Let's try a picture book...poverty = bad government; middle class = good government

Gov. Rick Perry, the GOP presidential candidate who calls Social Security a “monstrous lie” and a “Ponzi scheme” has implied that future retirees can’t rely upon receiving benefits from the system.



Not only is Perry shooting wildly from the hip on these statements — a strategy cynically designed to attract angry, younger independent voters — he’s spewing some layered falsehoods that need to be addressed.

Social Security can not only be preserved for future generations, its coming fiscal shortfalls can be fixed relatively simply. What Perry also neglects to mention is that it’s one of the most successful anti-poverty programs in U.S. history.

The before-and-after Social Security picture is dramatic. Before Social Security, almost half of elderly Americans had income below the poverty line, reports the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Roughly 12 percent of elderly citizens are considered poor today. The program lifted more than 11 million out of poverty — more than 60 percent of those were women.

Here’s some even more relevant Texas-sized context: Today, more people are slipping back into poverty because of permanent job losses, recessions, a housing meltdown, stock-market downturns, reduced employment benefits, higher medical costs and stagnant wage growth. The U.S. poverty rate last year increased for the third straight year — the highest it’s been since 1993. Some 46 million have annual incomes below the poverty line of $22,113.

As the U.S. is saddled with the highest poverty rate among industrialized countries, why are the anti-poverty features of Social Security being attacked?