Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and would-be president has a new book out, since that's the thing that presidential candidates do. Politico
excerpts 10 key quotes that demonstrate, according to the paper, how Rubio "tries hard to come across as an 'ideas guy.'" They include his quote on Social Security and Medicare, which demonstrates that he is basing his ideas on total ignorance of actual policy.
"It is hard for me to imagine retiring at 65 and spending the next quarter century not working. I expect to be working, doing something productive and fulfilling."
Rubio supports raising the retirement age for Social Security as a way to ensure the system's solvency and to reflect longer life expectancies. It's perhaps the most politically risky territory he treads in the book. He says acting soon will allow people currently over the age of 55 to be spared. Rubio also advocates reducing the growth of benefits to upper-income seniors as well as eliminating the payroll tax on workers who have already reached retirement age.
On Medicare, he supports a voucher-like system in which seniors would get a set amount of money and can choose between traditional fee-for-service Medicare and private providers.
Well, this is a little bit embarrassing for him. Because in reality, the retirement age has already been raised for Rubio. In fact, it's been raised beyond 65 for
anyone born after 1943. And for anyone, including Rubio, under age 55 already has to wait until they're 67 to retire. It's been that way since the Reagan administration, in fact. That's something that Republicans rarely acknowledge, since it undercuts their arguments, but Rubio's quote here sure makes it look like he doesn't even know about it.
Then there's the fact that this "ideas guy" has no new ideas of his own on the issue. In fact, he sounds pretty much just like that other "ideas guy," Paul Ryan. All of which suggests that Mr. Rubio really isn't ready for primetime, or 2016.