Opinion:trump Just Gave Away The Republican Game On Social Security And Medicare
Davos went to President Trump’s head. Perhaps it was the rarefied air of the annual World Economic Forum, a place where billionaires congratulate one another on what they see as their unique virtues and smarts. Perhaps it was the ego boost, as Trump basked in acceptance by a high-end business crowd that once held him at arm’s length. But whatever the reason, it caused Trump to make a major mistake.
Trump gave away the Republican game on Social Security and Medicare.
During an interview with on Wednesday, Trump was asked, “ entitlements ever be on your plate?” Entitlements are, of course, Washington-speak for Medicare and Social Security. Trump responded, “At some point they will be,” adding, “It’ll be toward the end of the year.” Just in case Trump misunderstood, Joe Kernen followed up, reminding him this was something he had “said you wouldn’t do in the past” and specifically mentioning Medicare. Trump cut him off. “Well, we’re going to look.”
For Democrats, this is what’s generally known as a gimme — one that makes it more important than ever that the Democrats make sure their presidential nominee is someone who can take on Trump over the issue. That person is not former vice president Joe Biden, and that’s true no matter how many commercials he runs proclaiming, “Joe Biden has repeatedly voted to save Social Security.”
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How To Close A $125 Trillion Budget Shortfall In Social Security
At the heart of Social Security’s issues is an estimated $12.5 trillion budget shortfall, based on the current payout schedule, between 2034 and 2091. Lawmakers in Washington essentially have three ways to fix this problem:
Naturally, a combination of both parties’ solutions would be the smartest for Social Security over the long run — but it’s also the least likely considering that neither can agree on much when it comes to America’s most important social program.
This leaves two choices: Raise revenue or cut benefits. Since the GOP currently has control of the legislative branch of the government, reducing Social Security benefits isn’t necessarily out of the question. In fact, with tax reform working its way through Capitol Hill, reforming so-called entitlements like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, might very well be needed by the GOP to pay for the massive tax cuts being passed along to corporations and individual taxpayers.
Filling Public Trustee Jobs For Medicare And Social Security Is A Step To Shoring Up The Programs
The trust funds that support Social Security and Medicare are expected to run out of money. Policy experts argue Congress needs to act quickly to avoid benefit cuts.
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Political parties don’t seem to agree on much these days, but at least 100 members split among Democrats and Republicans do share one common belief — Social Security is in dire need of help — and they want Congress to do something about it.
The trust funds that support Social Security’s activities are expected to run out of money by 2035, and if that were to happen, beneficiaries would receive about 80% of what they’re owed. Medicare is in even more imminent danger — the Medicare Hospital Insurance fund, which supports inpatient care, is expected to be in 2026.
The Bipartisan Policy Center and the National Academy of Social Insurance released a letter this month, with 100 signatures from both political parties, addressing this issue, and one way to go about fixing it.
In the letter, Republicans and Democrats call on Congress to act on pending nominations for the public trustee roles for the boards of Social Security and Medicare, which have been vacant since 2015. These roles are supposed to be filled by two people, one Democrat and one Republican, who will work with the boards of Social Security and Medicare to provide guidance for these programs from an independent, nongovernmental perspective.
Fact Check: Trump Hammers Biden On Nafta Support Which He Said Killed Jobs He’s Right
President Trump used part of his speech Thursday night to hammer Joe Biden on his support of “catastrophic” trade deals he said bled U.S. jobs to other countries.
“Biden voted for the NAFTA disaster, the single worst trade deal ever enacted; he supported China’s entry into the World Trade Organization, one of the greatest economic disasters of all time. After those Biden calamities, the United States lost 1 in 4 manufacturing jobs,” Trump said.
This claim is true, although trade was not the only reason that U.S. companies shed these jobs.
Republicans Very Much Dislike The Current Cola Measurement
You should understand that the Republican Party doesn’t like the current inflationary tether, the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers .
