We hear stuff all the time about Social Security that isn’t true. For example, many Republicans would have the public believe that Social Security disability is running amok paying people who are not disabled and too lazy to work. This not the case as there is less than 1 percent fraud found in the Social Security disability program and Social Security is one of the toughest programs to qualify for worldwide.
A recent story published in USA Today went to work debunking common myths about Social Security.
- Social Security is broke: How anyone could say a program is broke when it has $2.85 trillion in reserves and actually had a $35 billion surplus last year is broke is beyond me. It is true that if things continue the way they have been that Social Security cannot sustain it for the long haul because more money will be paid out than what is coming in, but to characterize Social Security as being broke right now is completely wrong.
- Social Security won’t be there when younger people retire: Once again, false. Even if nothing is done to improve the trust funds by the time the program pays out more than it receives people will still be receiving Social Security checks. Those checks won’t be as large as they are today, but people will still be collecting Social Security checks for a long time to come without any help from Congress.
- Social Security can’t be fixed: Most things can be fixed, and Social Security is no different. And, believe it or not, the ways to fix Social Security are not that complicated, it just depends on your philosophy. If you believe Social Security taxes should not increase, you should be prepared for less benefits in the future because fixing it would require benefits to be cut. If you want Social Security as is and not to be cut you would probably be for a increase in taxes to help save the program. It really is as cut and dry as that.
