Mike Levin: “As far as I know, that has been true. There may have been an exception, but I do not think so. So the gentleman is…”

“As far as I know, that has been true. There may have been an exception, but I do not think so. So the gentleman is right. These are staged meetings and people who come are screened. For those of us who speak tonight, yourself, myself and others who have held our town hall meetings, there is no screening. We notify the public at large and whoever comes, comes. We have people who have differences of opinion. That was one statement of his that is very, very inaccurate. It is really an insult to the people who want to come to the President's meetings, saying that they come to heckle. The answer is they cannot get in. And they would love to participate in the discussion. He also mentioned another allegation about the number of workers per retiree, and I think he mentioned 15 to 1 or 16 to 1. That is a figure that existed before Social Security began to make payments. The truth of the matter is that when Social Security began to make payments to retirees, the ratio was 6 to 1. Higher than today, it is true. There is a shortfall that would exist either in 2042 or 2052. After that, according to the CBO, the payments would be 78 percent of the scheduled benefits and according to the actuaries, 72 percent. So the notion that it is headed for bankruptcy, this is the path for bankruptcy, is inaccurate. Then another thing that the gentleman from Arizona said, it is just a bunch of IOUs.”