In the New York Times this morning, the White House

[A] spokesman for the White House, Trent Duffy, said, “The president welcomes comments from members of Congress about how to fix Social Security, as opposed to those who want to ignore the problem and leave our children and grandchildren empty handed.”

In fact, according to the Social Security actuaries, no one will be left “empty handed.” In 2042, when the trust fund is projected to be exhausted, the system will be able to pay approximately 73 percent of scheduled benefits, which will still be worth more than what seniors receive today. This is part of a long pattern of the administration suggesting that future retirees will not receive benefits by saying the system will be “flat bust,” “broke,” “bankrupt,” and so forth (also see this post). It’s nonsense.