Teresa Nielsen Hayden talks about the damage that is being done by the rightwing meme about how Social Security is broken:
I?ve been ruminating about a one-liner that?s been floating around the meme pool since lord knows when. You?ve probably heard it a thousand times:
By the time you retire, there?ll be nothing left in the Social Security retirement fund.
It?s untrue, of course; but for those who aren?t aware that it?s untrue, it?s profoundly frightening.
We?re set up to be a cooperative society. We believe that by working together, we can as a people be richer, safer, smarter, and happier. However, this cooperation requires a certain basic level of trust. The belief that you could be left penniless in your old age, after a lifetime of contributing your regular fraction to the public good, creates a huge breach in your sense of trust.
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The other thing about believing there?ll be nothing left when you retire is that it makes you far less likely to scream in outrage over the long-term looting of the national treasury. After all, you already know you?re not going to get any of that.