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Wednesday, May 04, 2005
Smilin' Norm makes the big time
Media Matters catches Smilin' Norm fudging the numbers:
On CNN's pre-press conference coverage, Blitzer failed to correct Grassley's claim that "we have overpromised, by $10 to $12 trillion, what we can deliver for our children and grandchildren." Earlier that evening, Blitzer failed to correct Coleman as he distorted the numbers to an even greater degree, claiming: "We have a $15 -- $10 to $15 trillion unfunded liability from Social Security." Similarly, following Bush's press conference, Northup asserted on Fox News that "there's a $10 trillion unfunded liability."
Coleman is referencing the Social Security liability over an infinite horizon. That's not a sound actuarial principle: "[T]he new measures of OASDI's [Social Security's] unfunded obligations included in the 2003 report provide little if any useful information about the program's long-range finances and indeed are likely to mislead anyone lacking technical expertise in the demographic, economic and actuarial aspects of the program's finances into believing that the program is in far worse financial condition than is actually indicated."
Smilin' Norm is not misled, he's just dishonest.
