For anyone who doesn't believe entitlements + interest on the debt will crowd out all other spending

[Tom Rinaldo]

55. I don't accept that.

And the closer you move that timeline to the present time the less I accept it. Now if you want to go way far out global history timeline there is always a case that the average person today lives better than Royalty did in the 17th century for example. And any elderly person, rich or poor, is more likely to survive a bout of pneumonia today than those who lived before antibiotics were discovered But that kind of relativism ignores the fundamental aspect of economic justice. 17th century Royalty lived privileged and ultimately exploitative lives relative to the lot of the common "man" then.

Income growth in America has flowed almost exclusively to the top 20% over the last 30 years, and of that top 20% income growth for the vast bulk of them has been modest aside from the top 1 or 2%. Meanwhile it has been stagnant or falling for everyone else. And Americans are now starting to live shorter rather than longer lives, and the extent of that regression magnifies as one moves lower on the economic ladder. That is not exactly progress.

But the real kicker is looking forward from here. The next generation of retirees won't be adding Social Security benefits to their U.S. Postal Service pensions. Very few will have pensions period. Ever since the Union movement in America got undermined workers no longer see their highest income years in the ten years before they retire. Built in seniority pay scales and protections once insured that, but no longer. Now anyone in their 50's who makes anything notably over the minimum has to constantly look over their shoulders for a pink slip notice on the way. No one is hiring recently unemployed workers in their 50's to anything remotely resembling good paying jobs. This is a trend that has deepened over the last 10 years, we have barely seen the full effects of it yet on those who soon will become eligible for Social Security.

For one thing, not only do people no longer have pensions, but they don't have real savings either. If they ever did they are burned through during those last ten years after they stop being "employable" for real living wage jobs. That means the next generation hitting Social Security will enter it from a lower wages baseline also - and that translates into a smaller monthly check even putting COLAs aside. And the number of people being forced to take early retirement Social Security rather than waiting for the full benefit level to kick in is skyrocketing. That means significantly smaller monthly checks still. Why? The same reason. They have no other source of income left by age 62, and they have already burned through their savings and often whatever equity they may have had in their homes - so 2nd mortgage loan payments must still be managed also when prior generations got to shrink their budgets once their homes were paid off.

We are only starting to see the full magnitude of the economic crisis our elderly will face in the coming decades - so of course it is time to cut Social Security benefits.