Oh! The horror! Hillary Clinton actually wants senior citizens to have secure, dignified retirements! And Donald Trump—a Republican!—actually says he's opposed to Social Security cuts (whether or not to believe him on that is another story). The deficit peacocks are bitterly disappointed. Emphasis on the "bitter" part.
"This is just a dramatic shift—to have the Republican nominee saying we're not going to touch the program," said Maya MacGuineas, the president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan group that supports entitlement spending cuts. "And on the Democratic side, to have moved where we're talking about expanding the system, which would of course worsen any shortfall."
"It's troubling for those of us who care about fixing the problem," MacGuineas said.
By "fixing the problem" she means, of course, more cat food for old people. But she is right about one thing—it's a dramatic shift, and a really important one. Sen. Sherrod Brown recognizes the monumental shift it signifies: "It's attributable to the fact that people running for elections are actually listening for what voters have been saying for 10 years about. […] I don't think anything has changed among the voters. Things have changed in the politics of it."
There are myriad solutions to shore up Social Security, none of which involve cutting benefits for anyone. Or making people wait longer—and work longer—to retire. Or to force people to put all their retirement savings into the stock market (the ultimate goal of the peacocks, however much they try to tell you it's about "fixing the problem"). Elected Democrats—and Democratic candidates like Hillary Clinton—have come around to that idea, much to the chagrin of the likes of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget and the Third Way.
That we're going into the next administration without the threat of Social Security cuts looming is something to celebrate, and reward.
Can you chip in $3 to each of these candidates to get more Democrats into the House and take back the Senate?