Opinion: The assault on Social Security is under way

[dixiechiken1]

When I was growing up, Social Security used to be called “the third rail of American politics,” because it threatened to kill the career of any politician who dared touch it.

Not, it seems, any longer.

Senators are seriously considering trying to arrange for the cutting — or gutting — of Social Security under cover of the coronavirus pandemic. This is an attack on multiple fronts. It includes proposals to suspend, or even eliminate, the payroll tax on which Social Security depends, and arranging a secret — yes, indeed — conference on Capitol Hill to find ways to “save” Social Security. Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wants this secret conference to be a condition of agreeing any further economic rescue package. He’s already on record calling for Social Security benefits to be, er, “adjusted.” Suspending the payroll tax as a “crisis” measure won’t help people out of work. But it will apparently make it even more needed to cut benefits down the road. Oops!

It will surprise no one that this attempt to violate commitments made to American savers and future retirees is apparently to be called the “Trust Act.” And my British friends always say we Americans “have no sense of irony.”

...

There is no Social Security “crisis.” It is completely made up. There is no financial “crisis.” There is no economic “crisis.” The only Social Security “crisis” is the crisis of people believing there is a Social Security crisis.

[emphasis original]

https://www.marketwatch.com/amp/story/the-assault-on-social-security-is-under-way-2020-08-28

There's more at link that's worth a read. Just one more among the many, many reasons Trump MUST be voted out in a landslide this election.

Gawd, I HATE THESE PEOPLE.

[Ohiogal]

1. I will be eligible

for SS/Medicare within 2 years and I am sweating bullets over this.

I hate them all so much.

[beachbumbob]

2. at least its 100% clear and no doubt on the end game. Why would GOP/trump want to make this an

election issue? They believe they can start a generational war with voters under 55 and those over 55. I say, they have figured WRONG.

Over 55 voters DO VOTE and vote in big numbers. Arizona and Florida will be easy democratic wins with 4 or 5 states with large senior population in play

[ooky]

9. I don't think the under 55 voters are going to go for this either. I'm just not so sure

they understand it. Like everything else, Trump and the GOP are going to lie about it and tell people the money will magically come from somewhere else. And, I'd be willing to bet that half the country doesn't understand what the payroll tax is.

People who are, say, halfway through their working lives (ages 40-45) had better pay attention or they could get ripped off, big time, of what they have already paid in. And younger voters who think they are going to get an inheritance someday when their aging Moms and Dads pass on better think again if they are thinking about voting for this, because come 2023, the retired Moms and Dads would have to have to start drawing their savings down without their SS income, and then the worry is the savings doesn't run out.

I don't see any upside to any age voter for this.

That said, we need to pounce on this and turn it into a wedge issue with the seniors. We need to be running ads in every battleground state with heavy senior populations, if not all the battleground states. If we can make them understand what this would mean then this is one issue that could change some minds about how they are going to vote. 2023 ain't far away.

[duforsure]

3. Everyone should be scared by this

Especially seniors in Florida and Texas. They want no Ss, no Medicare or any health care plan, and they'll next allow businesses to drain all pension funds. They have us heading into a trump depression , and playing a ponzu scheme driving up huge debt printing trillions to prop up the markets , which will make it worse when they crash, while stiffing us and small businesses driving millions into poverty with no stimulus, no jobs, and no economy. We'll be stuck with that debt and with bailing out banks, again. Trumps doing what he does best, lie and killing anything he touches then going bankrupt.

[myohmy2]

4. so...

...when are we going to start shouting this from the roof-tops instead of singing kumbaya?

...let me know, I may join the party...

[AnnaLee]

5. How do Trumpites feel about this?

Don't many Trump supports currently depend on SS for a high percent of their income or depend on it when they retire? If so, what are they (the administration, Fox News, Limbaugh, etc.) saying to their working class supporters to get them to allow SS to be touched. Are they the ones with the "Take your hands off my SS" type signs? Did no one notice that Trump always has a 2T target for various stimuli matching the money owed to SS? Do people not understand what it means to pay SS from general funds?

[Wounded Bear]

6. "Senators" are considering? I don't think so...

Republican Senators may be thinking this. Dems aren't.

[llashram]

7. one small light in this trumpian

darkness, I may lose this benefit I PAID FOR 1963-2009, but many, many racist pig shit trumpets will also.

[gulliver]

8. It's standard playbook stuff for Republicans.

The Trump Party can't directly attack SS and Medicare, so they do everything they can to let its health go to pot. They try to destroy those programs quietly by refusing to do the things to keep them well maintained and solvent. And, of course, the whole time, they pretend to love the thing they're destroying.