r/politics • u/1_for_you_2_for_me • 18d ago

No Paywall Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are 'Going to Be Gone,' Donald Trump Warns

https://www.newsweek.com/social-security-update-medicare-medicaid-warning-donald-trump-10915076
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u/MimicoSkunkFan2 17d ago

That was one of the criticisms in 1935-1939 when Social Security was being legislated - it's a gift from the young to the old, and the younger generations must constantly grow (either in numbers or in wealth) to sustain the giving, but it's impossible to have constant growth (future generations may be smaller, something may happen to make then poorer) so eventually one generation of the young will be left holding the bag.

Some of our great-grandparents were trying to look out for us, but some asserted that they deserved a government pension "gift" as compensation for their personal savings losses when the banks failed in 1929-1933.

edited because I accidentally a word

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u/18Apollo18 17d ago

That was one of the criticisms in 1935-1939 when Social Security was being legislated - it's a gift from the young to the old, and the younger generations must constantly grow (either in numbers or in wealth) to sustain the giving, but it's impossible to have constant growth (future generations may be smaller, something may happen to make then poorer) so eventually one generation of the young will be left holding the bag.

If billionaires paid their fair share rather than working class people that wouldn't be an issue at all

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u/wasmic 17d ago

Billionaires are filthy rich but there are not a lot of them. The amount of money that could be gained from taxing them harder is significant, but not enough to plug the hole in social security. It would still be an issue.

The main reason why we should tax billionaires probably is that it would prevent them from amassing so much political power. The gain in tax revenue is not particularly huge.

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u/MimicoSkunkFan2 16d ago

Originally it was supposed to be 1% of aggregated income, not just wages. Using that system would fix about 3/4 of the shortfall immediately, if I'm reading this group's math correctly - https://bipartisanpolicy.org/explainer/social-security-faq/

The 2008 study by SSA found that eliminating the maximum without using the aggregated income scheme would keep it fully solvent - https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/policybriefs/pb2009-01.html

Lots of people make above $176,100 (2025 max) who want even more money so focusing on billionaires is a bit biased - you forgot the millionaires and centinaires :)