I expect the privitization of Social Security and Medicare

[edhopper]

to be on the agenda this year.
And I give it a 50/50 chance because I don't know if there are enough GOP Reps and Senators to oppose it.

[gab13by13]

1. I doubt it will happen through Congress.

[edhopper]

4. Why not

I truly wonder if enough GOP Reps and Senators would oppose it. It is something they have wanted for decades.

[bearsfootball516]

5. That's a really, really tough vote for swing state GOP senators to take.

Voting yes could be the death knell for Thom Tillis and Susan Collins.

[edhopper]

11. That's two

we would need 4, and I would not count on Tillis.

[tritsofme]

10. They want to get reelected more.

[edhopper]

13. Yet they don't oppose the current

dismantling of the Government.

[tritsofme]

18. If it makes you feel better to be scared and panic about SS and Medicare getting gutted, go ahead.

I’ll keep worrying about the actual crazy shit they’re planning to do.

[Think. Again.]

27. People's lives depend on SS and medicare.

[Traildogbob]

36. Lives depend!!!!!

Remember the GQP saying seniors have had a good run, so if Covid takes em out, no problem, get em outta here. Stop the masking, closings, and vaccines. Get back to work, and let the bodies fall where they stand. MAGA.

[Think. Again.]

37. Fixed it for ya...

... MAGA nazi.

[Traildogbob]

39. You are exactly right.

[tritsofme]

45. And it's not going anywhere.

[Think. Again.]

46. I admire your confidence.

[Bettie]

53. Funny story.....remember when they said

that Roe would never be overturned?

We can't count on anything.

DH and I are within 10 years of SS age. We have little hope that SS or Medicare will be there for us. Their goal is apparently to destroy...everything.

[Blue Full Moon]

2. The constituents need to show up with pitchforks

At their representatives and Senators offices and homes.

[Celerity]

3. I expect to see a big push for 'Medicare Advantage For All'.

[Silent Type]

7. If that's what it takes to get coverage for everyone, I'd consider it. Looking at recent legislation, including ACA,

and Part D, healthcare reform is likely going to involve private insurers, although with greater control from government.

My guess is, we'll oppose such legislation and 20 years from now we'll still be griping about healthcare.

[Celerity]

12. MAFA will never achieve those goals, it would be an even further massive cash grab/wealth transfer scam inside the

odious American for-profit healthcare superstructure.

[Silent Type]

17. I think universal coverage is a bigger goal.

[Celerity]

19. yes, of course, & forcing millions into the gaping, rapacious maw of the for-profit healthcare matrix won't get us there

[leftstreet]

23. +1

[edhopper]

14. There will be nothing about expanding Medicare with Medicare Advantage

only taking regular Medicare away from those of us who have it.

[rampartd]

51. "traditional" medicare has gotten me through cancer

i'm not sure an "advantage" plan would do that .

[dem4decades]

6. This is their big chance to steal all the money, I can see it happening.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

8. Zero chance

Not with a two or three vote majority in the House and a filibuster in the Senate.

[tritsofme]

9. They can't make changes to Social Security in Reconciliation.

And I don’t expect them to really do anything to Medicare.

I doubt anything happens to either program.

[edhopper]

15. They can do whatever they want

since when do rules matter?

[tritsofme]

16. Because they don't have the votes to change the rules?

Not sure why people view them as these all powerful super villains?

They are incompetent and don’t even like each other.

[Think. Again.]

28. Tell that to all the people harmed in the last few days.

[William769]

41. You're just hell bent on implying they have a super majority when they don't.

Yes rules matter https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219937079 that's just one example there are more if you just look.

Yes, the sun is going to come out tomorrow.

[edhopper]

43. This will go to SCOTUS

let's see when all is said and done. Warrantless searches are already business as usual.

[Rebl2]

22. I remember

an ad that Josh Hawley ran this last election. I saw it multiple times over a couple of months. He said in this ad that he promised to preserve social security because we paid into it throughout our careers and we deserve to get the money we paid into it. Will be interesting to see if he goes back on his promise.

[Think. Again.]

29. He's a nazi, promises are meaningless.

[TBF]

20. Absolutely -

it is the way they will do it. "Look you're going to be stockholders" - I can see the propaganda. So, then all the money is in the market, where high income traders can steal it with their ridiculous fees which aren't taxed properly (just like 401K's). At which point they will say "oh - but it's a risk. You always knew betting on the stock market was a risk". And there will be no recourse for the losses. God help us all.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

21. Wouldn't make it past a filibuster

No way 60 Senators would vote for that.

