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In reply to the discussion: THANK YOU BERNIE SANDERS for speaking the blatant truth when so many won't [View all]Hortensis
(58,785 posts)54. Here's a very heartening LA Times report on what
these bastards are doing, and failing to do so far. Thank you, LA Times for your excellent ongoing coverage of this subject.
As you can see, media coverage of these subjects is very broad and ongoing. So far, both programs are in far better shape than Republicans like to claim, but damage is being done.
Social Security and Medicare trustees confirm: GOP policies have hurt both programs
The publication of the annual trustees reports for Social Security and Medicare has become the occasion for some of the most consistently uninformed reporting on government programs of the year. The release of both reports Tuesday was no exception. Within moments of their appearance, the Associated Press was tweeting, and later reported, that Medicare was projected to become insolvent in 2026, three years earlier than was projected last year.
Actually, no: The Medicare report projected that its hospital insurance trust fund, which applies to Medicare Part A, will be depleted in 2026. But since even then the program would be able to keep paying out more than 90% of scheduled benefits, its not anything like insolvent. As economist Dean Baker observes, at most it would be correct to say Medicare will face a shortfall in 2026, not insolvency. The 2018 Trustees Report shows that the current program is fully affordable. Indeed, the United States can fully afford an expanded Social Security.
The more glaring oversight in Tuesdays reporting on both programs is that the trustees made crystal clear that policies of congressional Republicans and the Trump White House have damaged the financial prospects of both programs. Theres a bitter irony in that, since the GOP continually claims that its imperative to make both programs healthier to serve the 62 million people dependent on Social Security and 58.4 million covered by Medicare; the truth is that the Republicans are doing their best to cut the legs out from under both.
Here are the highlights from the reports.
First, Social Security is stable, and in some respects, improving fiscally. Its trustees expect its combined retirement and disability trust funds to become depleted in 2034, the same as was projected last year. Even then, the program would be able to continue paying out 77% of currently scheduled benefits. Since by then the scheduled benefit would be about 20% higher than it is today, the result would be close to a wash. If Congress wants to avert the cutback, nothings stopping it from raising the payroll tax, say by eliminating the wage cap on taxes, currently set at $128,400.
The 2018 Trustees Report shows that the current program is fully affordable, said Nancy Altman, a veteran Social Security advocate who is president of the group Social Security Works. Indeed, the United States can fully afford an expanded Social Security. The trustees note that the fiscal condition of Social Security disability has markedly improved in the last year. Its trust fund is now expected to last until 2032, a four-year improvement over last years projection of depletion in 2028. The trustees attribute that improvement to a steady decline in disability caseload and new applications dating back to 2010. That gives the lie to a recurrent Republican meme that disability is little more than a haven for layabouts and malingerers.
The trustees, meanwhile, give details on how congressional and White House initiatives have harmed Social Security. First, they mention that Trumps rescission of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the program that allowed children brought to the United States illegally by their parents to stay and become productive members of society, will reduce the number of workers paying into the program. That will reduce payroll receipts slightly but significantly in the near term; because those people wont be receiving benefits decades from now, the system costs will be lower, but the impact of Trumps decision still will be negative.
The tax cuts enacted by Republicans and signed into law by Trump in December also will have a negative effect on Social Security in the near term, chiefly by reducing the programs income from the taxation of benefits. As a whole, the law has a significant net negative effect on the financial status of the OASDI program [that is, the retirement and disability components together] over the short-range projection period and a negligible net positive effect over the long-range projection period, the trustees said.
GOP policies are projected to have a more significant effect on Medicare, according to its trustees report. A key factor is the elimination of the Affordable Care Acts individual mandate, which was effectively canceled as of 2019 ... when the tax cut bill reduced ...
The Republican-controlled Congress also eliminated the Independent Payment Advisory Board, which had been established by the Affordable Care Act to develop and submit proposals aimed at extending the solvency of Medicare, slowing Medicare cost growth, and improving the quality of care delivered to Medicare beneficiaries. The elimination leaves no mechanism in place to achieve those ends, the trustees reported. Finally, the tax cuts will also reduce income for Medicare, as they do for Social Security.
Social Security and Medicare have proved remarkably resilient in the face of decades of efforts by conservatives to undermine them. The reports issued Tuesday document that theyre still in reasonably good health but that those attacks are beginning to have their effect. If Republicans really are committed to strengthening them for the future, as they claim, the time to stop attacking them is now.
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-social-security-20180605-story.html
The publication of the annual trustees reports for Social Security and Medicare has become the occasion for some of the most consistently uninformed reporting on government programs of the year. The release of both reports Tuesday was no exception. Within moments of their appearance, the Associated Press was tweeting, and later reported, that Medicare was projected to become insolvent in 2026, three years earlier than was projected last year.
Actually, no: The Medicare report projected that its hospital insurance trust fund, which applies to Medicare Part A, will be depleted in 2026. But since even then the program would be able to keep paying out more than 90% of scheduled benefits, its not anything like insolvent. As economist Dean Baker observes, at most it would be correct to say Medicare will face a shortfall in 2026, not insolvency. The 2018 Trustees Report shows that the current program is fully affordable. Indeed, the United States can fully afford an expanded Social Security.
The more glaring oversight in Tuesdays reporting on both programs is that the trustees made crystal clear that policies of congressional Republicans and the Trump White House have damaged the financial prospects of both programs. Theres a bitter irony in that, since the GOP continually claims that its imperative to make both programs healthier to serve the 62 million people dependent on Social Security and 58.4 million covered by Medicare; the truth is that the Republicans are doing their best to cut the legs out from under both.