The biggest issue Republicans have with the CPI-W is that it doesn’t do a very good job of measuring the inflation that seniors are facing, thereby resulting in an inaccurate cost-of-living adjustment each year. That’s because, as the name implies, the CPI-W tracks the spending habits of urban and clerical workers, who in nearly all instances aren’t receiving a Social Security check. Essentially, seniors’ annual raise is tied to the spending habits of non-seniors, and that doesn’t sit well with anyone in Congress.
In particular, Republicans would like to replace the CPI-W with the Chained CPI. The Chained CPI takes into account the idea of substitution bias, which involves trading down from a pricier good or service to something less expensive if prices go up. For example, if the price of ground beef rises 40%, you might buy pork or chicken instead. The CPI-W does not take into account substitution bias.
Although substitution bias does take into account a real-life purchasing strategy of consumers, the consensus view among pundits is that it would result in lower annual COLAs more years than not, relative to the CPI-W.
The End Of Medicare And Medicaid
Jan 23, 2017 ·It will contain the “vouchers.” You will get one coupon for $10 off on any surgery costing over $10,000. You will get $5 off your first prescription. You will get $15 off any prescription glasses over $1000 and on and on with the silly coupons. Of course if you don’t need glasses, then there is no benefit. The coupons are not transferable.
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His Tax Cut Isnt Helping The Economy But It Did Blow A Hole In The Budget That Hed Fill By Gutting Entitlement Programs
Health-care activists rally in front of the Capitol in March 2017 to highlight the changes then being sought in Medicaid in the Republican American Health Care Act.
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Later this evening, Donald Trump delivers his third State of the Union address. If past speeches are any indicator, we know tonight’s speech will be filled with a number of exaggerations and outright falsehoods — especially when it comes to the economy.
Since he signed the bill two years ago, Trump has heralded the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act as this administration’s greatest accomplishment, declaring that
But this couldn’t be further from the truth. While the law gave giant tax breaks to the wealthy and big corporations, the rest of us were left with crumbs — at best. The wage growth that Trump promised hasn’t materialized, and 100 million Americans are going to be left paying higher taxes.
Another opinion:Trump should offer a new deal for the middle class in his State of the Union speech
Now, Trump is using his tax cuts, which he promised would be a boon to the economy, as an excuse to threaten cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid — programs Americans have been paying into with every paycheck, and programs the federal government is required, by law, to offer to every single eligible person.
Turns out everyone’s predictions were right: Republicans are targeting Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. No surprise there.
Trump Keeps Proposing Entitlement Cuts And Then Denying That He Did So
In 2015 and ’16, Trump differentiated himself from the rest of the Republican presidential hopefuls by campaigning on a vow to not cut entitlements.
“I’m not going to cut Social Security like every other Republican and I’m not going to cut Medicare or Medicaid,” Trump told the Daily Signal, a conservative publication affiliated with the Heritage Foundation, in 2015.
As his budget proposals indicate, this promise was an empty one. Trump, however, seems to realize that cutting entitlements is a political loser for him, and as a result has continued to make assertions about preserving them that are at odds with reality.
All Republicans support people with pre-existing conditions, and if they don’t, they will after I speak to them. I am in total support. Also, Democrats will destroy your Medicare, and I will keep it healthy and well!
— Donald J. Trump October 18, 2018
Last month, however, Trump seemed to have a moment of radical honesty when he told CNBC during an interview conducted in Davos that “at some point” entitlement cuts will be on the table.
CNBC: Will entitlements ever be on your plate ?TRUMP: “At some point they will be”CNBC: But you said you wouldn’t do that in the pastTRUMP: “We also have assets that we never had”
Those comments created a negative stir, so the very next day Trump tried to walk them back.
Fast-forward less than a month, and Trump is again pushing entitlement cuts. It’s whiplash-inducing.
Fact Check: ‘record’ Job Gains Still Leave The Us Labor Market In Worse Shape Than Great Recession
On the last night of his party’s convention, President Trump bragged about “record” job gains in recent months, but the 9.1 million jobs he touts come with some qualifiers.
“Over the past three months, we have gained over nine million jobs, and that’s a record in the history of our country,” Trump said Thursday.
