Bush on African-American Males and Social Security statement debunked (POV, religion)

[Bright-ness' Shadow]

Complete Article

Of all the lies -- let's call them by their right name -- that the Bush administration is spreading about Social Security, none is as vile as the canard Bush repeated last Tuesday, when he said, "African-American males die sooner than other males do, which means the [Social Security] system is inherently unfair to a certain group of people. And that needs to be fixed." That is an entirely phony assertion; it has been debunked by the Social Security Administration, by the Government Accountability Office and by other experts. Bush and those around him know that. For them to repeat what they know to be a blatant lie is despicable fear-mongering.

Bush didn't make up this phony line on his own; it comes from the Heritage Foundation,...• Heritage failed to factor in the progressivity of Social Security benefits; on a taxes-paid to benefits-received ratio, those with lower incomes get more back. Blacks tend to earn less than whites, and thus their Social Security benefits are larger in comparison to taxes they pay.

• Social Security is more than retirement benefits. It also includes survivor and disability benefits. Blacks benefit disproportionately from those programs. While blacks are 11 percent of the workforce, for example, they are 18 percent of those receiving disability benefits. Almost half the blacks receiving Social Security -- 47 percent -- are getting disability benefits or survivor benefits.

The Social Security actuaries found that Heritage had exaggerated substantially the amount blacks pay in Social Security taxes and low-balled the benefits they receive. "In fact," the actuaries said, "results from more careful research reflecting actual work histories for workers by race indicate that the non-white population actually enjoys the same or better expected rates of return from Social Security than for the white population."

The GAO reached the same conclusion.

Alternat has a different perspective - Complete article

he [Bush] said: "African-American males die sooner than other males do, which means the system is inherently unfair to a certain group. This needs to be fixed." President Bush has his priorities backwards. The issue that needs to "be fixed" isn't Social Security, it's the troubling statistic that African-American males have a shorter life expectancy than any other ethnic or racial group in America. If President Bush is serious about reaching out to the African-American community, his time would be more wisely spent addressing countless inequalities faced by African Americans in the U.S. today, like unequal access to health care, a higher incidence of unemployment, a disproportionate poverty rate and a higher rate of deadly youth violence. Instead, he has systematically cut programs designed to help combat these very issues.

African Americans depend heavily on Social Security benefits, which would be cut under President Bush's plan. The AARP found African Americans rely on Social Security benefits for about 44 percent of their income in retirement. That number is even higher for African-American women, who are likely to rely on Social Security for 56.8 percent of their income in retirement. On top of that, African Americans are less likely to have income from private assets; thus "Social Security is the only source of income for one in three African Americans over age 65." According to Hillary Shelton of the NAACP, "African-American children are almost four times as likely to be lifted out of poverty by Social Security benefits than our white counterparts."

[Feathers in Hair]

Pah, you've got a knack for finding articles that make my skin crawl. (In that good, want-to-do-something-about-it way, that is.)

[Bright-ness' Shadow]

Originally Posted by FeathersinHair

Pah, you've got a knack for finding articles that make my skin crawl. (In that good, want-to-do-something-about-it way, that is.)

Hang on to your purse as you continue to shudder Cost of Privatization - another mind-boggling thread And take at look a just where people of color are today compared to the year 2000.State of the Dream 2005

[Feathers in Hair]

Shall we start calling them "Pah's House of Horrors"? (Nah, because you didn't create them, you're simply calling attention to them.

And I can't hang on to my purse, because I'll be mentally using it to whap a few select people over the head with.

[anders]

I'm so glad that registering ethnicity/religion/whatever is illegal in Sweden. There are so many ways to abuse statistics.

[desi]

African American males do have a shorter life span than white males and on average collect social security for a shorter time then their white counterparts. Bush was correct.

[Bright-ness' Shadow]

Originally Posted by desi

African American males do have a shorter life span than white males and on average collect social security for a shorter time then their white counterparts. Bush was correct.

You can see, by this comment, why this thread is needed. But normally a thread is read before commenting. The comment given is what is countered by the opening post.

Perhaps you have something more than reitieration to back up your comment. Many of us here are immune to the repeated lie

[Scuba Pete]

I don't know Pah... somehow the "Repeated Lie" got elected.

[Bright-ness' Shadow]

Originally Posted by NetDoc

I don't know Pah... somehow the "Repeated Lie" got elected.

But not by many of our members.

I don't know which is worse - the behavior of sheep the "repeated lie" invokes or the cynicism of the liar.