Cut payouts? You mean Social Security benefits? So you want to tell someone who has been paying into SS all their working lives that the federal government isn't going to live up to its part of the bargain?These are the same people who have been receiving the benefits of deficit spending for the last 40+ years. They've been getting more than they paid for a long time. So they will have to get less than they paid for at some point. Did they think the bill would never come due?
As for cutting spending, wouldn't we all like to do that? The shortfall in SS and Medicare has been estimated at over $50 trillion for the next 75 years. So you are proposing to offset a significant portion of that with benefit and spending cuts?You either cut spending or raise taxes. You seem to favor increasing taxes.
"You either cut spending or raise taxes. You seem to favor increasing taxes."
I favor increasing the rate of economic growth so that more taxes are collected. I favor expanding the base so that tax collections benefit as much as possible from that expansion. If that is what you mean by "increasing taxes", then I plead guilty.
I favor both switching to a broader tax base with the FairTax and GRADUALLY reducing benefits to zero eventually allowing each taxpayer to stand on his own.
Likelihood of that happening??? Who knows??