The recent job gains are still less than half the number of jobs the economy shed in March and April at the height of pandemic-ordered lockdowns. From March through July, the economy lost a net 12.9 million jobs, the most in American history.
The nearly 2 million jobs added in July also represent a sharp slowdown from the almost 5 million jobs added in June.
And several major groups of workers are at greater risk of falling behind. Black unemployment, at 14.6 percent in July, registered less than a percentage point of improvement. Among Hispanics, the rate of unemployment also remained elevated at nearly 13 percent, compared to just nearly 9 percent for white workers.
Declaring victory is premature, especially as COVID-19 continues to inflict staggering damage to the economy, said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics.
“It still has a long way to go, and risks falling back in as the pandemic continues to rage and causes more layoffs and curtails hiring,” he said.
Older Americans Oppose Cuts To Social Security Medicare
May 26, 2021 ·Among all respondents age 50-plus, 85 percent strongly oppose cutting Social Security and the same percentage strongly oppose decreasing Medicare benefits to reduce the federal deficit. The survey also found that 87 percent of Democrats, 79 percent of independents and 88 percent of Republicans strongly oppose cutting Social Security.
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Do Republicans In Congress Want To Take Away Social Security Medicare Medicaid
It’s been a time-tested Democratic attack line: Republicans are going to take away your Medicare, or maybe your Social Security. We gave a variant of the line our 2011 Lie of the Year.
Now the talking point has re-emerged, in a , from Oregon’s Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee:
“ was only the beginning. After giving massive tax giveaways to wealthy & powerful shareholders, Republicans in Congress are plotting to take away Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.”
? was only the beginning. After giving massive tax giveaways to wealthy & powerful shareholders, Republicans in Congress are plotting to take away Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
In reality, the notion that congressional Republicans are scheming to “take away” Medicaid, Medicare or Social Security is inaccurate.
The Democratic news release
The first piece of evidence undercutting the tweet’s message is actually linked in the tweet itself.
An accompanying Senate Democratic press , dated March 27, starts by saying, “It’s only been a few months since Republicans jammed through their to corporate executives and wealthy shareholders. Now they’re planning on paying for it with huge cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, despite President Trump’s promises that he wouldn’t do so.”
These quotes suggest the Republican in charge of the House continues to seek overhauls of the entitlement system.
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Fact Check: Record Job Gains Still Leave The Us Labor Market In Worse Shape Than Great Recession
On the last night of his party’s convention, President Trump bragged about “record” job gains in recent months, but the 9.1 million jobs he touts come with some qualifiers.
“Over the past three months, we have gained over nine million jobs, and that’s a record in the history of our country,” Trump said Thursday.
The recent job gains are still less than half the number of jobs the economy shed in March and April at the height of pandemic-ordered lockdowns. From March through July, the economy lost a net 12.9 million jobs, the most in American history.
The nearly 2 million jobs added in July also represent a sharp slowdown from the almost 5 million jobs added in June.
And several major groups of workers are at greater risk of falling behind. Black unemployment, at 14.6 percent in July, registered less than a percentage point of improvement. Among Hispanics, the rate of unemployment also remained elevated at nearly 13 percent, compared to just nearly 9 percent for white workers.
Declaring victory is premature, especially as COVID-19 continues to inflict staggering damage to the economy, said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics.
“It still has a long way to go, and risks falling back in as the pandemic continues to rage and causes more layoffs and curtails hiring,” he said.
Republican Views On Medicare
Mar 05, 2016 ·One of the biggest reasons that Republicans believe in drastic Medicare reform is that the system, in its current state, is unsustainable. Medicare has grown from more than 20 million enrolled in 1970 to more than 47 million enrolled today, with a projected total of 80 million in 2030. Medicaid counted almost 30 million enrollees in 1990, has …
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Trump Hits Biden Over Trade Manufacturing
Job losses resulting from NAFTA tend to be overstated — but one major study found that more than 850,000 jobs were displaced by the pact.
