Please read– if you haven’t already– FAIR’s new action alert about CNN’s The Situation Room and Social Security. If you decide to take action and write a letter to CNN, please share itin the comments section below.
Peter Hart
Peter Hart was the activist director of FAIR for 15 years, as well as the co-host of FAIR's radio show CounterSpin. He is now the senior field communications officer for Food & Water Watch.
◄ Previous Post Situation Room Scaremongering
Comments
social security is a separate fund. when the government “borrows” from that fund it OWEs it so if that govt. borrowing is excessive it shouldn’t be the social security fund that gets shorted. there are plenty of other areas that are NOT separate, are part of the general fund like for example grotesquely bloated military spending, tax cuts for the wealthy that should be targets of the numbers crunchers. If ideologues disapprove of social security, spending that benefits the people rather than wealthy corporations and individuals and unnecessary and dangerous militarism they should say so and make their argument, not try to manipulate with dishonest arguments.
tom ferguson
Hello CNN,
I find your panic button style of reporting to be repulsive and “Fox news esque”.
Whatever happened to reporting facts? Instead, more and more I hear your reporters attempt to insert a panic attack warning in far too many “stories”.
Please cut it out. The American public wants and needs facts. If you report them we will watch.
Thanks
Honolulu
CNN Situation Room
Dear Sirs,
Please bring in Social Security experts who can easily challenge the mistakes made on your August 5 broadcast about the so-called crisis. I can recommend: The economist Dean Baker of the Center for Economic & Policy Research, or Nancy Altman from Social Security Works. Bring back balanced reporting.
Sincerely,
Dr. L. Weybright
Dear Situation Room:
CNN is generally a widely respected and widely relied upon news source. It was therefore extremely distressing to hear Wolf Blitzer fear-mongering about Social Security by completely misinforming people about its financial security. Promulgating inadequate and indeed mis-information is irresponsible and should not be the standard for CNN.
Please consider having persons on the show who actually know something about Social Security. Perhaps a member of the Social Security Trust Fund Board of Trustees that issued the report that Mr. Blitzer used as the source for his inadequate/misinterpreted information would be willing to appear to explain what the report says, why it is done and what it means for our future.
I certainly hope that CNN does not leap upon the mendacious bandwagon that claims raising the retirement age to 70 and cutting Social Security benefits is a reasonable way to cut the Federal Deficit. I am sure everyone at CNN knows that SS does not contribute to the deficit and, indeed, it is prohibited by law for SS to contribute to the deficit.
Reasonable news and analysis is not easy to come by these days. For a respected media giant such as CNN to fail in its responsibility to correctly and accurately inform the American people is a major blow to the potential for democracy to continue to function.
Hello,
CNN’s Situation Room has recently portrayed Social Security as “broke” and as contributing to the national debt. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the Federal government has been BORROWING trillions of dollars from the Social Security system – from the funds that hard-working US people have paid in – in order to balance OTHER parts of the budget.
So, CNN, instead of talking about cutting Social Security, please insist that your reporters and guests tell the truth: It’s time for the Federal government to start repaying the borrowed Social Security funds, so that the baby boomers can begin retiring. The government may have to cut some OTHER part of the budget in order to repay, but retirees shouldn’t be expected to sacrifice their income. A more fiscally sound Federal approach would be to prohibit borrowing from Social Security in the first place.
And finally, when it really DOES become true in 2037 (!) that the Social Security fund approaches zero, this can be corrected easily enough by eliminating the income cap on contributions. Why are your reporters and guests treating this subject as a difficult problem for which “there are no easy answers,” when the solution of removing the income cap has been frequently proposed?
It appears that CNN is not seeking out experts with diverse points of view, in order to give your viewers balanced and valuable information. I strongly urge you to do better, in order to regain your reputation as a news organization.
The words and information provided by these two are so much crap it demeans your
network to provide them the
platform on which to dis-inform U.S. citizen’s.
Please have on experts who would challenge the alarmist views featured recently
on the show.
If you need help indentifying such individuals, please let me know and I’ll
provide such names as needed.
Social Security is an important subject that deserves balanced reporting.
