“Washington Republicans are plotting a war on seniors,” (Sen. Charles Schumer incoming Senate minority leader.)
President-elect Donald Trump reassured voters during his political campaign that he would protect Medicare, Social Security and other popular federal assistance programs.
However, in tapping Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) to be his Health and Human Services secretary, he has elevated
one of the most aggressive proponents of dramatically overhauling the government safety net for seniors and low-income Americans, a long-held conservative goal.
Price has been leading the charge to privatize Medicare. Like House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), he advocates replacing the government-provided Medicare health plan with a program that provides seniors with a voucher to purchase private health coverage.
Price also advocates a new system of block grants to states that would sharply cut federal aid for Medicaid, which primarily serves poor Americans.
Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security together, constitute an enormous fund of money that Wall Street has been eyeing greedily for decades. In 2005, “W” tried and failed to (at least partially) privatize Social Security with his individual investment accounts.
Get ready, folks. There’s more excrement coming down the pike!
Makes the brain hurt (but not enough to require medical help)
I’m guessing that they will try to get rid of Social Security. Y’know, shortly before I would need it. That’s the way our generation has been dealt cards all along.
This whole shebang is mind-numbing.
It’s clear to me that the majority of people in the country want to be paid well, work 40 hours a week, have health care, transportation, food, clothes, housing, and a bit extra for fun. They expect to be taken care of in retirement in exchange for a life of contribution. The populist support for Sanders and Trump show the numbers across the country.
But, then we have another layer of capitalism, greed, misinformation, spying, politics, and one-upmanship. This weighs heavily and makes the previous paragraph seem impossible.
Sometimes it's not pleasant to be right
The majority of people in this country might want/need to work, play and get their retirement. But the Republicans who probably best represent corporate America don’t need American jobs anymore and it’s getting increasingly expensive to keep maintaining social services for a country employed predominantly as burger flippers and phone jacks.
So your last sentence, “makes the previous paragraph seem impossible” is the real future. You’re right.
Social Security could be well funded for a long time...
…if only the maximum cutoff of income for SS tax could be raised, but the wealthy vote it down every time. Obviously not much interest in contributing to a safety net for those less well-off.