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Trump, Mulvaney, and their "stealth" effort to destroy Social Security
Labor Day is a holiday designed to honor America’s workers. Instead, Donald Trump continues to attack them. Indeed, his administration is in the midst of a stealth effort that not only attacks workers but also our earned Social Security benefits and our federal government. The long-term goals of Trump and his Congressional allies are to destroy the labor movement, wreck the federal government, and end Social Security.
That may sound hyperbolic, but it is not. Trump’s latest stealth attack is not only anti-union, it will eventually make it so difficult to access Social Security benefits that some beneficiaries (particularly those attempting to qualify for their earned Social Security disability benefits) never receive them at all. Others will eventually claim their benefits, but only after an unnecessarily burdensome process of visiting field offices that are rarely open and have hours-long lines when they are.
Trump’s hostility to Social Security and Medicare is equally clear. He recently floated a proposal to reduce Social Security’s funding. Days later, he gloated over his intentions to cut Medicare as a “fun second-term project.”
The American people did not vote for these benefit cuts. In fact, Trump ran on a promise to protect Social Security and Medicare. This was a shrewd political strategy, given that voters of all political stripes strongly value our Social Security and strongly oppose cutting its modest but vital benefits. They strongly value our Medicare, as well. But as with his promise to raise taxes on the rich, to provide quality health care for everyone, even to act presidential, Trump has done the exact opposite now that he’s in the White House.
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/08/trumps-awful-labor-day-trifecta-attacking-workers-social-security-and-government-itself/
That may sound hyperbolic, but it is not. Trump’s latest stealth attack is not only anti-union, it will eventually make it so difficult to access Social Security benefits that some beneficiaries (particularly those attempting to qualify for their earned Social Security disability benefits) never receive them at all. Others will eventually claim their benefits, but only after an unnecessarily burdensome process of visiting field offices that are rarely open and have hours-long lines when they are.
Trump’s hostility to Social Security and Medicare is equally clear. He recently floated a proposal to reduce Social Security’s funding. Days later, he gloated over his intentions to cut Medicare as a “fun second-term project.”
The American people did not vote for these benefit cuts. In fact, Trump ran on a promise to protect Social Security and Medicare. This was a shrewd political strategy, given that voters of all political stripes strongly value our Social Security and strongly oppose cutting its modest but vital benefits. They strongly value our Medicare, as well. But as with his promise to raise taxes on the rich, to provide quality health care for everyone, even to act presidential, Trump has done the exact opposite now that he’s in the White House.
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/08/trumps-awful-labor-day-trifecta-attacking-workers-social-security-and-government-itself/
Trump's latest plan to undermine Social Security
BY NANCY ALTMAN, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 08/21/19 06:30 PM EDT
https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/politics/458280-trumps-latest-plan-to-undermine-social-security
Donald Trump recently floated cutting the Social Security contribution rate. Voters should not be fooled by this Trojan horse. It looks like a gift to working Americans. In reality, it is part of a longstanding effort to end Social Security.
The proposed cut is supposedly about stimulating the economy. But there are many better ways to achieve that goal. Indeed, cutting the Social Security contribution rate is a particularly poor way. The largest breaks would go to those with higher incomes — who are more likely to simply save the cut and less likely to spend it. Moreover, about one-fourth of those who work for state and local governments don’t participate in Social Security. Therefore, they would get nothing.
If Trump truly wanted to stimulate the economy through tax breaks, there are much more targeted, efficient ways to do that. He could reinstate the Making Work Pay Tax Credit, which President Obama and the Democrats in Congress employed in 2009 and 2010. Unlike cutting the Social Security contribution rate, that tax cut was targeted to those who were least likely to simply save it and most likely to spend it in their local economies immediately.
Despite the obvious advantages that the Making Work Pay Tax Credit provided, Republicans insisted that it be allowed to expire, and be replaced with a two percent cut in the Social Security contribution rate. Despite the disadvantages, the Social Security cut had one big advantage: It furthered a longstanding goal of conservatives – undermining Social Security.
