WHY IS A REPUBLICAN GETTING A SEGMENT ON MSNBC ANYWAY?

MSNBC personality Abby Huntsman on Thursday, March 13, 2014, claimed that Social Security benefits needed to be cut in order to preserve them for future generations.

That's not true, and we ask that MSNBC issue an on-air correction to Huntsman’s segment. We also ask that Richard Eskow and Richard Fowler be invited on “The Cycle” to refute her claims. Eskow and Fowler recently co-authored a rebuttal to Huntsman, "Dear Abby: An Open Letter to MSNBC’s Huntsman About Social Security," which was published this weekend on OurFuture.org and in The Huffington Post.

In the segment on MSNBC's “The Cycle,” Huntsman misused average life expectancy data to convince viewers that Social Security is unsustainable. She claims that our choices are to either cut Social Security benefits by as much as 20 percent or raise the retirement age to 75, otherwise there will be “nothing left” for her generation. 

All of this is flat wrong. Today, Social Security can pay out 100 percent of promised benefits through 2033 and 75 percent of promised benefits through 2087. Furthermore, that 75 percent of promised benefits in 2033 would still be higher than benefits are today. The simplest solution to the problem Huntsman exaggerates is to ask millionaires and billionaires to pay into Social Security at the same rate as the rest of us.

Huntsman is creating a phony “generational war” between young and old, simply repeating talking points ginned up by Wall Street billionaire think tanks.

We demand that MSNBC issue an on-air correction to Huntsman’s false attacks on Social Security.

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