[edhopper]

24. I have doubts the fillibuster will last this Senate.

[bif]

25. Social Security is self funded

And doesn't use Federal money. So it would be hard to justify privatizing it.

[edhopper]

26. It is hard to justify

a lot of what they are doing, and yet....

[Think. Again.]

31. What does justification have to do with anything anymore?

[Emile]

30. Project 2025 lays out their agenda and they will

follow it to a tee.

[Traildogbob]

32. I see no backbones

To fight for us. It does not matter if they can justify it or not. If the crowd of billionaires demand it, Trump et al will allow it.
And we probably can stop with the “Voters” will scare them into not allowing it, with this crowd, elections will be a shit show just like Putin Land,
They have zero fear of any more elections.

[Emile]

35. The districts are so gerrymandered they don't fear elections.

[Traildogbob]

38. Watching Thom Hartmann

Now and Greg Palast is laying out the thievery of the past election, and the multiple ways the ballots were thrown out and trashed. Here in NC, GQP is in court now, still, to throw out 69,000 votes to oust the Dem Judge and put in the MAGA opponent. Gerrymandering is just a fraction of the tactics they have already used, now watch all that multiply by hundreds under this regime. We are AT WAR. Open traitors are being installed in every level of government. And have an agenda.
Tyranny is in charge.

[peteme67]

33. nope

Will never happen. Trump is all noise and Herr Johnson is a fucking moron

[KS Toronado]

47. Welcome to DU !

[B.See]

48. Wish I had your confidence, but

I fully expect them to fk with those as well. Or at least in some way that mostly hurts the people they love to HATE.

They're 'on a mission...'

[Kid Berwyn]

34. Piratization would add to the chaos.

Which is their strategy.

[question everything]

49. I like your typo. At least, I think it is a typo..

[Kid Berwyn]

50. No, no typo.

Another form of welfare for the wealthy, Piratization combines the actions of piracy with the recessive fiat of privatization, the act of converting public property into private holdings. While providing an exciting opportunity for the public to bear the expense, in keeping with our capitalist ideals, piratization privatizes the rewards while socializing the costs and risks. Several conservative organizations have been formed after the Powell Memorandum help speed the process, such as the Feudalist Society.

PS: Thank you grokking — and caring, question everything.

[delisen]

40. This is why we must forcefully oppose these initial attacks

Their eventual plan is to turn the US into Hitler’s Germany and then the Cambodia of Pol Pot.

We must stand with the first peoples under attack, not only because it is right, but also to slow the surge as we keep building opposition.

[karynnj]

42. What may stop it is that the people on it or almost on it

are old enough to remember the 2008 market.

At the time, I was 58 and remember the fear of people, who had the need to draw on their savings for their kids' college or for older people to supplement their retirement income.

There were two lessons that were learned. One was if you stayed in the market, you likely regained your on paper loses. The other was that if you needed the money then, you made a big dent in what you later would have.

Another problem with privatizing SS is that there is no giant pot of money in the Treasury that could be split between all current and future beneficiaries to be put into individual accounts. The money we paid over long careers paid the SS for our grandparents and parents. I know in the Reagan years when planning for the baby boom generation retiring led to a big increase in FICA taxes to create a fund to eventually draw upon to supplement current payments into Treasury. However, as early as the GWB years, Greenspan admitted that cashing in too much of the Treasury IOUs would create a large deficit in the current year budget.

Therefore, the only thing they could be speaking of is investing whatever reserves they have and tying the level of payments to performance. All of us probably were told years ago to not risk anything they could not afford to lose. I would bet that the majority of SS recipients if asked would they be willing to toss a coin where they could gain an extra 10 percent or lose 10 percent would or should not take that risk.

[edhopper]

44. Just make it a ten year plan

those on it and soon to be on it will look the other way.

[doc03]

52. He can do anything he wants to SS as long as it doesn't harm the MAGAts that

currently receive or are close to getting SS and Medicare. Over the years the younger generations
has been conditioned to believe SS will be bankrupt before they are eligible anyway. I am 77 myself, that's
the impression I get from MAGAts "He won't cut ours". Everything is Me Me Me to a MAGA.