Ron DeSantis refusing to accept any entitlement reforms is simply unserious. Lower inflation and higher growth is not going to make up tens of trillions of dollars in debt we’ll be accumulating in the coming decades.
This feels like a really solid debate from the 1996 GOP primary.
Politicians like to talk about poor people benefiting from entitlements, but the vast majority of Social Security and Medicare spending is for people who are not poor.
Good chuckle from DeSantis, Florida governor, acknowledging he knows some people on Social Security.
Hearing Tim Scott talking about seniors who have paid into entitlements is like fingers on the blackboard. Medicare and Social Security pay out to seniors more than they put in, and today’s seniors are being subsidized by today’s younger Americans.
Just feel like this whole night is about how Republicans are going to dramatically expand our foreign commitments while promising budget cuts and austerity at home in the future.
Vivek Ramaswamy speculates on all the lavish entitlement programs America could fund if we didn’t have national defense obligations to service. That’s a clever thought, but it’s one Republican voters over the age of 30 have been hearing Democrats articulate in one form or another for their entire adult lives.
Nikki Haley talking about changing Social Security for people in their 20s, but we’re at the stage where that sort of long-term reform will not work. And Medicare reform will have to be much broader than merely expanding Medicare Advantage, which by itself would not do much for our long-term trajectory. Good to hear her recognizing the need to confront entitlements, but her proposals won’t get us anywhere close to where we need to be.
Look at the bright side, Michael, a falling life expectancy will help reduce Social Security costs! (That’s a dark joke, people.)
Zero-based budgeting sounds nice, but you’d immediately carry over Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid, defense, and interest, and that’s about 80 percent of the budget right there.