Of course, so does the reporter, Michael O'Brien of The Hill, who wrote this story.

Entitlement reform will be tough as long as Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) runs the Senate, the second-ranking House Republican said Wednesday. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) chided Reid, who's increasingly a target of the House GOP's barbs, for having said that Social Security is not facing a financial crisis. Real action in Congress to address the deficit is a tougher climb as long as Reid holds that viewpoint, Cantor said. "I think one of the problems is that you have Leader Reid in the Senate, who said there aren't any fiscal problems with Social Security," the No. 2 House Republican said on MSNBC.

Of course, Social Security doesn't contribute to the deficit, something Cantor actually probably does know but refuses to acknowledge, and something every reporter writing about Social Security should know in order to report effectively. Additionally, what Harry Reid said about Social Security is absolutely truthful. Here's a reminder from his recent Meet the Press appearance.

MR. GREGORY: Social Security, how does it have to change? What they put on the agenda is raising the retirement age, maybe means testing benefits. Is it time for Social Security to fundamentally change if you're going to deal with the debt problem? SEN. REID: One of the things that always troubles me is, when we start talking about the debt, the first thing people do is run to Social Security. Social Security is a program that works, and it's going to be--it's fully funded for the next 40 years. Stop picking on Social Security. There are a lot places we can go to... MR. GREGORY: Senator, you're really saying the arithmetic on Social Security works? SEN. REID: I'm saying the arithmetic on Social Security works. I have no doubt it does. For the next... MR. GREGORY: It's not in crisis? SEN. REID: No, it's not in crisis. This is, this is, this is something that's perpetuated by people who don't like government. Social Security is fine. Are there things we can do to improve Social Security? Of course. But don't, don't... MR. GREGORY: Means testing? Raising the retirement age? SEN. REID: ...don't--I'm... MR. GREGORY: Do you agree with either of those? SEN. REID: I'm not going to go to any of those back-door methods to whack Social Security recipients. I'm not going to do that. We have a lot of things we can do with this debt that's a problem. But one of the places where I'm not going to be part of picking on is Social Security.

David Gregory needs the lesson on Social Security, too. Yes, Social Security is in fine shape until 2037, and it's not going to take any kind of major restructuring to make it sustainable beyond that. And Social Security doesn't contribute to the deficit. It seems like that can't be said enough. The only way in which Social Security could be used to reduce the deficit is if the contributions American workers currently make toward the program became a regular tax and that tax applied just to deficit reduction. But that would essentially be a new tax, and we know how much Republicans hate taxes, so that's not going to be happening either.