The rescue of Social Security has been a staple of American journalism for 20 years now—a story all the more remarkable in that Social Security has never been in peril except from its rescuers. The rescues have all been based on faulty arithmetic. First, in 1977, the rescuers humbly confessed that they had made a mistake in adjusting benefits to inflation, as a result of which Social Security was threatening to go broke. (They never say the Army is threatening to "go broke," only that it needs more money to do the job that it's asked to do.) Not to [...]

A daily misdemeanor of our media is their election of the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) as the voice of the nation's elderly. A quick visit to any good newspaper morgue would reveal that this is a fiction. AARP was exposed by Consumer Reports in 1976 (1/76) and by 60 Minutes in 1978 (5/14/78) as a front for a mail-order racket, selling rip-off insurance to the elderly. Its boss, Leonard Davis, beat a felony rap and retired enormously rich, but his business continued and thrived. Its wares-- insurance, a mass magazine and a wide range of services-- appear now [...]

Not too long ago, it was often said that Social Security was the third rail of politics: Touch it and you die. Nowadays, Social Security is beginning to look more like a piñata for Wall Street interests: Bash it hard enough and a bounty of lucre falls into your lap. This transformation would never have been possible were it not for a steady stream of media-broadcast disinformation about Social Security, aimed at frightening the public into accepting corporate-sponsored "reform." Here are a few of the most common myths: Myth #1: Social Security Is Going Bankrupt "No one contends that the [...]

Democracy in America is a strange thing. Campaigns focus on trivialities, while the big issues--especially those involving lots of money--are decided by elites and presented to the public as faits accomplis. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the "debate" over Social Security reform. I've written here before (7-8/95) about the dubious predictions of the system's bankruptcy—-projections that depend on estimates of economic growth over the next 75 years that are half the average of the past 75. But even if these forecasts turn out to be true, present benefit levels could be sustained with modest and temporary increases in [...]

Where does the man find the time to earn all that money? You can’t turn on the tube but there’s Peter G. Peterson, telling some awestruck talking head that Social Security and Medicare are gobbling up our kiddies’ porridge. Or he’s writing it on your favorite op-ed page, or in magazines, or relaying the message through a thousand media converts. Or he's presiding over the Council on Foreign Relations or the Concord Coalition, or gracing the society page in a dinner jacket, at all the really important social functions, sometimes as host. Or you can find him more informally at [...]