We all gotta sacrifice ---

Federal Gub'mint announced a budget deficit that is going to stretch to $1 trillion in a couple of years. 

Not to worry ---

Mitch McConnell says this needs to be corrected by reducing Social Security and Medicare benefits. Nothin' to do with the tax deductions for multi-millionaires and corporations.

Formerlyjerseyjack said:
Federal Gub'mint announced a budget deficit that is going to stretch to $1 trillion in a couple of years. 


Not to worry ---


Mitch McConnell says this needs to be corrected by reducing Social Security and Medicare benefits. Nothin' to do with the tax deductions for multi-millionaires and corporations.

 With tax cuts, Walmart can hire more greeters, so retirees won't miss those lost social security payments. Everybody wins!

walmart can hire greeters even without the tax breaks...what we need are programs to get people out of poverty so we don't have to spend so much on welfare programs.  we need strong mentor programs that will show poor people there is a way out...too many think there is no chance and just plan to live on welfare.  it is very tempting to keep having more kids to get more welfare.  I'm disabled and sometimes I feel like the only way I can get help is to have kids I can't support.  

wow. Nobody could have seen this coming. 

jmitw said:
It is very tempting to keep having more kids to get more welfare.  

 seriously???

jmitw said:
walmart can hire greeters even without the tax breaks...what we need are programs to get people out of poverty so we don't have to spend so much on welfare programs.  we need strong mentor programs that will show poor people there is a way out...too many think there is no chance and just plan to live on welfare.  it is very tempting to keep having more kids to get more welfare.  I'm disabled and sometimes I feel like the only way I can get help is to have kids I can't support.  

 are you aware that there is no such thing as welfare anymore?

jmitw said:
walmart can hire greeters even without the tax breaks...what we need are programs to get people out of poverty so we don't have to spend so much on welfare programs.  we need strong mentor programs that will show poor people there is a way out...too many think there is no chance and just plan to live on welfare.  it is very tempting to keep having more kids to get more welfare.  I'm disabled and sometimes I feel like the only way I can get help is to have kids I can't support.  

 I tend to stay off the politics threads, but this is the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard in a while. Congrats. 

Hahaha said:

jmitw said:
walmart can hire greeters even without the tax breaks...what we need are programs to get people out of poverty so we don't have to spend so much on welfare programs.  we need strong mentor programs that will show poor people there is a way out...too many think there is no chance and just plan to live on welfare.  it is very tempting to keep having more kids to get more welfare.  I'm disabled and sometimes I feel like the only way I can get help is to have kids I can't support.  

 I tend to stay off the politics threads, but this is the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard in a while. Congrats. 

Finally, something we can ALL agree upon!

Federally funded childcare for people attending subsidized community college or accredited certificate programs would probably be better than a vague mentorship program. 

More government funding for high schools to provide vocational training rather than penalizing them for students not performing well on standardized academic driven test would probably also benefit people more.

That's two ways I can think of to try and help people get out of and stay out of poverty. I know this thread has drifted pretty hard, but I think we're generally talking about how government can benefit the entire country. Mitch McConnell and his ilk seem to think that doing things which benefit the richest will somehow benefit the entire country.

Did he really make a statement that Social Security and Medicare are on the line just a few weeks before the midterm elections?

     I have to think that the GOP realizes cutting social security and medicare to reduce the federal deficit could prove to be very politically damaging...that, of course, is why McConnell wants to get the Dems on board in a bi-partisan effort to spread the blame.  While only about 15% of the American population is 65 and older, this group has a disproportionate impact on elections.  In 2016, nearly half (45 percent) of the voting electorate was age 50 or older.  Among various age brackets, 71% of those 65 years and older voted,  67% of those 45-64 voted, 59% of those 30-44 voted and 46% of those 18-29 voted.  And, of voters age 50 and older, 53% voted for Trump...so he has to recognize the potential damage.  Those receiving, or approaching, Social Security or Medicare could be quite upset at cuts and take that out on candidates in the subsequent election. 

