Social Security and Medicare Cuts Are Coming, Whether Politicians Do It or Not
As legislators refuse to act, benefits will be cut without any possibility of sheltering those seniors who are poor.
As legislators refuse to act, benefits will be cut without any possibility of sheltering those seniors who are poor.
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The old-age entitlement is unsustainable, unfair, and unnecessary. Replace it with something that helps the needy of any age.
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Legislators will increasingly argue over how to spend a diminishing discretionary budget while overall spending simultaneously explodes.
The bipartisan (if shouty!) embrace of big-government nationalism ensures our populist moment won't end any time soon.
These days, he may run for president. His politics have changed.
In 1950, there were more than 16 workers for every beneficiary. In 2035, that ratio will be only 2.3 workers per retiree.
Social Security benefits will be cut automatically in less than a decade unless Congress shores up the program before it hits insolvency. Ignoring that is not a solution.
Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are still the chief drivers of our future debt. But Republicans aren't touching them.
But…does that make any sense?
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Under current policies, Social Security and Medicare will consume 85 percent of all federal tax revenue by 2050.
The federal health care program is on track for a trust fund shortfall in just five years. But instead of paying for the program that exists, Democrats want to expand it.
Plus, why is no one talking about the Medicare Trustees' entitlement report?
Without policy changes, beneficiaries will receive only 78 percent of what was promised starting in 2034.
The health program won't be able to pay all of its bills starting in 2026, according to a new Trustees report.
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Plus: The growing trust gap, pandemic-low unemployment numbers, and more...
The Congressional Budget Office warns that higher levels of debt will slow economic growth significantly in the years ahead.
Younger people aren't immune to the coronavirus but they are less likely to die or be hospitalized because of it. Let them choose their own risk.
A new report from the Social Security Administration expects the program to hit insolvency by 2035. Some experts say it could happen as soon as 2028 if there is a serious recession.
Historian Amity Shlaes on the good intentions and bad results of LBJ's war on poverty
Historian Amity Shlaes talks about the last time a president massively expanded the federal government to help people.
Amity Shlaes's new history of the late 1960s explains the failure of the last time the federal government tried to fix all that was wrong with America.
Federal budget deficits continue to grow despite a thriving economy
Neither party is serious about reining in spending. This is unsustainable.
As debt soars, federal payments to service the debt will crowd out the government's core spending responsibilities.
The national debt will hit 140 percent of GDP before the end of the 2040s, and that's the optimistic scenario.
The federal budget situation used to be an emergency. What happened?
"Show me the majority for cutting spending," he says.
When the program becomes insolvent in the 2030s, the inevitable cuts will hit today's workers and retirees.
So we're probably only 15 years away from Congress deciding that's a big enough crisis to do something about it.
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Former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels' totally insane, very practical ideas about how to fix college debt, reform entitlements, and redefine social justice
A new record, but one that won't stand for long.
Or the $22 trillion (and counting) national debt. Or the entitlement programs that will continue adding to them.
The House Freedom Caucus calls it "a sprawling, cronyist agriculture bill."
You have come to the right place for CBO death porn.
Brian Riedl has a plan to stabilize the national debt at 95 percent of GDP. He says trying it might be political suicide, but the alternative is much worse.
It's time to find out how deep in the red our country is.
"There's no for-profit business in the world that could sustain itself or survive with $20 trillion in debt," says Howard Schultz. "It's just not responsible."
Poor people are likely to make better food choices for themselves than the government.
And, weirdly, grocery store cronyism might be the thing that stops it.