SOCIAL SECURITY AND FATS LIMBAUGH

As recently as June 22, Rush Limbaugh said Social Security was "Madoff-Type Ponzi Scheme" but today he told an elderly caller that it was in great shape:

RUSH: I'm gonna give you some numbers on this. Your Social Security check should be made with ease. There is money. In fact, one of the ways that it happens is that Treasury bonds, by law, will be sold and redeemed and the money used to fund Social Security payments.

CALLER: Hmm.

RUSH: That is a matter of law. It's certainly a matter of choice. It has nothing to do with running out of money. I'm gonna find this thing. I've got four stacks today, and I thought I knew which stack.

[snip]

RUSH: Here it is. Professor Michael McConnell, law professor Michael McConnell. " "The Social Security trust fund holds about $2.4 trillion in U.S. Treasury bonds, which its trustees are legally entitled to redeem whenever Social Security is running a current account deficit." Are you listening to me on this?

CALLER: Yes, I am.

RUSH: "Thus, if we reach the debt ceiling ... this is what will happen. The Social Security trust fund will go to Treasury and cash in some of its securities, using the proceeds to send checks to recipients. Each dollar of debt that is redeemed will lower the outstanding public debt by a dollar. That enables the Treasury to borrow another dollar, without violating the debt ceiling." We have income coming in to handle your Social Security. When you hear Barack Obama tell you, when that reporter says, "Can you guarantee checks --" (imitating Obama) "I can't, Scott, and it's not just Social Security, we're talking about the Medicare." They're lying and trying to scare you. I'll tell you, it is economic terrorism what they're doing to you.

CALLER: Well, it is scary.

RUSH: Your Social Security check will go out, and there is already a mechanism in the Social Security trust fund to sell Treasury bonds to come up with the cash to pay you. It is there. Obama is demagoguing this. The Democrats are demagoguing this. Your Social Security check will go out. Only unless...