    Entitlement programs are, no doubt, costly.  But, Trump's corporate tax cuts significantly reduced federal revenue in the past year, further compounding the problem.  As we all know, the assumption that those cuts would result in higher employment and, thus, generate more tax revenue from those newly employed workers to off-set the corporate cuts turned out to false....the deficit grew.   Seasonal and hourly positions simply neither enable people to support themselves nor produce significant tax revenue.   Furthermore, the tariffs Trump implemented are leading to layoffs in higher paying manufacturing jobs and even full-time lower paying entry level positions are being swamped with applicants.  According to a recent NY Times article, one labor economist stated, “it is harder (in some sense, at least) to get a job as an administrative assistant, receptionist or warehouse worker than it is to get into Harvard, with its relatively generous 5.2 percent acceptance rate” in 2017.”   

Norman_Bates said:
 the assumption that those cuts would result in higher employment and, thus, generate more tax revenue from those newly employed workers to off-set the corporate cuts turned out to false

it was obviously false from the get-go when the unemployment rate was already near a twenty-year low when the tax cut was passed.  This is why there are virtually no GOP congressional candidates touting the tax cut in their campaigns.  Most people didn't see much money returned to themselves, and now they are hearing about looming deficits that could lead to Social Security cuts.

It's why the rhetoric is about angry Democratic mobs taking over and allowing crime and terrorism to flourish.  The Republicans don't have any popular accomplishments (in fact, most of their accomplishments are very unpopular, like the tax cut and the House vote to repeal the ACA), so they need to scare people.  And it could very well work for them.

mrincredible said:
...
Did he really make a statement that Social Security and Medicare are on the line just a few weeks before the midterm elections?

 Yes, he did.

Formerlyjerseyjack said:

mrincredible said:
...
Did he really make a statement that Social Security and Medicare are on the line just a few weeks before the midterm elections?

 Yes, he did.

 Maybe someone snuck into his house and flipped his calendar a month ahead?

But, but, the tax cut was supposed to so super stimulate the economy that we would not have a deficit.

It was also supposed to be reduced or rescinded if it resulted in an increased deficit.

Hey, not to be too simplistic but one of these bastards said, in the 90's (?), he wanted to shrink gov't until it was small enough to drown in the bathtub.

Hey, raise your hand if you don't think Trump secretly envies MBS's justice system.

Playbook is decades old - lower taxes, cut gov't services for "budget" reasons. Til it's small enough... .

Here’s Mitch - 

“There’s been a bipartisan reluctance to tackle entitlement changes because of the popularity of those programs,” he added. “Hopefully at some point here we’ll get serious about this. But we haven’t been yet.”

Yup, the problem is that they’re popular. 

Republicans have been trying to eliminate Social Security since 1933.  Alf Landon hated S.S. but did not hesitate to collect benefits.

Cutting SS benefits will have NO impact on the budget.  It is paid for by employers and employees (6.2% of pay each).  Plus the government has borrowed over 2 trillion dollars from the SS fund and if they paid it back there would be no SS shortfall.  

The only discussion we should be having is how does McConnell plan to repay the taxpayers without defaulting on their loan.  

mikescott said:
Cutting SS benefits will have NO impact on the budget.  It is paid for by employers and employees (6.2% of pay each).  Plus the government has borrowed over 2 trillion dollars from the SS fund and if they paid it back there would be no SS shortfall.  
The only discussion we should be having is how does McConnell plan to repay the taxpayers without defaulting on their loan.  

 It's very possible that McConnell is working with a alternative set of facts.

Hahaha said:

jmitw said:
walmart can hire greeters even without the tax breaks...what we need are programs to get people out of poverty so we don't have to spend so much on welfare programs.  we need strong mentor programs that will show poor people there is a way out...too many think there is no chance and just plan to live oon welfare.  it is very tempting to keep having more kids to get more welfare.  I'm disabled and sometimes I feel like the only way I can get help is to have kids I can't support.  

 I tend to stay off the politics threads, but this is the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard in a while. Congrats. 

This post shows that we do have to have a second civil rights movement.