Comment on Column: Social Security is again in the crosshairs of a GOP budget, even though a long-term fix would be simple

• tswiftchair@lemm.ee ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  We need to spend less. It’s not that complicated. Our spending is out of control. The only required expenditure is the military.

  Spending less is very achievable but your initial post and claims were about cutting social security specifically. And if you’re saying we should only spend on military, that means cutting approximately 74% of federal spending and function. This is a deeply unpopular position that is not supported by either major political party, which makes it extremely unlikely to happen.

  Trump has said he will eliminate the department of education. That’s a first step in making the government smaller.

  Nevertheless, he did no such thing when he had the opportunity in his first term. Further, he has stated he would protect some of the largest expenditures in the budget.

  source

  • wintermute_oregon@lemm.ee ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Spending less is very achievable but your initial post and claims were about cutting social security specifically

    It’s a good place to start. It keeps the poor, poor and causes our budgets to continue to grow.

    Nevertheless, he did no such thing when he had the opportunity in his first term

    The deficit spending was declining until Covid. Are you suggesting we shouldn’t have funded anything for Covid ? That’s the majority of the expense

    source

    • tswiftchair@lemm.ee ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      It keeps the poor, poor…

      Research suggests otherwise:

      “Social Security benefits play a vital role in reducing poverty in every state, and they lift more people above the poverty line than any other program in the United States. Without Social Security, 22.7 million more adults and children would be below the poverty line, according to our analysis using the March 2023 Current Population Survey. Although most of those whom Social Security keeps out of poverty are aged 65 or older, 6.2 million are under age 65, including 900,000 children.”

      Source

      Data from the Social Security Administration itself also doesn’t seem to support this (PDF).

      The deficit spending was declining until Covid.

      This is incorrect. National deficit and debt increased every year under the Trump administration. Further, Trump’s own 2020 budget, which was released before Covid in March 2019, projected a $4.8 trillion deficit for 2020-2024 under his own policies (PDF).

      source

      • wintermute_oregon@lemm.ee ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        nber.org/…/social-security-increases-wealth-inequ…

        Not studies say it does.

        source

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