BY NANCY ALTMAN, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 08/21/19 06:30 PM EDT
https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/politics/458280-trumps-latest-plan-to-undermine-social-security
Donald Trump recently floated cutting the Social Security contribution rate. Voters should not be fooled by this Trojan horse. It looks like a gift to working Americans. In reality, it is part of a longstanding effort to end Social Security.
The proposed cut is supposedly about stimulating the economy. But there are many better ways to achieve that goal. Indeed, cutting the Social Security contribution rate is a particularly poor way. The largest breaks would go to those with higher incomes — who are more likely to simply save the cut and less likely to spend it. Moreover, about one-fourth of those who work for state and local governments don’t participate in Social Security. Therefore, they would get nothing.
If Trump truly wanted to stimulate the economy through tax breaks, there are much more targeted, efficient ways to do that. He could reinstate the Making Work Pay Tax Credit, which President Obama and the Democrats in Congress employed in 2009 and 2010. Unlike cutting the Social Security contribution rate, that tax cut was targeted to those who were least likely to simply save it and most likely to spend it in their local economies immediately.
Despite the obvious advantages that the Making Work Pay Tax Credit provided, Republicans insisted that it be allowed to expire, and be replaced with a two percent cut in the Social Security contribution rate. Despite the disadvantages, the Social Security cut had one big advantage: It furthered a longstanding goal of conservatives – undermining Social Security.
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Mick Mulvaney in the Oval Office in May. In 2010, he defeated John Spratt, a Democrat, in South Carolina’s Fifth District. This year, he became the acting chief of staff to President Trump. Doug Mills/The New York Times
Of the 87 new Republicans elected to the House in 2010 — the most sweeping repudiation of a president and his political party in generations — one who has risen higher than most is Mick Mulvaney, Mr. Trump’s chief of staff.
In early September 2009, Mr. Mulvaney, then a state senator and part-owner of a chain of Mexican restaurants, sat in the back of a town hall in Rock Hill, S.C., a gathering that was typical for that summer. Seven hundred people filled the hall while another 200 listened on portable speakers outside. Constituents grilled the House Budget Committee chairman, John Spratt, a Democrat, and complained about how much the Obama health care plan would add to the nation’s trillion-dollar-plus deficit.
At one point, a man erupted over another false rumor making the rounds about coverage for undocumented immigrants. “Do not tell me that illegal alien invaders do not get health care free in America,” he said. “I see it every day.”
Mr. Mulvaney decided to challenge Mr. Spratt, and on the day he announced his campaign, in November 2009, he accused his opponent of selling out. “People can say a lot about me,” Mr. Mulvaney said at the time. “One thing they can never say is that I’ve sold out my principles.”
Since then, Mr. Mulvaney has risen to become the director of the Office of Management and Budget and acting chief of staff to President Trump. In the three years that Mr. Trump has been in office, the nation’s deficit has increased each year. Last week the Congressional Budget Office said it would rise again every year for the next four. By 2029, the national debt is set to reach its highest level as a share of the economy since after World War II.
In early September 2009, Mr. Mulvaney, then a state senator and part-owner of a chain of Mexican restaurants, sat in the back of a town hall in Rock Hill, S.C., a gathering that was typical for that summer. Seven hundred people filled the hall while another 200 listened on portable speakers outside. Constituents grilled the House Budget Committee chairman, John Spratt, a Democrat, and complained about how much the Obama health care plan would add to the nation’s trillion-dollar-plus deficit.
At one point, a man erupted over another false rumor making the rounds about coverage for undocumented immigrants. “Do not tell me that illegal alien invaders do not get health care free in America,” he said. “I see it every day.”
Mr. Mulvaney decided to challenge Mr. Spratt, and on the day he announced his campaign, in November 2009, he accused his opponent of selling out. “People can say a lot about me,” Mr. Mulvaney said at the time. “One thing they can never say is that I’ve sold out my principles.”
Since then, Mr. Mulvaney has risen to become the director of the Office of Management and Budget and acting chief of staff to President Trump. In the three years that Mr. Trump has been in office, the nation’s deficit has increased each year. Last week the Congressional Budget Office said it would rise again every year for the next four. By 2029, the national debt is set to reach its highest level as a share of the economy since after World War II.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/28/us/politics/tea-party-trump.html
