A Morning Edition segment today contrasted commercials on Social Security aired by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. The segment left listeners with the impression that the next president would have to "reform" the program. Of course this is not true. The Congressional Budget Office projects that the program will be fully solvent until 2046 with no changes whatsoever. This is almost thirty years after the latest date that the next president leaves office. Unsolicited advice for presidential candidates of either party: cut the budget for NPR and PBS and divert the money to Social Security. Of course the amount of money involved is too trivial to have any real impact on the finances of Social Security, but if we stop the public funding of unfounded fearmongering on Social Security, it could increase public confidence in the program.
--Dean Baker