Top 10 lies about Social Security (from those who just want to dismantle government)

Posted December 21, 2011 at 11:34 am by Monique Morrissey

Since the season of top 10 lists is upon us, here’s the Social Security Scrooge version:

1. Social Security costs are escalating out of control. No. Costs are projected to rise from roughly five to six percent of GDP before leveling off.
2. Americans want benefits but aren’t willing to pay for them. Wrong again. Americans across political and demographic lines support paying Social Security taxes. They also strongly prefer raising taxes over cutting benefits as a way to close the projected shortfall. The most popular option is raising taxes on high earners, since earnings above $106,800 aren’t taxed. But Americans prefer to close the gap on the revenue side even if asked to pay more themselves.