The GOP is after Social Security and Medicare. Again.



The GOP is already announcing that when they take over the House, they will hold the debt ceiling hostage to cuts in Social Security and Medicare. Here's Kevin McCarthy:

"“You can’t just continue down the path to keep spending and adding to the debt. And if people want to make a debt ceiling [for a longer period of time], just like anything else, there comes a point in time where, okay, we’ll provide you more money, but you got to change your current behavior. We’re not just going to keep lifting your credit card limit, right?” he said. “And we should seriously sit together and [figure out] where can we eliminate some waste? Where can we make the economy grow stronger?”

First of all, there is no analogy between a personal credit card and the national debt. The US has a sovereign currency and you don't. The US creates and destroys dollars every day and you don't. But wait, won't creating more dollars mean hyperinflation? Uh, no. The dollar is the world's reserve currency and so far, US bonds are still selling just fine. Call me when that changes.

But even if you buy the specious analogy between the federal debt and household debt, there is a way to reduce the debt--more income! Reverse the GOP tax cuts for the wealthy. Tax investment income just like regular income. Of course, the Republicans don't really care about the debt, they just want to use it as a stick to beat the poor and elderly, while their donors get richer.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/scalise-mccarthy-medicare-social-security-debt-ceiling

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