The Republicans are licking their chops over the prospect of gutting Social Security and Medicare, now that they've created a massive deficit by giving our money to the ultra-rich:
It's an interesting analysis, but, like all the other discussions I've seen on this, it misses one key point: Social Security is not part of the general fund, and Medicare is only part of it for administrative costs (some of them, at least). Which means that neither has any effect on the deficit. (Except that the last time I looked, Social Security was the government's biggest creditor -- most of SS funds are in Treasury bonds.)
Of course, this fact will have no effect on the Republicans' narrative. And the GOP base will believe every lie they come up with and screw themselves because they're "patriotic Americans".
As for the headline -- "Will they hurt their own voters?" -- yes, of course they will. They're already doing it -- American farmers are hurting from Trump's tariffs -- and their voters will remain faithful to the cult the GOP has become.
And do note that this is planned for Trump's hypothetical second term, because to start on it now would guarantee a Blue Tsunami in 2020.
It's hard to imagine at this point that the GOP would try to cut social security and Medicare at this point. They would be attacking their own voters. But with deficits exploding under Trump it's not hard to see the hardcore wingnuts believing that their time has come to get rid of those pesky "entitlements" once and for all. And despite his promises, if Trump wins re-election he won't have to run again. So, who knows how he will see his own self-interest in a second term? (And we know it's all about his self-interest.)
It's an interesting analysis, but, like all the other discussions I've seen on this, it misses one key point: Social Security is not part of the general fund, and Medicare is only part of it for administrative costs (some of them, at least). Which means that neither has any effect on the deficit. (Except that the last time I looked, Social Security was the government's biggest creditor -- most of SS funds are in Treasury bonds.)
Of course, this fact will have no effect on the Republicans' narrative. And the GOP base will believe every lie they come up with and screw themselves because they're "patriotic Americans".
As for the headline -- "Will they hurt their own voters?" -- yes, of course they will. They're already doing it -- American farmers are hurting from Trump's tariffs -- and their voters will remain faithful to the cult the GOP has become.
And do note that this is planned for Trump's hypothetical second term, because to start on it now would guarantee a Blue Tsunami in 2020.
No comments:
Post a Comment