CBS, With The AP's Help, Does Their "Chicken Little" On The Social Security Report

The Social Security report just came out today, and as expected, news organizations like CBS are providing the alarmist headlines placating into those deserving to harm the very stable program.

And CBS (along with the Associated Press) sure did have quite the lead in to support that knee jerk (and very false) title:

The annual checkup of the government's big benefit programs for the elderly shows the Social Security program is projected to pay out more in benefits than it collects in taxes for the first time this year and next year. The Social Security trust fund is expected to be exhausted in 2037, the same date as in last year's report.

What CBS and the AP exhibited in that article is your latest example of our Jokenalism in the year 2010.

If any serious reporting was done on this issue by those outlets or any other news source who create that type of headline, leading the right wing nuts to declare again "Social Security is going broke", then they would have taken the time to read what the terrific Nieman Watchdog Lab did yesterday.

The astute lab predicted exactly how our vapid media would respond (or over-respond) and not do the due diligence required for such an important topic (or any topic for that matter):

Tomorrow, the Social Security Trustees reportedly will release their annual report on the financial status of Social Security. The annual report projects Social Security’s income and outgo for the subsequent 75 years. The release will generate front page stories in major newspapers across the country.

Most of the focus this year is likely to be on Medicare, in light of the recently enacted health care reform legislation. Even so, the part of the stories dealing with Social Security will, based on past experience, cite parts of the report selectively to make the case that the program is in crisis, while ignoring the facts that speak otherwise.

And indeed that has been the case.

CBS and the AP is exactly wrong in writing that this is the first time benefits paid out will exceed taxes coming in. Once again, the Nieman lab shows those reporters how to actually do reporting:

Q. Is it accurate to say that Social Security is, for the first time, taking in less in payroll tax contributions than it is paying out in benefits?

It is the first time since 1983 that it is paying out more, but 1983 marked the beginning of a period during which Social Security started building large surpluses in anticipation of the retirement of the baby boom. There is nothing new or surprising about Social Security’s benefits exceeding the so-called payroll taxes. Benefits exceeded payroll tax contributions in 1958, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1965, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982 and 1983. The sky did not fall. Indeed, the trust funds acted as intended, providing a margin of safety so that benefits could be fully paid, even in very difficult economic times. (see Table 4.A3--Combined OASI and DI, 1957-2008 in the Social Security Administration's Annual Statistical Supplement, 2009).

To reiterate what the Nieman Lab reports once more: It is NOT the first time benefits going out are larger than taxes coming in for the Social Security program.

Instead of writing the predictable lazy dribble that will lead to a Matt Drudge headline or a peculiar, dishonest argument from someone like Paul Ryan on how the program is on the read to bankruptcy, maybe CBS, the AP, and other corporate media hacks should have taken the lead of the terrific Dan Froomkin.

It's another quality piece of journalism from the former Washington Post writer, something that is almost hard to find in America based journalism nowadays:

Social Security, according to its annual report, is expected to pay out slightly more in benefits than it receives in payroll tax this year, for the first time since changes were made in 1983. But payroll taxes are only one source of income for the program, and with the others -- including interest income on its $2.5 trillion trust fund, held in special issue U.S. Treasury securities -- the program is expected to continue to run a surplus until 2024.

The program will need to start spending from its trust fund in 2025, with that fund becoming exhausted in 2037, which is consistent with last year's estimate. But at a press conference Thursday, Social Security Commissioner Michael J. Astrue, one of the government trustees releasing the report, begged reporters not to scare the public by exaggerating the significance of trust fund exhaustion

"That does not mean that there will be no money left," Astrue said. At that point, even if Congress took no action, Social Security could still pay out 78 percent of expected benefits from annual revenues. "That would be a bad result, but it is a far cry from having no benefits at all," he said.

Inaccurate reporting on the topic tends to "make young people despair about Social Security," he said.

And that inaccurate reporting also tends to make young people, as well as other ages of people, search for the full truth

Their search, if it's comprehensive, will find that inaccurate reports from once reputable organizations like CBS and Associated Press show the full court press assailment that Social Security is under from those who hate it with every fiber of their beings.

And it also exhibits how our current media structure is implicit in those evil, heartless actions on the people of this nation.