Posted on 08/09/2020 4:15:51 AM PDT by Alas Babylon!
The Talk Shows
August 9th, 2020
Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows:
FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco). Sec. of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin. The U.S. Army Old Guard’s Caisson Platoon. Panel: Jason Chaffetz Former US House Representative, R-UT.; Marie Harf (Party on, Wayne!); Josh Holmes, former Chief of Staff for Sen Mitch McConnell.
MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy Peter Navarro; Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.); Dr. Tom Inglesby, Director of the Center for Health Security of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; Theodore Carrillo-Small, a teacher from Las Vegas, Nevada; Kristine McClary, a nurse in Auburn City Schools and a representative for the Alabama Association of School Nurses; Principal Jacqueline Dungey of New Paradigm Loving Elementary on Lynn Street in Detroit. Panel: Kasie Hunt, NBC Spews Capitol Hill correspondent; MSNBC lunatic anchor Joshua Johnson and Rich Lowry, former editor of Never-Trumper National Review, which REAL conservatives stopped reading, hence its demise.
FACE THE NATION (CBS): National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien; Mayor Quinton Lucas (D-Kansas City); Charles Evans, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago; former Trump Admin. FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb.
THIS WEEK (ABC): Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.); National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow. Panel: Matthew Dowd, former Bush Campaign strategerist and Chief ABC Spews Never-Trumper; “The Forehead” Paul Begala, former Clinton adviser and chief democrat strategerist.; author and Blacktavist Christina Greer (“Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream”); former Huckabee spokesperson Alice Stewart.
STATE OF THE UNION (CNN): National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco). Gov. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio).
SUNDAY MORNING FUTURES (FNC): Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.); Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield); Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.).
Thanks !
No offense taken. In my case I am still down about 2% from last December. I am just now recovering from the Feb./March 2020 drop.
You or your financial advisers may be better than mine.
Shouldn't reform take place before you eliminate the funding?
Trump wants a holiday on all payroll taxes. It is a very clever way to get the public on his side for entitlement reform in his next term.
No, Trump wants to eliminate all payroll taxes in his next term. He said so Saturday night. That's a way for the Democrats to hammer him with the claim he's out to eliminate Social Security. Not a smart way to win an election.
Congress will be forced to work together once this becomes a crisis—and it will.
It's questionable whether they will absent any clear plan from the Administration as a starting point, and Trump has none. And even if they do, history has shown when Congress works together to respond to a crisis it results in lousy legislation. Witness their response to the last two fiscal crisis.
Reagan and Tip O’Neill had to work together to save SS.
Reagan and O'Neill were willing to work together. Trump is no more interested in working with the Democrats as the Democrats are interested in working with Trump.
The current Trust Funds total almost $3 trillion, more than enough to cover the shortfalls while negotiators work out an alternative to the payroll tax.
Trump has stated repeatedly that he wants to protect SS and Medicare. Payroll taxes are just one way to fund these programs. There are other, better ways to do it. SS was developed in the 1930s and Medicare in the 1960s. It is time to restructure the funding mechanisms, which are on automatic pilot. 40% of all Medicare expenditures come from the General Fund, by law. The premiums we pay for Medicare Part B cover only 25% of the costs, by law. The rest comes from the GF. Medicare will consume most of the federal budget if not reformed. In 10 years the number of people over 65 will double. One-third of our population will be over 65 by 2030.
It is not a matter of whether the Reps and Dems WANT to work together. They MUST work together to avoid a crisis where SS and Medicare recipients will have their benefits cut by 20%, by law. Doubt the politicians will buck the firestorm of protest that will remove them from office. The pressure will be enormous. It will overwhelm any who stand in the way.
What would that alternative be?
Trump has stated repeatedly that he wants to protect SS and Medicare.
He has said that, yes.
Payroll taxes are just one way to fund these programs. There are other, better ways to do it.
For example?
It is not a matter of whether the Reps and Dems WANT to work together. They MUST work together to avoid a crisis where SS and Medicare recipients will have their benefits cut by 20%, by law.
So eliminating Social Security and Medicare funding is a ploy to get the Republicans and Democrats to work together? You really think that Washington is capable of doing that? With the "leadership" we have? Really?
The alternative will be worked out thru a process similar to zero based budgeting. Everything is on the table. Benefits reviewed, revenue requirements determined, and how best to raise the money.
As I indicated, 70% of wage earners pay more in payroll taxes than income taxes. And 50% pay no income taxes. Eliminating the payroll tax could be replaced using a variety of sources. For example, you could have a small, minimum income tax for that 50% and combine it with various surcharges on other financial/sales transactions. Obamacare was partially funded using a surcharge on the sale of residences.
Neither you or I can come up with the best way to raise the needed revenue. But it can be worked out. We are a wealthy country.
The status quo is not an option. Historically, Washington needs a crisis to act. Look at how quickly the first multi-trillion pandemic package was put together. I could cite many such instances. Both parties will be forced to act. They have no choice. Simple as that. I would prefer a well-thought out solution crafted without an imminent crisis. That may be a bridge too far.
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