November 09, 2010
Would a prominent public figure be allowed on NPR to defame a major U.S. corporation without challenge? For example, could a cabinet official assert that Microsoft is the main cause of global warming, with no evidence whatsoever to support this position, and not have anyone point out that this charge lacks merit? My guess is no.
Which raises the question of why Colorado Senator Michael Bennet was allowed to tell listeners on Morning Edition that if something is not done soon there will be no Social Security benefits for people his age (45). There are no, as in zero, nada, none, projections from any source that show Social Security will not be able to pay Mr. Bennet and his age cohort larger benefits (adjusted for inflation) than what retirees are receiving today.
That’s right, you can look at projections from the Congressional Budget Office, from the Social Security trustees and any number of private sources and every last one shows that in any remotely plausible scenario Social Security will be paying benefits that are higher than what current retirees receive long after Senator Bennet passes into history.
This means that either Mr. Bennet is clueless about the financial status of the country’s most important social program or he deliberately misled listeners. This issue would have been pursued by a serious news organization, instead of just passing along Mr. Bennet’s falsehood unquestioningly to unsuspecting listeners.
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