Most Americans, including Rebecca, see problems down the road, even though monthly checks are still going out on time. It doesn't make you feel any better about it when everybody's saying that it's probably gonna run out of money. And more than two-thirds also know that solvency problems will come more 10 years in the future. At the same time, however, Americans are confused about why the program is in trouble. For instance, a majority says it's because the government uses the money for other purposes and because of fraud and abuse by people who aren't entitled to benefits.
Experts flatly disagree.
But they're hearing mixed messages from the media, interest groups and their elected officials. For instance, more than half of those polled believe the number of Americans over 65 who live in poverty has increased over the last 30 years, when the opposite is true. Mike Tanner, an analyst and director of the Privatization Project at the Cato Institute, isn't surprised. The elderly lobby is very powerful in this country and has for years pushed the idea that the elderly were in desperate need and needed more and bigger government programs. The reality, of course, is that they are the biggest beneficiaries of government programs and, by and large, are well-off.