AFT Disinformation Campaign

Today a reader received a taped phone call about their Republican Congressman, Mike Ferguson and Social Security reform. The message provides a toll free number for the purpose of letting the congressman know “that we want real reform, not a risky Wall Street gamble”.

A couple of problems with the information in this call: a Social Security reform plan has not been put forth by Ferguson or any Republican for that matter and the toll free number provided is not working at this time. A reverse lookup of this number shows that it belongs to the American Federation of Teachers.

The American Federation of Teachers bills themselves as a “union of professionals”. We hope if their professional members were aware that their union dues were being used to communicate false information, designed to scare people, they would call for this campaign to be a stopped immediately. We’re sure they would agree it’s impossible for anyone to determine the cost or the effect of a nonexistent plan. We’ll keep you posted.

Transcription of the taped message below:

Hi. I am calling to alert you that your Congressman, Mike Ferguson supports privatizing Social Security. This plan would cost taxpayers 2 trillion dollars. It would also decrease future benefits to retirees by 47%. The Social Security Trust Fund should be in a lock box not a Wall Street slot machine. Tell Congressman Ferguson that we want real Social Security reform, not a risky Wall Street gamble. Call him at 1 (800) 839-5276