Fact Checking The Social Security Claims From GOP Debate

04:53

September 08, 2011

Republican presidential candidates former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, left, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry answer a question during a Republican presidential candidate debate in Simi Valley, Calif. (AP)

One of the biggest moments from Wednesday night's Republican presidential candidates debate was a comment from Texas Governor Rick Perry about Social Security.

"It is a Ponzi scheme to tell our kids that are 25 or 30 years old today, you're paying into a program that's going to be there. Anybody that's for the status quo with Social Security today is involved with a monstrous lie to our kids, and it's not right," Perry said.

The New York Times reported that Perry's comments were misleading and that "Government projections have Social Security exhausting its reserves by 2037, absent any changes, but show that the payroll tax revenues coming in would cover more than three-quarters of benefits to recipients then."

Howard Gleckman, resident fellow at the Urban Institute, agrees that Perry's comments were misleading.

"When Governor Perry said there's no money there for 25 to 30 years old, he was just wrong. He's perpetuating a myth," Gleckman told Here & Now's Robin Young.

NYTimes: Debate transcript

Guest:

Howard Gleckman, resident fellow at the Urban Institute, editor of the blog TaxVox, and author of “Caring for Our Parents,” a book on how we deliver and finance long-term care to seniors and adults with disabilities.

This segment aired on September 8, 2011.