Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

Letter to the editor:

Get Social Security facts straight

Another view?

View more of the Las Vegas Sun's opinion section:

Editorials - the Sun's viewpoint.

Columnists - local and syndicated writers.

Letters to the editor - readers' views.

Have your own opinion? Write a letter to the editor.

Two things caught my attention in Sundays’ Sun.

First, Dwight Jones’ article, “Federal cuts would hurt the students in our state,” was enlightening. Jones said, “Finally, Nevada had the largest gains of all 50 states in eighth-grade reading and math. ...” He goes on to say “these performance gains were achieved using fewer funds than we had in previous years.” They did better with less but want more. Typical.

Second, Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., writes in “GOP must disavow dictatorial tax pledge”: “In fact, Social Security is not paid for out of the general fund and therefore has no impact on the federal deficit.” Maybe she should spend more time researching her facts before making such statements.

Social Security began running a deficit in 2011; it continues to do so. It has paid out over $150 billion more than it has collected over the past two years. That money came from the general fund (or should I say was borrowed), thus adding to the federal deficit.

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy