http://mediamatters.org/items/200501200004New MSNBC contributor Crowley already contributing to Social Security confusion
During MSNBC's coverage of President Bush's inauguration, radio host and MSNBC contributor and analyst Monica Crowley (formerly of FOX News), made the misleading claim that "people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s, are very enthusiastic about the idea of controlling some of their own
money and not allowing the government to do it for them." But a Media Matters for America analysis of six recent polls that examine the issue suggests that younger Americans' support for private accounts is not as clear as Crowley claimed: (1) some polls indicate a significant drop in support for privatization among all age groups when the potential realities of such a system -- decreased guaranteed benefits and $2 trillion in transition costs -- are included in the questions; and (2) some polls also show that there is far less support for private accounts among those in their 30s and 40s as compared to workers aged 18-29.
Two recent polls -- a TIME magazine/SRBI poll conducted January 12-13 and a National Annenberg Election Survey conducted January 11-16 -- indicate that initial support for private accounts among younger workers drops significantly when respondents are informed that a diversion of worker taxes into private accounts could cost an estimated $2 trillion over the next decade. According to the TIME/SRBI poll, while 50 percent of respondents aged 18-34 support "changing Social Security to allow people to invest part of Social Security payroll tax in stocks and bonds," only 21 percent favor and 73 percent oppose such a measure "if the government had to borrow up to two trillion dollars in the next ten years to pay for it." Similarly, the Annenberg study noted that while workers aged 18-29 (by 51 percent to 46 percent) and aged 30-44 (by 60 percent to 35 percent) support "educ both promised benefits and current taxes by allowing workers to invest some of their Social Security contributions in the stock market," both age groups oppose private accounts (by 62 percent to 37 percent and by 50 percent to 42 percent, respectively) if the government had to borrow "as much as two trillion dollars."<snip>