—
Escondido,CA 92027-3443
Hey There CNN,
I’ve watched y’all for at least 24 years. I’ve always felt that CNN is a great news source if you want to hear both sides of the issue, even if the side I’m on is hearing something it doesn’t like about itself. CNN presents the facts, the truth and that is more reality based than some other news channels nowadays. I hope that your focus will remain on making sure that CNN is the place people can go to find out what’s really going on as well as have it explained without selling a narrative. While I’m not very concerned about making both sides come to consensus or to find some common ground, I really feel it’s very important that CNN not follow the Fox Propaganda Network in using the scaremongering propaganda narrative selling strategy. While I’m used to seeing this from Fox all day long (and therefore I don’t believe anything they say), I don’t want CNN to even get a whiff of scaring people. Please present both sides with a liberal (ha) sprinkling of facts/proof/documentation/double-blind placebo-controlled studies, etc.
I also love how y’all don’t have screaming people on who yell over their opponent or how y’all don’t yell at people to shut up. The Lehrer News Hour has lots of facts and both sides and no one is screaming. I actually feel calm after I watch that show. I also feel as if our issues and problems can be resolved, ever so slowly, but eventually, resolved. I have to say I love to watch Rachel Maddow because she has lots of facts and documentation.
That’s why I was disappointed to read the transcript on August 5th on The Situation Room about Social Security. It was a very short blurb and I ended up with more questions afterwards and would have appreciated some more information and a different perspective than just straight deficit hawks. Facts. We need tons of facts out here. We can handle it. Please have a balance of views presented on not only Social Security, but all the other issues as well. I expect more and better from CNN because CNN has been my main good source for news for a very long time.
Thank you very much,
Houston, TX
Sent to CNN this date:
Obviously the deficit hawks have gotten to your “reporters” as they seem to be trying to sell the same lies as the republicans. One wonders where they were when bush was borrowing trillions of dollars from China to fund his illegal wars. We wonder where they were when bush was giving big pharma trillions by way of Part D and we wonder where they were when bush gave for-profit insurance the absolute windfall of medicare advantage. None of which were budgeted or paid for but which put us into debt to the tune of trillions of dollars. Where were the deficit hawks, where were they?
The fact is, both Social Security and Medicare are in excellent shape and will be for a long time. Unless a program with trillions of dollars in assets sufficient to fund its obligations for decades to come, is “broke.” If the right is so worried about the deficit, why not do the logical thing and end tax breaks for the wealthy, cut corporate tax loopholes, end these useless wars, and get Americans back to work at decent wages, with decent benefits in THIS country.
I wonder why you find it necessary to frighten this nation’s retired and soon to be retired population with your lies and scare tactics? Are you getting paid to pander to the right?
I used to believe CNN had some integrity. Not anymore and not for awhile. You are more like the Enquirer – out to gain readership by titillating, scaring, lying, embellishing, whatever works.
Try the truth – you might find you sleep easier at night.
This is the email I just sent to CNN
I am disappointed that CNN has given a venue only to those attacking Social Security by inviting guests like David Gergen and Lisa Silvester to the Situation Room program. For balanced coverage, I suggest you invite speakers like Dean Baker of the Center for Economic & Policy Research or Nancy Altman from Social Security Works to give an alternative viewpoint.
OASDI looks stable â┚¬“ and according to the actuarial report of August 5th — without tweaking could pay three fourths of scheduled annual benefits until 2084. In contrast to many other parts of the federal budget, Social Security is financially stable with trillions of dollars in assets. With this strong trust fund, it is hard to put Social Security in the same category as US deficit financing in other areas of the budget. Let’s hear some balanced views on how to make this relatively stable program even stronger, rather than fear mongering by those who are more willing to sacrifice social programs than to make realistic changes in the parts of the US budget that are driving us into national debt!
Please bring onto your show Social Security experts who would challenge the alarmist views featured recently on the Situation Room. Social Security is an important subject that deserves balanced reporting.
