As predicted: McConnell eyes cuts 2 Medicare, Social Security 2 address deficit

[Comrade Funk]

Terrific. SS needs to be replaced by mandatory savings and Medicare needs to be abolished completely.

Why are you a "Democrat"?

It's a shtick. He's trolling.

[Beet]

This is a win-win argument for Republicans. If people buy it, it provides a justification for cutting Medicare, and Social Security. If people don't buy it and they lose elections, it provides a justification for opposing future Democratic spending plans. There is no reason for them not to harp on the deficit, since they already got their tax cuts.

[Person Man]

Terrific. SS needs to be replaced by mandatory savings and Medicare needs to be abolished completely.

Why are you a "Democrat"?

It's a shtick. He's trolling.

Like pretend to be Republican sometimes.Hes an alt-Right monarchist. He's about as Democratic as the Pope is Mormon.

[darklordoftech]

The Dems need to be running ads on this 24/7.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Think if they sweep in 20 days, they target Bush's plan to capitulate SS again?

If they sweep, voters deserve to have their "entitlements" taken away. There comes a time when you should get what you vote for. Elections have consequences.

Hope "making a statement" about black people kneeling was worth it as granny eats her cat food!

They're not voting because of "black people kneeling". The actual motivations for voting Republican aren't much better but the number of people who'd vote Democratic if it weren't for the NFL protests and are voting Republican on those grounds is a smaller number than active Atlas posters. Also it might shock you to know that working class whites voted Republican before anyone knew who Colin Kaerpernick was.

A little slow on the uptake, BRTD? Only you would take that statement literally. It's obviously a metaphor. Yes, they don't vote based off black people kneeling, they vote based off hating black people (and other minorities) in general, lol. So much better!

They vote mostly on cultural issues (abortion, guns, etc.) and have for a very long time.

Obviously I don't agree with that, how they vote or think they're not HP, but "black people kneeling" is such a stupid f[inks]ing strawman it's as annoying to read as actual right wingers.

[IceSpear]

Think if they sweep in 20 days, they target Bush's plan to capitulate SS again?

If they sweep, voters deserve to have their "entitlements" taken away. There comes a time when you should get what you vote for. Elections have consequences.

Hope "making a statement" about black people kneeling was worth it as granny eats her cat food!

They're not voting because of "black people kneeling". The actual motivations for voting Republican aren't much better but the number of people who'd vote Democratic if it weren't for the NFL protests and are voting Republican on those grounds is a smaller number than active Atlas posters. Also it might shock you to know that working class whites voted Republican before anyone knew who Colin Kaerpernick was.

A little slow on the uptake, BRTD? Only you would take that statement literally. It's obviously a metaphor. Yes, they don't vote based off black people kneeling, they vote based off hating black people (and other minorities) in general, lol. So much better!

They vote mostly on cultural issues (abortion, guns, etc.) and have for a very long time.

Obviously I don't agree with that, how they vote or think they're not HP, but "black people kneeling" is such a stupid f[inks]ing strawman it's as annoying to read as actual right wingers.

Fine, I'll take off the "kneeling" part and replace it with "existing."

[Hindsight was 2020]

Icespear does have a point that to say “Dems have abandoned the working class” is really condescending to the Hispanic and Black working classes that overwhelming support the dems

[Progressive Pessimist]

This is a win-win argument for Republicans. If people buy it, it provides a justification for cutting Medicare, and Social Security. If people don't buy it and they lose elections, it provides a justification for opposing future Democratic spending plans. There is no reason for them not to harp on the deficit, since they already got their tax cuts.

Yep, more cynicism from the GOP. It should backfire on them, but has yet to.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Great thing to advertise right before the midterms Mitch.

As if it will matter? Paul Ryan constantly shouted from the rooftops to anyone who would listen that it was his life's dream to destroy Social Security and Medicare, and that didn't stop Americans from comfortably electing him Speaker in 2016.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Think if they sweep in 20 days, they target Bush's plan to capitulate SS again?

If they sweep, voters deserve to have their "entitlements" taken away. There comes a time when you should get what you vote for. Elections have consequences.

Hope "making a statement" about black people kneeling was worth it as granny eats her cat food!

What's with all the cat food comments?  That stuff is more expensive than people food.

[ProudModerate2]

Think if they sweep in 20 days, they target Bush's plan to capitulate SS again?

If they sweep, voters deserve to have their "entitlements" taken away. There comes a time when you should get what you vote for. Elections have consequences.

Hope "making a statement" about black people kneeling was worth it as granny eats her cat food!

What's with all the cat food comments?  That stuff is more expensive than people food.

You must be young.
The "cat food" statement is quite old, and rarely used today.

[IceSpear]

Lamb winning because of Paul Ryan is about as likely as Handel winning because of Nancy Pelosi.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Lamb winning because of Paul Ryan is about as likely as Handel winning because of Nancy Pelosi.

The whole focus of his campaign was attacking Ryan's "entitlement reform" plans.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4syLKd2Rts

[Virginiá]

Amazing how intellectually bankrupt the GOP has become. Every time, they follow the same cycle, which includes trying to gaslight America with the deficit-busting effect of their tax cuts.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Didn't Obama offer to make compromise cuts on certain programs in 2011 but the GOP refused? Maybe I'm misremembering.

