It's rare to see a federal official publicly beg reporters to get a story right, but the commissioner of the Social Security Administration seemed ready to get down on his hands and knees at a Monday morning press briefing. Michael Astrue was cautioning journalists not to scare the public about the meaning of the word "exhaustion." "Please, please remember that exhaustion is an actuarial term of art and it does not mean there will be no money left to pay benefits" he warned in issuing the trustees' annual report on the financial health of the Social Security program. He went out of his way to emphasis that the program is far from broke. Yet the press plowed right ahead with stories warning that the Social Security retirement program is running out of money. Read the full story at
Reuters. Then read The Truth about the
2012 Social Security Trustees Report.