Trump Has Told Friends That Gutting Medicare Could Be a Fun "Second-Term Project"

[babylonsister]

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/08/donald-trump-republicans-federal-deficit?fbclid=IwAR2NnmNSd2RUWL2S2BXWyfzp0I1zo8e6ycpiCq0Nmr7Gqr3b9PfHTqwCaw4


Trump Has Told Friends That Gutting Medicare Could Be a Fun “Second-Term Project”
Republicans want Trump to deal with the exploding deficit by gutting the social safety net, and the president is reportedly receptive to the idea.
By Bess Levin
August 22, 2019


When Donald Trump was running for president, he boldly proclaimed that he would not only balance the budget, he would eliminate the entire national debt, which at the time was approximately $19 trillion. That, of course, was about as likely to happen as Don Jr. going vegan or Ivanka publicly admitting that her father is a sick individual who needs help. Instead, President Trump has pushed the federal deficit to new heights thanks to a tax cut that did not, in fact, “pay for itself,” and a trade war that has turned out to be neither “good” nor “easy to win.”

On Wednesday, the Congressional Budget Office said that the federal deficit will reach $960 billion for the 2019 fiscal year, which ends September 30, and breach the $1 trillion mark in 2020. Previously those figures were expected to come in at $896 billion and $892 billion, respectively, but the damage from the president’s tariffs, along with a sharp falloff in revenue thanks to the 2017 tax cuts, have caused deficit projections to rise faster than expected. Incredibly, this is all happening against the backdrop of the longest economic expansion on record and the lowest jobless rate in 50 years, conditions that typically cause the budget deficit to shrink. And under the continued tutelage of Donald Trump, the New York Times reports, things are only expected to get worse:

Mr. Trump has shown little inclination to prioritize deficit reduction, and has instead considered policies that would add to the debt. The president has mused in recent days about reducing the taxes that investors pay on capital gains, a move that is estimated to add $100 billion to deficits over the next decade. He has also talked about cutting payroll taxes, which could reduce revenues by $75 billion a year for every percentage point cut in payroll tax rates.

The president also wants to make permanent many of the temporary individual tax cuts contained in the 2017 law, which are scheduled to expire in 2025. The budget office forecast assumes those cuts expire and tax revenues rise; if they do not, future deficit projections would be even larger.

The need to borrow more money has been aggravated by several bipartisan budget agreements to raise military and nondefense domestic discretionary spending. And it could increase if the trade war further chills business investment and consumer spending, resulting in slower economic growth and fewer tax dollars flowing to the Treasury Department.

But while the nonpartisan CBO has placed the blame squarely on things like the trade war and tax cuts, Republicans—the ones who spent eight years under Obama screaming about fiscal responsibility and bankrupting our grandchildren—have an idea for how to deal with the situation that doesn’t involve taking tax cuts away from the wealthy or reeling in Tariff Man:

Conservative groups—which largely supported Mr. Trump’s tax cuts—have pushed Congress to cut future deficits by reducing benefits for federal health care and retirement programs, like Medicare and Social Security. “Something must be done soon,” the conservative advocacy group FreedomWorks said in a news release on Wednesday, “and that means taking a hard look at mandatory spending, the root cause of the United States’ fiscal woes.”

While Republicans do not expect Trump to push for cuts while campaigning for reelection, they’ve apparently encouraged him to do so should he win a second term—a proposition to which President “I’m not going to cut Social Security, I’m not going to cut Medicare” has reportedly been receptive. “We’ve got to fix that,” Senator John Thune, the number two Republican in the Senate, told the Times. “It’s going to take presidential leadership to do that, and it’s going to take courage by the Congress to make some hard votes. We can’t keep kicking the can down the road. I hope in a second term, he is interested,” Thune said of Trump. “With his leadership, I think we could start dealing with that crisis. And it is a crisis.” Republicans, said Senator John Barrasso, who seems to regularly chat with the president, have “brought it up with President Trump, who has talked about it being a second-term project.”

[Backseat Driver]

1. Their last bean

[PCIntern]

8. Wow. Class warfare in extremis !

[appalachiablue]

2. KR

[Leith]

3. That ought to go over well with retirees

Are rethugs the stupidest thing since the evolution of single cell bacteria?

They tried to do this same thing a few years ago. Even when they promised the already-retired that they wouldn't touch their SS or Medicare, the seniors were still concerned about their children, grandchildren, friends, and fellow citizens.

NObody except rethug idiots think that taking away benefits is a good idea.

[dawg day]

13. The current GOP voting retirees will say confidently

.. "They won't cut MY social security, just younger people's."

[Liberal In Texas]

4. This needs to be shouted from the rooftops next year.

Those Srs. who always vote repub better wake the fuck up.

[C_U_L8R]

5. If they truly want to cut deficits, they'd cut Trump

But this is more about the Republican desire to cull our elderly and infirm.

[Blaukraut]

6. The Republicans will never stop trying to gut Medicare and Social Security

They deliberately run up the deficit and debt, each time hoping that this time will finally be the time they get to put their grubby mitts on the hated social programs.

[moose65]

14. I used to wonder why they would gut SS and Medicare..

But I’ve figured it out now. They don’t want employers to have to contribute their share to SS and Medicare. Not only would that enrich already rich people, but then they’d hope to get their hands on people’s retirement money and health care dollars. There is only one thing that Republicans care about - giving more and more money to rich people.

[dalton99a]

7. Spread this far and wide.

[Vinca]

9. Anyone with older, Trump humping relatives must be sure they know this.

[a kennedy]

10. WTF, WTF, WTF, WTF, WTF, WTF, WTF, WTF, WTF, WTF

[Wounded Bear]

11. Completely believable...

Sad to say, but true.

[imanamerican63]

12. Calling Mr. Paul Ryan!

Mr.Gutting Himself!

[Ilsa]

15. All of those insurance companies offering secondary coverage

Will or will not become the primary insurer? How would that work?

I think it would destroy the healthcare industry.