Posted on 02/19/2023 7:20:20 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Social Security and Medicare are on an “unsustainable course” and will run out of funds by 2037. That’s the conclusion reached by the General Accountability Office (GAO) and the Social Security Administration.
There is no saving these programs without massive changes. And demagoguing the issue, as Joe Biden and the Democrats are doing, only delays the day of reckoning. To pretend these programs don’t need intervention now — right now — is to play with dynamite. The sooner we can get started, the less pain will be inflicted on senior citizens.
Pain there will be. In order to put these programs on the path to long-term viability, it will take political courage absent from today’s politicians.
Veronique de Rugy has been the Paul Revere on Social Security unsustainability for as long as I’ve been writing. Her article in Reason.com explains the problems with the two biggest government programs plainly and succinctly.
It’s important for people to grasp reality because no single issue will affect our fiscal future more than Social Security and Medicare. Spending on these two programs alone consumes 45 percent of the federal budget. Along with Medicaid, these programs are the drivers of our current and future debt. And to drive home the seriousness of our predicament, note that Medicare and Social Security together face a shortfall of $116 trillion over the next 30 years.
That’s more than five times the current gross domestic product. But Biden wants to demonize Republicans for trying to address these long-term problems?
There is no political consensus on what to do about these two programs. Democrats want to raise the retirement age and charge retirees more for Medicare. That’s a bandaid that won’t even extend the viability of the programs for much more than a decade.
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
Raise the cap to 250,000. That’s the fairest and easiest fix.
Besides why is my age relevant ?
its never enough....
stop handing out disability like it was candy....
SS has collected and collected.....there should be no problem rotating this money thru but they STOLE our SS to pay for their pet politicians and favored groups....
do they want us to rob banks?
And yet the welfare benefits will continue to be funded.
Why are there no discussions about cutting welfare, what they call ‘crazy money’, section 8, food stamps and Obama phones.
And what about all the food programs in the schools that are making the kids fat? Every one of those programs causes in increase in the number of obese kids.
Yes, your answer is all I need to know to discern that I needn’t waste time listening to you.
It’s not your age at all — it’s your hectoring attitude.
Have a blessed day.
go to a casino late at night and see all the youngest people spending money like crazy....I have to believe that they get a big ol paycheck from we generous taxpayers....
disability is another scam....my sil and then her husband both boondoggled the system ...my sil was on disability practically her whole life and she had no noticeable problems....
Facts are hectoring??
Anyone who does it will be ending their political career for themselves and their party.
You act like stealing from people who paid in their whole lives is okay. It isn’t.
They took money that people earned and have spent it on stupid wars and welfare for those here illegally.
They have given that money to people who never had a dime removed from their paychecks.
They can start with dumping foreign aid, war funding abroad, freebies for illegals, cutting welfare and bennies for people who do nothing all day.
We can also quit funding lifetime healthcare for Congress.
Once they do all of those things, maybe some people would be in for this.
you know, that is not going to happen....you're talking older people many with arthritic knees, poor hearing, poor reflexes.....they won't do anything....
our demographics have changed....the younger generations are not of the good German, Polish, Italian, etc stock that would respect their older people...
no latino illegal or even legal immigrant cares much about old whitey grandmother....
this is what is going to happen....older people will be thrown to the wolves....
Nothing ever changes does it? GOP jumps on it like flies on shat.
Hahahahahaha!
Getting rid of the Earned Income Tax Credit would probably solve most of the problem.
Corrrrrrrect! It's already in place and very popular with the Rat/Rino uniparty Bolshies.
Just take al that Money going to Ukraine and put it into Social Security. Problem solved.
Yes, and now the Dems are also using SS to breed resentment in young people who “bear the burden of supporting retired Boomers” and getting nothing for themselves when they retire because “Social Security will be gone by then.” And it’s working. Divide, divide, divide.
You’re right. They never change. It’s almost as if they were reading from a script. 🤔
And there is one. Death. The Boomers are already departing this realm at 10,000 per day. The Social Security problem will solve itself.
Of course, we could encourage "vaccinations" that will more rapidly kill off the population of older people that are drawing social security benefits.
Oops! Those "vaccinations" are preferentially killing off younger people who are still paying into the system. Maybe we better revise that acceleration plan. Don't we need young people to do all the nasty real work that needs doing?
How about that Artificial Intelligence? We can get computers to do all the work, so we don't need those young people after all. Wait! What? The AIs become insane and hostile to their creators and users. Well, we can still pull the plug. That'll show 'em!
Maybe we can just say to Hell with it! We will go for the traditional solution of economic collapse, followed by the ride of the Apocalyptic four horsemen. Let future generations deal with the problem. Oh crap! We are that future generation.
There is no soft landing.
Sure - but that dynamite will explode on some future politician's watch, so what do they care?
By doing it the same way they do it today.
It’s called creative lying.
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