Trump and Entire GOP: Cut Social Security & Medicare to Pay for Our Wild Spending

Trump Now Keen to this GOP Deficit Cutting Plan

(Been in the GOP mix since 1935)

Work Your Fingers to the Bone for 40 Years

(GOP rewards you with this solution)

How familiar does this GOP deficit plan sound?

“Trump considering slashing Medicare and social security — after $1.5 trillion tax cut for the rich”

The Trump all-GOP budget deficit is set to surpass $1 trillion in 2020 and later years and all thanks in large part to Trump's tax cuts and trade war with China and possibly others in the mix.

Background: New York Times reports that with the budget deficit set to surpass $1 trillion in 2020 thanks in large part to Trump's tax cuts and trade war, Republicans and right-wing groups are pressuring him to take a sledgehammer to Social Security and Medicare, both widely popular programs Trump vowed not to touch during his 2016 campaign.

Story reference source:

More startling story headlines:

“TRUMP HAS TOLD FRIENDS THAT GUTTING MEDICARE COULD BE A FUN SECOND-TERM PROJECT”

Republicans want Trump to deal with the exploding deficit by gutting the social safety net, and Trump is reportedly receptive to the idea.

That story source.

The highlights:

The CBO has stated that the federal deficit will reach $960 billion for the 2019 fiscal year (ends September 30) and it will breach the $1 trillion mark in 2020. Previously those figures were expected to come in at $896 billion and $892 billion, respectively, but the damage from the president’s tariffs, along with a sharp falloff in revenue thanks to the 2017 tax cuts, have caused deficit projections to rise faster than expected.

Incredibly, this is all happening against the backdrop of the longest economic expansion on record and the lowest jobless rate in 50 years, conditions that typically cause the budget deficit to shrink. 

And under the continued tutelage of Donald Trump, the New York Times reports, things are only expected to get worse:

Trump has shown little inclination to prioritize deficit reduction, and has instead considered policies that would add to the debt.

Trump then mused in recent days about reducing the taxes that investors pay on capital gains, a move that is estimated to add $100 billion to deficits over the next decade.

He has also talked about cutting payroll taxes, which could reduce revenues by $75 billion a year for every percentage point cut in payroll tax rates.

He also wants to make permanent many of the temporary individual tax cuts contained in the 2017 law, which are scheduled to expire in 2025.

The budget office forecast assumes those cuts expire and tax revenues rise; if they do not, future deficit projections would be even larger.

Related parts here from Forbes in part: Pointing to those projected rising deficits, Republican senators have all but promised to gut entitlements if Trump gets four more years. 

Thune, McConnell, Barrasso: GOP Leaders

(Better known as Curly, Moe & Larry)

Sen. John Thune (R-SD), second-ranking Senate Republican, expressed 

hope to the New York Times that Trump would be “interested in reforming Social Security and Medicare.”

Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) was even more optimistic saying: “We’ve brought it up with President Trump, who has talked about it being a second-term project.”

GOP Senate Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) also has made no secret of wanting to cut Social Security. 

In his 2016 campaign, Trump said bluntly: “I’m not going to cut Social Security like every other Republican.” Despite reports from fellow Republicans like Thune and Barrasso that Trump may, indeed, be just like every Republican in a second term, some on the right think it’s best that he keep that promise.

Republican opposition to Social Security goes back to the program's earliest days. In the 1935 vote to create Social Security, just 4% of Democrats voted against the bill, compared to 16% of Republicans.

The modern Social Security privatization movement originated in the conservative Cato Institute, which in 1980 sponsored a book that advocated for privatization.

Cato’s Social Security privatization efforts have long been supported by Cato affiliate José Piñera, a former official under Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and the architect of Chile’s pension privatization. Forty years after that policy experiment, massive protests erupted in Chile demanding a better retirement system.

My 2 cents: This breaking news continues at the links cited above. 

This demands the attention of the vast majority of all Americans, those still working and more so, all retirees.

Stay tuned and thanks for stopping by.