The Supercommittee Was Considering "Cuts" to Social Security and Medicare, not "Changes"

A NYT piece on the failure of the supercommittee repeatedly referred to plans to "change" Social Security and Medicare. The supercommittee was not considering random changes to these programs, they were proposing cuts. The purpose was to save money, not make the programs better.

These programs are incredibly popular across the political spectrum as even large majorities of conservatives and Republicans oppose cuts to them. It is therefore understandable that politicians would use euphemisms t...