Here's how David Gregory reported on Alan Greenspan's testimony during Wednesday's NBC Nightly News:
GREGORY: On Capitol Hill today, it was Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan sounding the alarm, urging Congress to fix Social Security by adding private accounts before the program can no longer keep its promises to seniors.
GREENSPAN: We owe future retirees as much time as possible to adjust their plans for work, saving and retirement spending.
Let's review what's wrong with this -- Greenspan did not urge Congress to "fix Social Security by adding private accounts before the program can no longer keep its promises to seniors." He urged them to cut benefits for Social Security and Medicare, saying "I fear that we may have already committed more physical resources to the baby-boom generation in its retirement years than our economy has the capacity to deliver." Private accounts would not "fix Social Security" or help it "keep its promises to seniors." Greenspan's rationale for endorsing private accounts was that they would boost national savings if the diversion of revenue into them forced federal budget cuts.
Why doesn't David Gregory understand this? Even after the White House has admitted that private accounts do nothing to improve the fiscal situation of Social Security and Dick Cheney has admitted that they require trillions of dollars in transition costs over the next several decades, one of NBC's top reporters is still buying into the phony claim that private accounts close the program's financial shortfall. Is something wrong here, or is it just me?
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