For every working adult, they’ve been paying into Social Security knowing, or rather now hoping, that it will be there for them when they retire as well.
Now, however, Republicans in Congress are literally trying to change all that, and make drastic cuts that will affect those even benefiting from the program right now.
According to Josh Marshall:
“Republicans apparently aren’t going to be satisfied with phasing out Medicare. They’re going to try to pass huge cuts to Social Security this year too. Not Bush-style partial phaseout but just big, big cuts. And you’re out of luck even if you’re a current beneficiary.”
Marshall also points out that the Republicans’ current bill screws any and all folks who have been paying into the system for decades.
“…your payroll taxes have been socking away additional money to cover the growing senior population. But this bill says too bad. That money goes for high income tax cuts.”
In other words, screw hard working Americans who paid into the system their whole lives, because the wealthy need more tax breaks.
Also, keep in mind that current Social Security cap is $118,500. Meaning you pay on all your income up to that amount, which, for most Americans, is all their income. The wealthy, on the other hand, get the lovely gift of not needing to pay after that amount. They literally get to keep all of their money while everyone else still pays. Imagine how solvent Social Security would be if the cap was raised to say $1 million, or hell, eliminated altogether.
According to the Washington Examiner, the Republican’s new bill:
“…would reduce costs by changing the benefits formula to reduce payments progressively for high earners. It would also gradually raise the full retirement age from 67 to 69 for people who are today 49 or younger. Lastly, it would change the inflation metric used to calculate benefits to one that shows lower inflation, essentially slowing the growth in benefits, and eliminate cost of living adjustments for high earners.”
Democrats have released the following statement in response:
“Apparently nothing upsets House Republicans like the idea of hard-working people getting to enjoy a secure and dignified retirement. While Speaker Ryan sharpens his knives for Medicare, Chairman Johnson’s bill is an alarming sign that Republicans are greedily eying devastating cuts to Americans’ Social Security benefits as well.
“Cutting Social Security would have devastating consequences for Americans’ retirement security. At a time when Americans are more anxious about their retirement than ever, the top Republican on the Social Security Subcommittee is rolling out legislation that cuts benefits by more than a third, raises the retirement age from 67 to 69, cuts seniors’ cost of living adjustments, and targets benefits for the families of disabled and retired workers.
“Slashing Social Security and ending Medicare are absolutely not what the American people voted for in November. Democrats will not stand by while Republicans dismantle the promise of a healthy and dignified retirement for working people in America.”
It’s incredibly sad that Republican Middle and Working class voters, alongside the working poor don’t understand how they vote against their best interests. Voting Republican is voting for the wealthy to not pay their fair share while everyone else picks up the tab. They want to know why economic growth is slow? How can it grow if lower income people can’t keep their money? The economy doesn’t grow from the top down, or even the bottom up, it grows from the middle out. Everyone benefits if everyone participates. And it’s not even that Republicans in Congress have yet to learn this, they know very well how things work, they just know how to manipulate the system to their advantage and only care about themselves and their cronies that fund their campaigns.
We need to put a stop to these cuts now!
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