‘Neutral’ Federal Agency’s Troubling Manipulation of Data Boosted GOP’s Assault on Social Security

‘Yesterday the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) corrected an error that it made in projecting the share of earnings that will be replaced by Social Security for those nearing retirement. In a report published last fall, CBO projected that for people born in the 1960s, the annual Social Security benefit for those retiring at age 65, would be 60 percent of their earnings for middle income retirees and 95 percent of earnings for those in the bottom quintile. The correction showed that benefits would replace 41 percent of earnings for middle income retirees and 60 percent of earnings for those in the bottom quintile.

This mattered a great deal because the originally published numbers were quickly seized upon by those advocating cuts in Social Security benefits. For example, Andrew Biggs, who served in the Social Security Administration under President George W. Bush, used the projections as a basis for a column in the Wall Street Journal with the headline “new evidence on the phony retirement income crisis.” The piece argued that benefits were overly generous and should be cut back, at least for better off retirees. (To his credit, Biggs quickly retracted the piece after CBO acknowledged the mistake.)’

Read more: ‘Neutral’ Federal Agency’s Troubling Manipulation of Data Boosted GOP’s Assault on Social Security

The post ‘Neutral’ Federal Agency’s Troubling Manipulation of Data Boosted GOP’s Assault on Social Security appeared first on David Icke.