Robert E. Scott of the pro-labor Economic Policy Institute found that about 851,700 U.S. jobs were displaced by the U.S. trade deficit with Mexico from 1993 to 2014.
When it comes to normalizing trade relations with China — a status President George W. Bush formally granted in 2001 after China entered the World Trade Organization — U.S. job losses have been larger, according to studies.
The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service wrote in 2018, citing a 2014 study by the Economic Policy Institute, that “growth in the U.S. goods trade deficit with China between 2001 and 2013 eliminated or displaced 3.2 million U.S. jobs .”
If you add the 851,700 figure with the 3.2 million figure, you would see a figure that approximates 4 million, which is roughly 25 percent of the estimated 17 million manufacturing jobs that existed in 1994.
Experts have pointed out, however, that technology and automation has likely had at least as much of an effect on these losses in manufacturing jobs, with many noting that the losses would have occurred even without NAFTA.
The Republican Obsession With Dismantling Social Security And Medicare
The are desperate to destroy Social Security and Medicare. These two programs demonstrate government at its best. The federal government runs these two extremely popular programs more efficiently, universally, securely, and effectively than the private sector does with its alternatives — or indeed could, no matter how well those private sector programs were designed.
Because Social Security and Medicare are government programs that work so well, the Republican elite — with its seemingly religious belief that the private sector is always the best — hates them. So obsessed are the Republicans in their desire to eliminate these effective government programs that the very first action that House Republicans took in the new Congress was to adopt a rules package that included a new rule that amounts to a stealth attack on Social Security and Medicare.
The rules package, adopted at the start of every new Congress, sets out how the chamber will operate for the next two years. This year’s package is already infamous for provisions in the initial version that would have gutted the Office of Congressional Ethics — provisions that were ultimately dropped after a massive outcry from the American people. Unnoticed by most was an additional provision, which is one part of the Republican game plan to destroy Social Security and Medicare.
Will Republicans Cut Social Security And Medicare For Poor And Elderly To Pay For Their Tax Plan
Senate Democrats are warning constituents that the newly passed Republican tax overhaul could lead to significant cuts to Social Security, Medicare and other entitlement programs.
President Donald Trump said last week that entitlement cuts will, “take place right after taxes, very soon, very shortly after taxes” despite promising on the campaign trail that he would not touch entitlement programs. “I’m not going to cut Social Security like every other Republican, and I’m not going to cut Medicare or Medicaid,” he said as a candidate.
Key Democrats are already campaigning against the potential cuts. ” dream has been to undo those programs, give massive tax breaks to those who don’t need them, and take us back to the 1920s,” said Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders at a rally on Sunday. Democratic Oregon Senator Ron Wyden agrees. “Republicans are already saying ‘entitlement reform’ and ‘welfare reform’ are next up on the docket. But nobody should be fooled—that’s just code for attacks on Medicaid, on Medicare, on Social Security, on anti-hunger programs,” he said.
Social Security and Medicare are both rapidly approaching insolvency—Medicare’s hospital insurance trust fund will be exhausted by 2029, and Social Security’s trust fund will be exhausted by 2034. Reform is necessary, but aiming to decrease fraud or to cut funding will not help the programs stay afloat.
Republican Senators Push Social Security Medicare And Medicaid Cuts After Supporting Ineffective Tax Cuts
Republicans Target Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid
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The economy is recovering from the depths of the pandemic in large part due to the massive relief packages that Congress passed in 2020 and 2021. Just in time for this recovery, Senate Republicans are pushing for cuts to vital programs. According to news reports, five GOP senators are proposing a commission that would come up with proposals to balance the federal budget within a decade. Given that four of the five sponsors of this idea have signed on to the tax pledge to never, ever under any circumstances raise taxes, they are looking for programs to cut. They consequently take aim mainly at cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
These targeted programs are already and will continue to prove crucial to the financial and physical health of millions of Americans that have suffered from the pandemic. Many workers, especially older ones, have lost their jobs permanently and will move into early retirement with permanently lower benefits and little or no savings outside of those benefits. Millions of Americans, again particularly among older ones, experience long-term consequences from COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel virus. Those hardest hit by pandemic will need strong, expanded retirement and health benefits, not cuts to an already basic system.