Here are the highlights from the reports.
First, Social Security is stable, and in some respects, improving fiscally. Its trustees expect its combined retirement and disability trust funds to become depleted in 2034, the same as was projected last year. Even then, the program would be able to continue paying out 77% of currently scheduled benefits. Since by then the scheduled benefit would be about 20% higher than it is today, the result would be close to a wash. If Congress wants to avert the cutback, nothings stopping it from raising the payroll tax, say by eliminating the wage cap on taxes, currently set at $128,400.
The 2018 Trustees Report shows that the current program is fully affordable, said Nancy Altman, a veteran Social Security advocate who is president of the group Social Security Works. Indeed, the United States can fully afford an expanded Social Security. The trustees note that the fiscal condition of Social Security disability has markedly improved in the last year. Its trust fund is now expected to last until 2032, a four-year improvement over last years projection of depletion in 2028. The trustees attribute that improvement to a steady decline in disability caseload and new applications dating back to 2010. That gives the lie to a recurrent Republican meme that disability is little more than a haven for layabouts and malingerers.
The trustees, meanwhile, give details on how congressional and White House initiatives have harmed Social Security. First, they mention that Trumps rescission of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the program that allowed children brought to the United States illegally by their parents to stay and become productive members of society, will reduce the number of workers paying into the program. That will reduce payroll receipts slightly but significantly in the near term; because those people wont be receiving benefits decades from now, the system costs will be lower, but the impact of Trumps decision still will be negative.
The tax cuts enacted by Republicans and signed into law by Trump in December also will have a negative effect on Social Security in the near term, chiefly by reducing the programs income from the taxation of benefits. As a whole, the law has a significant net negative effect on the financial status of the OASDI program [that is, the retirement and disability components together] over the short-range projection period and a negligible net positive effect over the long-range projection period, the trustees said.
GOP policies are projected to have a more significant effect on Medicare, according to its trustees report. A key factor is the elimination of the Affordable Care Acts individual mandate, which was effectively canceled as of 2019 ... when the tax cut bill reduced ...
The Republican-controlled Congress also eliminated the Independent Payment Advisory Board, which had been established by the Affordable Care Act to develop and submit proposals aimed at extending the solvency of Medicare, slowing Medicare cost growth, and improving the quality of care delivered to Medicare beneficiaries. The elimination leaves no mechanism in place to achieve those ends, the trustees reported. Finally, the tax cuts will also reduce income for Medicare, as they do for Social Security.
Social Security and Medicare have proved remarkably resilient in the face of decades of efforts by conservatives to undermine them. The reports issued Tuesday document that theyre still in reasonably good health but that those attacks are beginning to have their effect. If Republicans really are committed to strengthening them for the future, as they claim, the time to stop attacking them is now.
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-social-security-20180605-story.html
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THANK YOU BERNIE SANDERS for speaking the blatant truth when so many won't [View all]
garybeck
Sep 2018
OP
One only needs to watch C-span occasionally to see that Democratic senators and congress people...
George II
Sep 2018
#165
K&R Is there no legal consequence for "elected" officials lying to voters about social security??!!
diva77
Sep 2018
#6
Very true. I had moved out of Fl prior to his election, but never could figure why he wasn't in jail
dameatball
Sep 2018
#13
Really? Nobody else is saying this? No Democratic officeholder is calling out Trump's lies?
Hekate
Sep 2018
#12
Was that a gaslight? I think that may have been a little gaslight. Awwww, cute.
Magoo48
Sep 2018
#158
Both of my Senators have spoken up, many times. Both of the Senators in my neighboring state....
George II
Sep 2018
#213
Actually, The OP infers that others "won't" say it, when multiple Democrats have been calling Trump
ehrnst
Sep 2018
#194
Many wish Bernie would spend more time "pissing" on Republicans than on Democrats.
betsuni
Sep 2018
#128
Your part-time Californian cousin needs to check the political makeup of my state...
Hekate
Sep 2018
#198
Amazing the tunnel vision that seems to occur among some. In fact the Democratic nominee was
still_one
Sep 2018
#47
Yep, the Democratic nominee warned us over & over, laid out great plans, pointed out Trump's nature
Hekate
Sep 2018
#61
I'd love to see your favorite highlights from the campaign where Clinton was really nailing Trump
ProfessorPlum
Sep 2018
#78
I guess you must have been out of the country. I went to several of Democratic nominees rallies,
still_one
Sep 2018
#95
Ah, the ol' "gimme a link", "gimme a video". Did you follow the campaign from the conventions....
George II
Sep 2018
#103
curiouser and curiouser. One has to wonder the motives of some posts sheshe. Or maybe not.........
still_one
Sep 2018
#49
Thanks again, Hortensis, especially for using the Los Angeles Times as a source. They are ...
Hekate
Sep 2018
#203
I'm sure there's a similar plank in the 2012, 2008, and even earlier Party Platforms.
George II
Sep 2018
#64
Talking point: Since the 70s, the Democratic Party abandoned New Deal ideas ...
betsuni
Sep 2018
#79
That's my point two is now "many" so therefor the OP title must be incorrect.
Uncle Joe
Sep 2018
#173
He says "so many won't" that's implies that many *refuse* to say that Trump is lying
ehrnst
Sep 2018
#177
A washed-out has-been desperately trying to stay relevant stating the obvious but with pizzaz!
honest.abe
Sep 2018
#186