The New York Occasions revealed an article alleging Republicans are coming after Medicare and Social Safety.
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Listed here are two snippets from Wednesday’s New York Occasions piece contending that Republicans have “embraced” plans to chop Social Safety and Medicare:
“The truth that Republicans are brazenly speaking about chopping the packages has galvanized Democrats within the closing weeks of the midterm marketing campaign.”
“Nonetheless, the truth that key Republicans are brazenly broaching spending cuts to Social Safety and Medicare . . . ”
Boy, it appears like there’s a ton of chatter in Washington about chopping entitlements. And it’s about time we embraced reform. So, which courageous “key Republicans” are “brazenly speaking” and “brazenly broaching” the concept of reforming Social Safety and Medicare? We don’t know, as a result of the writer, Jim Tankersley, doesn’t supply a single quote from anybody within the GOP making that argument — not an elected official, not a candidate, not even some fringe backbencher spouting off.
How can probably the most prestigious newspapers within the nation run a 1,500-word piece asserting that a main political social gathering has been “speaking” a few extremely controversial coverage place and never substantiate the declare with a single quote? That will be the primary query of any competent editor.
After all, as a lot as I want it existed, there isn't any plan or marketing campaign or reform effort aimed toward slashing or weaning us off entitlements. Your entire ginned-up problem principally depends on a single line from Rick Scott’s “Save America” agenda, which Mitch McConnell rejected as quickly because it appeared. (You’ll discover out about that in paragraph 13.)
In fact, Scott doesn’t even goal Social Safety or Medicare reform particularly, however somewhat helps an audit and renewal of all federal packages each 5 years. (The Occasions incorrectly says “yearly.”) There's a robust case to be made that revisiting laws each few years is much extra “democratic” than compelling tens of millions to dwell with antiquated financial concepts that had been popularized in the course of the Melancholy. However solely a Republican, not Republicans, has embraced that concept.
Not that any of it stops Tankersley from happening about how “a number of influential Republicans have signaled a brand new willingness to push for Medicare and Social Safety spending cuts.” A number of, huh? The hyperlink bolstering this assertion leads us to a extra nuanced Bloomberg Authorities piece by Jack Fitzpatrick that particulars potential GOP efforts to make use of the debt ceiling as a negotiating instrument to curb perpetual, large auto-spending.
As we be taught in paragraph 23 of the Occasions story, “Democrats and Republicans largely agree Congress might want to make sure the solvency of the packages within the decade to return. Spending for the packages is projected to balloon within the coming decade as extra child boomers retire.”
Among the many concepts the Republican Research Committee carry to the desk is step by step elevating the retirement age for some staff as a consequence of greater life expectancy (with elevated advantages). And Bloomberg quotes Lloyd Smucker saying we might have future reductions of advantages for rich People to avoid wasting this system from insolvency. President Joe Biden’s “plan” to lift payroll taxes on the wealthy to avoid wasting this system can be in impact a discount of advantages for the rich.
However, once more, the Bloomberg piece doesn't function a single individual “speaking” or proposing slashing Social Safety or Medicare packages.
At any time when Democrats latch onto some new scaremongering effort — “saving democracy” or “voting rights,” or no matter hysteria is being flouted — institution media immediately take up the difficulty, usually ham-fistedly backfilling the accusations with alleged reporting. Although the Occasions piece doesn't supply any Republicans “speaking” about chopping Social Safety, it does give Biden, Barack Obama and different Democrats the area to go off on this imaginary menace.
“You’ve been paying into Social Safety your entire life. You earned it. Now these guys need to take it away,” Biden is quoted saying throughout a go to to Hallandale Seaside, Fla. “Who within the hell do they assume they're? Excuse my language.” Obama, who by no means shies away from flogging a strawman to inside inches of its life, says that American retirees “had lengthy hours and sore backs and unhealthy knees to get that Social Safety.”
As Obama — although, maybe, not Biden — is aware of very nicely, there isn't any proposal from Republicans to take Social Safety from those that’ve paid in. Not even George W. Bush, the final Republican to “brazenly” marketing campaign on reforming the untenable entitlement infrastructure, has ever proposed taking a penny from anybody who paid into it. That was all the time a lie.
Even these reforms would solely have allowed — not compelled — new members to divert a portion of their tax dollars to non-public retirement accounts and choose out of an unsustainable, state-run Ponzi scheme that introduced them again a paltry 1% return on their “funding.”
Don’t fear, although, nobody goes to reform entitlements. As 2022 proves, it’s a politically poisonous problem that may be simply demagogued.
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