How are you going to "make America great again" if you aren't going to do something about the outrageous Federal spending? Our debt has topped $19 trillion, we continue to run billion dollar deficits, and over 60% of Federal spending goes towards social programs. I haven't heard Trump ever say anything about downsizing the size of government. Why? Well, I'll tell you why. Trump is a damn NY liberal and is just going to continue the status quo in Washington.
Yeah, he should at least come out for a gradual raising of the retirement age for those under 55. And means testing - if you have more than a million assets not counting primary residence -- no soup for you.
Trump's running for that core of old George Wallace voters who flipped to Republican under Reagan. They were pro-segregation, but they supported Medicare. Notice that the GOP always LOSES when they start talking about "reforming" Social Security or Medicare (Dubya in 2006, Paul Ryan in 2012).....that's because those Republicans turn against the Party.
Just allow people to opt-out of SS and forfeit what they have paid into it so they can take that 6.5% that the government confiscates and invest it into their own retirement savings (401K, IRA, etc...). Give the people back their freedom to do what they want with their own money. How about that?
Yeah, let's go back to the "Good Ol' Days" of the pre-1940s, where seniors were THE poorest demographic in the nation and ended up in "poorhouses" or "county farms" after they could no longer work.
You must have a reading comprehension problem, because I never said get rid of SS. I said...let people have the choice of opting-out of SS. Getting rid of SS, and allowing some people the option of opting-out are two totally different things.
You can't pull the rug out from under people who have been paying into the system already. It's not their fault the money was mismanaged. Now, I would support the rules changing for those who are yet to join in. Raise the retirement age for those just starting, add means testing as part of the ruleset etc, whatever we need to do to make it work. But you simply can't screw over the people who are already in the mix under the existing rules.
Yeah. They want to break another highly successful and popular program just so they can claim it doesn't work. 'Member the "good ol'" days when seniors were reduced to eating cat food and dying because they couldn't afford healthcare? If only we could find some way to keep those gluttonous kids from getting at least 1 hot meal a day. Oh wait, problem solved.
And what happens to the people who opt out and then have financial reverses that wipe out their investments, like we had in 2008? Also, how do you pay for those that stay in with a smaller pool of contributors? Oh, I know, I know, we have these poorhouses and country farms. Trump actually has a good idea here, make the country more prosperous and we'll be able to afford these things easily. Thing is,most of the other things he wants to do will make us poor
We don't have the money now to pay for all this crap. We have Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Welfare, Unemployment insurance, Disability insurance and now ObamaCare and the National debt just topped $19 trillion and we continue to run billion dollar deficits. How in the hell are we going to pay for all this crap for all these people????? We are going to end up like Greece!
Where are all those so called PF conservatives who were ranting and raving about government entitlement programs over the years? How come they aren't chiming in on this thread?
Youre sorta right. He did talk about cutting the federal education department and other parts, but his plan relies on expanding the US economy such that, entitlement spending is a much smaller portion of what the government takes in.
There is another angle here too, besides that politicians lie, of course. We can control the growth of government, and spending, and balance everything in 8 years. Technically cutting nothing. Just not letting it increase.
Hasn't the Rightwing been telling us for years that the government can't create jobs or build the economy and now they are saying "but it can when Trump is in charge!"?
That's right, government only gets in the way of creating jobs like the Obama admin that has chased companies overseas and to Mexico. Time to stop that.
SS and Medicare hasn't contributed 1 dime to the debt. Unfortunately, its funds have been raided to pay for wars that were waged under deficit spending which is why the Bush Admin ended up with a $450,000,000,000 annual interest payment.
Yeah, the free market is the best unless it involves free trade, then WE NEED SOCIALISM TO BAIL US OUT!
Just by listening to some of the lefties on this thread, it's no wonder Trump is pulling voters from the democratic party away by the carloads!
Right. I think Rand Paul called it the "one penny program". I haven't looked it up, but it sounded something like this .... That the federal budget be allowed to increase at one percent under the inflation rate. This would amount to a 1% cut per year until the budget was balanced. Again, I didn't check before writing this, but it was something like that. Trump is right. A lot of people don't think about something. We are all the elderly. It's just a matter of time. Social Security and Medicare are not someone else's income security; they are our income security. A lot of us don't like the idea of lazy, stupid people creating kids they can't pay for. Fine. I don't either. But we would also hate the idea of starving kids in the most affluent country in the world, wouldn't we? Unfortunately, children are completely dependent on others to feed, clothe, and house them, and they don't get to pick their parents. It is not their fault! I do not believe we should end up with penniless, hungry, sick seniors or children. If we ever choose that, we should all just go to hell. We should do what we have to do to get this country creating wealth again, and we should be willing to pay for the programs we want, and quit using deficit spending to fund them. My two cents ...