Top 10 Myths About Social Security

The best article I've seen in some time about Social Security is an opinion piece from the Morningstar website, "Top 10 Myths About Social Security." I think the best thing here is to cite all 10 myths and let you go read the full piece for the explanations of each.

Myth 1: Social Security is going bankrupt.

Myth 2: Social Security is a key driver of the national deficit.

Myth 3: The Social Security Trust Fund is nothing but a bunch of paper IOUs. It doesn't really exist.

Myth 4: Social Security is a Ponzi scheme.

Myth 5: We're all living longer, so we should raise the retirement age.

Myth 6: We need to "fix" Social Security in order to save it for young people when they retire.

Myth 7: Benefit cuts would be phased in; today's seniors won't be affected.

Myth 8: Social Security pays generous benefits.

Myth 9: Means testing can save Social Security.

Myth 10: Social Security costs are exploding, so we need to cut benefits.

Some of these really do require explanation. And he's not arguing that no changes should be made, but that relatively small changes will be sufficient -- we don't need to tear it up and start over, as privatization advocates would have you believe.

As you might expect, the comments get a bit heated.