Most recent public comments by Politifact.com Quoted https://nowcomment.com/users/920 https://nowcomment.com/documents/2196?scroll_to=3761 https://nowcomment.com/documents/2196?scroll_to=3761 The reason that this is a scheme and not an investment strategy is that the geometric progression it depends on is unsustainable," the government post says. "You must continually get more and more new people into the system to pay off the promises to the earlier members. Tue, 19 Feb 2013 14:50:31 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/2196?scroll_to=3760 https://nowcomment.com/documents/2196?scroll_to=3760 During Huntsman’s tenure, January 2005 to August 2009, Utah had the best overall job-growth rate of any state in the nation," the item said. "In that same time frame, Perry’s job-growth rate was 4.9 percent. (Minnesota Gov. Tim) Pawlenty’s job-growth rate was negative: The number of jobs in Minnesota decreased by 1.8 percent. Tue, 19 Feb 2013 14:50:31 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/2196?scroll_to=3754 https://nowcomment.com/documents/2196?scroll_to=3754 Five pages into a section called, "Runaway Entitlement Spending," on Page 62, Perry writes: By any measure, Social Security is a failure. As author Jim Powell points out in FDR's Folly, one pro-FDR historian justified Social Security not on its merits but as an important "symbolic gesture to demonstrate that Roosevelt's heart was in the right place." This sounds a lot like justifying the current administration's policies because well-meaning politicians want to provide "hope." Now, if you say Social Security is a failure, as I have just done, you will inherit the wind of political scorn. Seniors might think you want to cut the benefits they have paid for. Politicians will seek to take advantage, stirring up fear about benefits that will be lost if you elect another "heartless Republican." I get it. That's why only retired senators chair entitlement commissions. We are told that no politician has the courage to raise these issues, even if avoiding them puts us on the fast track to financial run. But by remaining quiet, politicians are really saying they think the American people won't understand it if we share the grim details of our financial future, and that voters will simply kill -- or vote against -- the messenger in order to continue to receive an underfunded benefit that robbed them of the tens of thousands of dollars they should have made. Is that how we should respect our fellow citizens? So indeed, Perry said Social Security "is a failure;" he even acknowledged that doing so means he will "inherit the wind of political scorn." Does Perry stand by his 2010 book? Less than a month ago he told a reporter in Des Moines, "I haven't backed off anything in my book. So read the book again and get it right." On Sept. 11, 2011, he clarified for USA Today, "As I said at the Reagan Library recently, Social Security benefits for current recipients and those nearing retirement must be protected. For younger workers, we must consider reforms to make Social Security financially viable." But Romney made it clear he was quoting from Perry's book. He said "In writing his book, Gov. Perry pointed out that … by any measure Social Security has been a failure." And indeed, in Perry's book, Fed Up!, he touts the benefits of private plans and says: "By any measure, Social Security is a failure." We rate Romney's statement True. Tue, 19 Feb 2013 14:50:30 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/2196?scroll_to=3753 https://nowcomment.com/documents/2196?scroll_to=3753 Perry did issue an order requiring schoolgirls receive the HPV vaccine. In arguing that his order was not a mandate, Perry points to the Conscientious Objection to Immunization form that lets parents of public school students decline immunizations without consequence. The burden to file and refile the notarized forms on time falls on the parents. However, our research determined that it's not certain the opt-out would have been accepted for the 15 percent of Texas girls attending private schools. Also unknown: Whether every Catholic school would have allowed students subject to Perry's order to abstain from the three HPV shots in the vaccination series. Ultimately, the governor issued an order for the Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner to "adopt rules that mandate the age appropriate vaccination of all female children for HPV prior to admission to the sixth grade." According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a mandate is "a clear instruction, authorization or direction." Perry says the executive order wasn't mandatory, which, according to Webster, means "demanded or required." But that's what Perry's order did: it set up a requirement. Just because there's a loophole — a way to "say no," in the governor's parlance — doesn't mean the requirement doesn't exist. Physical education classes are also mandatory to graduate high school, but if you have any number of health conditions, you can skip the timed mile. We rate Perry's claim Barely True. Tue, 19 Feb 2013 14:50:30 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/2196?scroll_to=3752 https://nowcomment.com/documents/2196?scroll_to=3752 First, some background on the Galveston program, which is an oddity in American retirement-security policy. (The federal government banned such moves by local governments in 1983.) In 1981, employees of Galveston County -- as well as those in two adjoining Texas counties, Matagorda and Brazoria -- voted, after lengthy presentations and discussions, to withdraw from Social Security and initiate a system of individual accounts to provide retirement, survivor and disability benefits. (It’s worth pointing out that the plan only affects employees of the county government -- not everyone who lives in Galveston County, as some viewers might take away from Cain’s comment.) Participants would contribute to their retirement accounts, supplemented by an amount from their employers, and those funds would be invested in annuities through a financial-services company chosen by a county-run bidding process. The Alternate Plan, as it is called, was designed to supplement a separate, existing, defined-contribution pension plan known as the Texas County and District Retirement System. The Alternate Plan’s benefits are not indexed for inflation (a key difference from Social Security -- more on that below) and while each participant is assigned an individual account, the employee is not able to control investment decisions. In recent years, as various politicians have floated ideas to partially privatize Social Security, the Galveston plan has received an unusual amount of public attention. However, the primary statistics available to gauge Cain’s claim are imperfect, since they are more than a decade old. Judging which plan provides a better payout requires constructing models for various types of employees, accounting for variables such as income, the length and consistency of job tenure, marital status and the number and age of dependents. So comparing the two plans is a complex undertaking, and the most thorough independent examinations of the question -- a pair of 1999 studies by the Government Accountability Office and the Social Security Administration -- do not appear to have been updated in the past dozen years. Tue, 19 Feb 2013 14:50:30 -0500