Bill Bennett: “I rise to turn my attention to a report that was released yesterday, the annual report of the Board of Trustees of the…”

“I rise to turn my attention to a report that was released yesterday, the annual report of the Board of Trustees of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and the Disability Insurance Trust Funds. Those are fancy names for what we call Social Security. With yesterday's release, they once again changed their projection as to what the future might hold with respect to Social Security, thus underlying a point I have tried to make in my career in the Senate ever since I arrived; that is, all projections about the future are wrong. I don't know whether they are wrong on the high side or on the low side, but they are always wrong. The closer we get to reality, the more we have to adjust those projections and say: Well, it is closer to this, that, and the other. The most reliable projections are those which are 30 days out. The next most reliable are those which are 3 months out and then those which are 6 months, those which are a year. Those which are 20 years or 30 years out are all very much subject to challenge. We are seeing that here.”