We have seen such a horrific transfer of wealth upward to the wealthy in the last thirty years of tax cuts for the rich and deregulation. Do you really have to encourage this trend by arguing that social security should cut its support to Americans in retirement who have paid into it? As the FAIR report notes, if higher levels of income were subjected to the social security tax, the system would be fixed, and even if nothing is done, there is a 2.5 trillion dollar surplus in the system that has been built up in anticipation of the current situation of baby boomer retirements causing more to be paid out than collected.
I’m really really depressed that CNN, which so many Americans depend on for truthful, accurate reporting, would distort the situation of Social Security in this way.
Sincerely,
Margaret Copi
Oakland, CA
—
Improved and Expanded Medicare for All!
Just another in the innumerable instances of the corpress lying down and dirty on the job, isn’t it?
to CNN Situation Room —
I urge you to maintain CHH’s reputation for impartial reporting by giving equal time to people with a different viewpoint on Social Security than that proviided by David Gergen.
It makes all sorts of sense to point out that it is not necessary to limit the income of the Social Security trust fund by cutting off taxes when income reaches the $87,000.
Most of us do not need to stop paying into the system halfway through the year and even sooner for those who can afford the payment even better.
The tax should be less regressive.
It would also be useful to point out that Johnson ‘borrowed’ from the Social Security trust fund to finance the Vietnam War. When a trustee uses trust funds for his or her own purposes it is commonly considered a crime. This little bit of history would be a good addition to the discussion. Time to recognize the reason why so much of the assets of the fund is in what amounts to war bonds. Not that these bonds are worthless. But that is why the money is owed to Social Security and retirees have every right to get the money.
Frankly, when my husband and I started getting a little more money in each paycheck, sometime in August, it wasn’t a life and death matter. We would have been happy to continue putting our funds away for our old age.
And on the proposed raising of retirement age —
the people this will hurt the most is the young people who are trying to find work.
Why haven’t any of your experts figured that one out?
Look at the unemployment figures, the young are suffering the most, not because of paying Social Security taxes but because of scarcity of jobs.
And the skyrocketing home prices and college costs.
Thanks you,
Carolyn Scarr
[address]
You owe it to all Americans to correct your reporting on Social Security to provide us with the whole truth, which requires at minimum, balanced content. Give us genuine Social Security experts who will inform Americans of the trillions of dollars of assets, sufficient to fund its obligations for decades, and the fact that one simple adjustment: eliminating the cap on income subject to the tax (currently wages above 106,800 are not subject to the tax) would ensure long-term solvency according to experts.
Dear Situation Room Editors,
I appreciate your discussion of Social Security but I think it needs another viewpoint. I have been reading some of the writings of Dean Baker of Center for Economic and Policy Research on just that subject and would recommend that your show invite him as a guest. I looked them up and they can be contacted at the following: Center for Economic and Policy Research, 1611 Connecticut Ave, NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20009
Phone: (202) 293-5380, Fax: (202) 588-1356
I look forward to hearing more of your updates on this issue from a variety of viewpoints.
Sincerely,
Babette Grunow
Milwaukee WI 53208
On your Aug. 5th broadcast host Wolf Blitzer said: “Social Security reaches the final financial tipping point. The system is now paying out more than it’s taking in. Will Washington do anything anytime soon to fix this problem?” The program went on to describe what a disparate situation we were in on SS.
The impression left was that if we didn’t do something today the system would be insolvent tomorrow. That is not true and not helpful. If the majority of people realized how easily the SS problem could be fixed they might be willing to urge their legislators to get the problem solved.
I expect more than just scare tactics from CNN.
Roger Rutschman
All the above correspondents are exactly right. The U.S. Treasury has borrowed some $1.7 trillion from the Social Security trust fund, and some day soon will have to start paying it back from general funds, financed either by more borrowing or by (shudder) increasing tax rates, perhaps on the super super rich and the big corporations.
I think that’s only proper. When super super rich people or corporations take over a big company, they assume its debts, right? Well, they’ve taken over the U.S. government, so they should assume its debts, and pay off those bonds as they come due.
Could it be? Is CNN finally returning to its roots of “journalism” and not just the scare tactics it has used so often over the past ten years?
…Nah. CNN still belongs in the Hall of Hacks, just another bandwagon news source. If you’ve been following CNN for news since Bush took office, you know what I’m talking about. They follow trends and report accordingly.