What You Should Know About The Gop And Social Security
Who’s to blame for this mess? Well, some Americans would point their fingers specifically at Republicans in Congress. While they absolutely do take some of the blame, the inaction by Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill makes them equally culpable in exacerbating Social Security’s problems.
When it comes to Republicans and Social Security, here are the four things you absolutely need to know.
They Haven’t Taken A Dime From The Social Security Program That Isn’t Accounted For
Another misconception is that the Republican Party stole money from the Social Security Trust and used it to fund wars. More specifically, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush have come under intense scrutiny for borrowing from Social Security and “not putting the money back.”
However, the truth of the matter is that Congress has been able to “borrow” Social Security’s excess cash for five decades, and it’s happened under every single president over that stretch. In fact, the Social Security Administration is required by law to purchase special-issue bonds and certificates of indebtedness with this excess cash. Please note the emphasis on “required by law” that I’ve added above. The federal government isn’t simply going to sit on this excess cash it borrows from Social Security. It’s spending this cash on various line items, which may be wars and the defense budget, as well as education, healthcare, and pretty much any other expenditure you can think of.
This setup is actually a win-win for both parties. The federal government has a relatively liquid source of borrowing with the Social Security Trust, and the Trust is able to generate significant annual income from the interest it earns on its loans. Last year, $85.1 billion of the $996.6 billion that was generated by the program came from interest income.
Fact Check: Trump Hammers Biden On Nafta Support Which He Said Killed Jobs Hes Right
President Trump used part of his speech Thursday night to hammer Joe Biden on his support of “catastrophic” trade deals he said bled U.S. jobs to other countries.
“Biden voted for the NAFTA disaster, the single worst trade deal ever enacted; he supported China’s entry into the World Trade Organization, one of the greatest economic disasters of all time. After those Biden calamities, the United States lost 1 in 4 manufacturing jobs,” Trump said.
This claim is true, although trade was not the only reason that U.S. companies shed these jobs.
Trump Mentions Kenosha Not Jacob Blake
Midway through his speech Thursday, Donald Trump mentioned Kenosha, Wisconsin — but did not make mention of Jacob Blake, who was shot seven times in the back by the city’s police.
He began by saying: “We have to give law enforcement, our police, back their power.”
“They are afraid to act,” he continued. “They are afraid to lose their pension. They are afraid to lose their jobs, and by being afraid they are not able to do their jobs. And those who suffer most are the great people who they want so desperately to protect.”
“When there is police misconduct, the justice system must hold wrongdoers fully and completely accountable, and it will,” he continued. “But what we can never have in America — and must never allow —is mob rule. In the strongest possible terms, the Republican Party condemns the rioting, looting, arson, and violence we have seen in Democrat-run cities like Kenosha, Minneapolis, Portland, Chicago, and New York.”
Trump did not make mention of the pro-police sympathizer and Trump-supporter who is alleged of shooting and killing two protesters in Kenosha earlier this week. Some have connected Trump’s rhetoric to the actions taken by the armed teen.
The Gop Has A Number Of Options At Its Disposal To Indirectly Reduce Payouts To Social Security Recipients
Social Security is arguably the most important social program in this country. Each month, more than 42 million retired workers receive a monthly stipend from the Social Security Administration, and more than three out of five of those elderly beneficiaries rely on this payment to comprise at least half of their income. Without Social Security, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has estimated that millions of additional seniors would be living below the federal poverty line.
But this critical program isn’t on solid financial footing. According to the latest annual report from the Social Security Board of Trustees, the program will begin paying out more in benefits than it collects in revenue by 2022, which is mostly a result of lengthening life expectancies and the ongoing retirement of baby boomers. By 2034, the roughly $3 trillion in asset reserves held by the trust will be completely gone, leading to what the trustees project will be a cut in benefits for existing and future retirees of up to 23%.
