Free Republic

2020 is here, and many people are excited about starting a new decade. Yet for those who watch Social Security's financial condition, New Year's Day just means we're a year closer to the challenges facing the key government program.This year is likely to be the last one that Social Security manages to keep its spending under a key psychological level. Starting in 2021, the amount of money that the Social Security Administration spends on benefits for retirees and survivors of retired workers will exceed $1 trillion for the first time -- and that's just the beginning of an upward surge...

Elizabeth Warren has a plan — to annoy union members who work for state and local governments. With her “Medicare for All” plan, the top-tier Democratic contender is revealing a tension in the neo-progressive movement. Warren’s $20.5 trillion over a decade to pay for Medicare for All requires what she calls a “redirection” in funds: $6 trillion in “existing state- and local-government insurance spending.” Of this figure, $3.3 trillion goes for Medicaid, public insurance for poorer people. But the other $2.7 trillion comes from the funds state and local governments “currently spend on employer contributions to private insurance premiums for...