And Bill Clinton was going to gut SS until the Monica situation stopped him from going down that road. Neoliberals on both sides of the aisles try this sh**t.

[gottsu]

Didn't Obama offer to make compromise cuts on certain programs in 2011 but the GOP refused? Maybe I'm misremembering.

And Bill Clinton was going to gut SS until the Monica situation stopped him from going down that road. Neoliberals on both sides of the aisles try this sh**t.

But does Clinton or Obama was like McConnell who thinks that tax cuts will solve it all?

Typical GOP. So typical! I don't know why they are even allowed to run American economy...

Just leave them DoD and all defense matters, but please don't let them manage economy stuff, because American economy it's not the Koch's or Adelson's private field.

[Torie]

Repealing the tax cuts will not solve the entitlement issue long term. Single payer might help, if it will really save substantial costs. Mitch's comment seems to suggest that the only hope of a fix is if the Dems control part of the trifecta. Is he urging that folks vote Dem for House candidates? Quite an odd statement to make, even if it has some truth to it, because the Pubs are unwilling to take the political hit.

[Koharu]

Great thing to advertise right before the midterms Mitch.

Yeah. I'm seeing my older but generally more Republican acquaintances getting a bit riled about this. Nothing major yet but if he wants to keep talking about it...

[PragmaticPopulist]

Only people that this is gonna make happy are the conservative ideologues. This is the perfect thing for Democrats to run on in older, more rural areas.

[Santander]

Terrific. SS needs to be replaced by mandatory savings and Medicare needs to be abolished completely.

Why are you a "Democrat"?

It's a shtick. He's trolling.

Like pretend to be Republican sometimes.Hes an alt-Right monarchist. He's about as Democratic as the Pope is Mormon.

I'm alt-white, not alt-right.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Terrific. SS needs to be replaced by mandatory savings and Medicare needs to be abolished completely.

Why are you a "Democrat"?

It's a shtick. He's trolling.

Like pretend to be Republican sometimes.Hes an alt-Right monarchist. He's about as Democratic as the Pope is Mormon.

I'm alt-white, not alt-right.

"alt-white"?  You mean like ecru or ivory?

[darklordoftech]

Great thing to advertise right before the midterms Mitch.

Yeah. I'm seeing my older but generally more Republican acquaintances getting a bit riled about this. Nothing major yet but if he wants to keep talking about it...

[Sir Mohamed]

It's always the same GOP playbook:

- Enact massive tax cuts for the rich and large corporations, some little temporary reliefs for the middle class and recklessly increase defense spending, then...

- complain about the budget deficit, before...

- blaming liberals and demand slashing the welfare state.

When will people see through this GOP scam?


Footnote: There were only two presidents to reduce the deficit in the past 50 years: One got the be Reagan, right? Ah, no, he increased it by 179%. The correct answer is: Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

[mvd10]

Amazing how intellectually bankrupt the GOP has become. Every time, they follow the same cycle, which includes trying to gaslight America with the deficit-busting effect of their tax cuts.

What exactly do you mean with intellectual bankruptcy? I mean, you're right if you mean that the GOP doesn't care about the deficit. I don't even know why they still are virtue signalling on medicare/SS reform since it doesn't win any votes and they're not going to do it anyway. At this stage they probably should drop any illusions they have and start claiming they'll balance the budget by kicking out illegal immigrants or so. The voters would take it lmao.

But it's a fact that most of the increase in the budget deficit is caused by SS/medicare spending increasing. Spending on SS and medicare is 8.5% of GDP in 2018, it'll be 11% of GDP in 2030 and something like 12-13% of GDP in 2045 (granted, it is hard to make projections this far into the future). Now $1.5 trillion may sound like a big scary figure (and I'm not saying Trump's tax ''reform'' was a good idea), but it's a 10-year number (so on average $150 billion per year) and $150 billion is only 0.7% of GDP. By 2028 Trump's tax cuts will only cost revenue in the form of increased interest payments, most of the tax cuts will be phased out. If we panic about Trump's tax cuts, imagine what a 2.5% of GDP increase in medicare/SS spending will do to the deficit (especially long-term). There is no way the US can both bring the deficit to somewhat manageable levels and spend money on certain priorities (be it infrastructure, reduced tax rates or healthcare) without reforming SS/medicare (reforming basically means cutting here) or enacting a broad-based VAT. On those issues Democrats are just as naive as Republicans. Reforming SS/medicare isn't ''intellectual bankruptcy'', it's simply the sane and sensible thing to do (and no, it doesn't have to mean Ryancare or another Randian plan, just sane reforms to make those programs solvent). Now it obviously won't happen since the GOP doesn't give 2 f**ks about America's future, but that's another story.

[JA]

The ironic thing is that Trump made some notable inroads among important demographics and helped set himself apart from other Republicans by taking a more economically populist campaign position. Yet, he has presided over, aside from trade issues, one of the most neoliberal economic agendas since at least Reagan. It has been his white nationalist, socially conservative coalition with faux populism that has enabled him to make deeper cuts than a Republican could’ve otherwise been capable of accomplishing. People hate folks like Ryan, but it’s snakes in the grass like Trump that are the real danger.