Free Market Project, they've also misrepresented the facts about the so-called transition "costs" of Social Security. Since personal accounts would divert some payroll taxes away from the Trust Fund, that will leave a shortfall of cash to pay for current benefits. To make up for it, the government would have to borrow money. This, the liberal media say, is new debt. But in reality, the government is just re-financing its future obligations. By borrowing money today, the government is alleviating its debt obligations in the future because people would rely more on their personal accounts and less on the government for their retirement. Excerpts from the Free Market Project study:

CBS’s John Roberts said on the Dec. 9, 2004, “Evening News” that reform would “carry a whopping price tag.” “To fund the transition to private accounts while paying current retirees will cost an estimated $1 trillion to $2 trillion,” Roberts said. This became the standard line for broadcast reports on the subject, though reporters failed to explain how the “transition” would work. [R]eporters didn’t get into the details of the economics. They talked only of skyrocketing deficits. NBC’s David Gregory said the transition would create new debt, calling the “downside” of the accounts a “$1 to $2 trillion shortfall” on the Dec. 9, 2004, “Nightly News.”

Telling only half of the story -- that's what we can expect from the MSM on the Social Security debate. Or, in the case of the "Forgotten 450", none of the story.
Posted by Andrew Roth on May 23, 2005 10:53 AM to Social Security Choice