Cut Social Security To Pay For Tax Cuts For Rich?

We have a deficit because we cut taxes for the rich, increased military spending, started two decade-long wars and handed tons of money to Wall Street. The Washington elite crowd says therefore, to fix a deficit caused by cutting taxes for the rich and sending military spending up into the stratosphere we have to ... cut Social Security?

I see. And while we're at it I have a bridge I want to sell you, too.

Social Security and the deficit are like apples and oranges. They are different things. Social Security has nothing to do with the budget deficit. As Speaker Nancy Pelosi said at Netroots Nation last week,

"To change Social Security in order to balance the budget, they aren't the same thing in my view," the Democrat said today at the Netroots Nation conference in Las Vegas. "When you talk about reducing the deficit and Social Security, you're talking about apples and oranges."

As Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said at Netroots Nation,

During a question and answer session, Reid ... argued against "fear tactics of those who say Social Security is going broke. It's not." ... "Social Security is the most successful social program in the history of the world," he said.

Don't fall for it. The way to fix a budget deficit caused by cutting taxes for the rich and increasing military spending way beyond what is needed is to ... well see if you can figure it out. Hint: get the money from where the money went.

Coming Soon: Strengthen Social Security Campaign

On Thursday there will be a news conference to announce a Strengthen Social Security Campaign. A coalition of 60 groups are getting together to fight this latest effort to kill Social Security. At the announcement: Richard Trumka (AFL-CIO), Gerald McEntee (AFSCME), Justin Ruben (MoveOn.org), Dennis Van Roekel (NEA), Eliseo Medina (SEIU), Terry O'Neill (NOW), Donna Meltzer (Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities), Hilary Shelton (NAACP), Ed Coyle (Alliance for Retired Americans).

You can go sign the petition at strengthensocialsecurity.org

Views expressed on this page are those of the authors and not necessarily those of Campaign for America's Future or Institute for America's Future