So Trump is going to do nothing to entitlements? Looks like he's going to do nothing to stop the out of control spending.

Trump on @SquawkCNBC on entitlements: pic.twitter.com/mTbLlrSL6r

— Vaughn Hillyard (@VaughnHillyard) March 11, 2024

Promising to cut entitlements is instant death to any campaign.

Fwiw, Kernan and his guest analyst interviewing trump agreed, before the interview started, that the only way out of the government debt crisis is to grow tf out of the economy.

Trump will slash regulation and unleash the economy - as opposed to Biden, who just released a $3tn budget plan, based almost entirely on tax increases on evil millionaires and billionaires.

Ill take trump and the Republicans every day of the week.

This is the best we could muster?

He got away with it in his first term because he surrounded himself with people that were way more qualified than himself. IF, big if, he gets another term there aren't going to be that many smart people flocking to sign up for this.

CDUB98 said:

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Promising to cut entitlements is instant death to any campaign.

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Exactly.

I would love nothing more than candidates to come out in support of cutting entitlements, but the populace is not ready for that reality especially leading up to an election.

It would be nice if lame duck Trump advocated for it IF he wins the presidency, though I'm not sure if it would be best to have that drastic policy change attached to the toxic name Trump in the long run. But either way, there is no way big spender Trump goes for it nor does the GOP back it....

He said that we have to do something about then without directly saying that they have to be cut. He alluded to cutting waste in management which about as specific as you can get and not kill ur candidacy.

Too many people are at the government teat. Putting restrictions back on them- like you get 6-12 months on government assistance would be the best way to start while u try to get the economy going again and get people back to work.

As has been said before saying outright ur gonna take away people's government smart phones and free food is campaign death.

Unfortunately....we have hit the point where there are more takers than producers.....as designed and it's famn near impossible to draw that back because when people can live for free it's damn near impossible to put down the cheetos and get back to work.

same interview:

Kernan: "why did you completely change your opposition to Tik Tok after meeting with Yoss who gives millions of dollars to your campaign and the GOP?"

Trump: "I met him for a few minutes, his wife is lovely."

that's the type of well versed policy we get with Trump.

Why do they expect Trump and not Biden to fix it? Isn't it a national problem?

Sid Farkas said:

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Fwiw, Kernan and his guest analyst interviewing trump agreed, before the interview started, that the only way out of the government debt crisis is to grow tf out of the economy.

Trump will slash regulation and unleash the economy - as opposed to Biden, who just released a $3tn budget plan, based almost entirely on tax increases on evil millionaires and billionaires.

Ill take trump and the Republicans every day of the week.

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I thought the best course of action was to shoo chip manufacturers away from the US, and force all companies to file climate impact reports

Sounds reasonable, right?

Funky Winkerbean said:

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Why do they expect Trump and not Biden to fix it? Isn't it a national problem?

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Biden will simply increase taxes on the wealthy and limit Social Security withdrawals for the top half of retirees.

no thanks!

I am SHOCKED! SHOCKED I tell you!



Just kidding, not shocked. This is not anything unexpected. All he wants to do is have his ego stroked, not fix anything.

LMCane said:

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same interview:

Kernan: "why did you completely change your opposition to Tik Tok after meeting with Yoss who gives millions of dollars to your campaign and the GOP?"

Trump: "I met him for a few minutes, his wife is lovely."

that's the type of well versed policy we get with Trump.

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Dang, I don't think I've every seen a side step in politics, thank for opening my eyes.

CDUB98 said:

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Promising to cut entitlements is instant death to any campaign.

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the very fact that they are called "entitlements" kind of answers the question.

He should go on for 30 minuyes every week. That's him a his b best

LMCane said:

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same interview:

Kernan: "why did you completely change your opposition to Tik Tok after meeting with Yoss who gives millions of dollars to your campaign and the GOP?"

Trump: "I met him for a few minutes, his wife is lovely."

that's the type of well versed policy we get with Trump.

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Truly a stable genius.

Social Security is paid for by workers.
Medicare is paid for by workers.

These payments should actually buy something.

There is enough **** in government spending that these should not be touched. Want to cut Medicare costs? Stop paying ridiculous amounts for prescription medicine. Negotiate these down. But cutting benefits from those that paid for them is not the way.

Cut things like welfare (bring back work requirements), Medicaid, etc. fine. Cut the **** out of those.

Cut the insanely bloated alphabet agencies.

Stop giving countries like Ukraine billions of dollars.

Stop funding ridiculous wars.

Want to offer folks an alternative to SS and Medicare? OK, fine. But just cutting these programs is not necessary.

LMCane said:

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same interview:

Kernan: "why did you completely change your opposition to Tik Tok after meeting with Yoss who gives millions of dollars to your campaign and the GOP?"

Trump: "I met him for a few minutes, his wife is lovely."

that's the type of well versed policy we get with Trump.

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When it's something as stupid as Tic Tok, it's the correct amount of policy required. In fact, that analysis may be over the top for this particular topic.

The POTUS's take on Tic Toc. LMAO

He can't do anything if he's not elected. Don't say you're going to do it because you won't be elected. But then, after you're elected, do it because you are not seeking a second term.


DSL syndrome is still infecting these threads. I guess they prefer Biden over Trump.

LMCane said:

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Funky Winkerbean said:

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Why do they expect Trump and not Biden to fix it? Isn't it a national problem?

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Biden will simply increase taxes on the wealthy and limit Social Security withdrawals for the top half of retirees.

no thanks!

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We can't survive with two separate parties being "responsible " for just certain issues.

Science Denier said:

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Social Security is paid for by workers.
Medicare is paid for by workers.

These payments should actually buy something.

There is enough **** in government spending that these should not be touched. Want to cut Medicare costs? Stop paying ridiculous amounts for prescription medicine. Negotiate these down. But cutting benefits from those that paid for them is not the way.

Cut things like welfare (bring back work requirements), Medicaid, etc. fine. Cut the **** out of those.

Cut the insanely bloated alphabet agencies.

Stop giving countries like Ukraine billions of dollars.

Stop funding ridiculous wars.

Want to offer folks an alternative to SS and Medicare? OK, fine. But just cutting these programs is not necessary.

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Is math not one of your strong suits? Cause these programs don't have math that adds up. This is the kind of attitude that got us where we are now. F the next generation because we need to get ours.

This is just my opinion, but I think it will turn out to be accurate.

If Trump wins, he has 4 years……that's it. And Washington is a notoriously difficult place to make significant changes to major policy issues.

Of all the issues Trump loves to discuss, entitlements are not usually at the top of his list. And…….and this is important…..Trump has a lot of scores I think he wants to settle.

Hence……….my guess is he makes little to no attempt at any changes to entitlements.

rgag12 said:

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This is the best we could muster?

He got away with it in his first term because he surrounded himself with people that were way more qualified than himself. IF, big if, he gets another term there aren't going to be that many smart people flocking to sign up for this.

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This is what mostly concerns me. There is almost no upside to pledging loiyalty to him. He will cast you aside and insult/mock you and your family the second it becomes convenient for you to be the fall guy. I just can't see many smart people (outside of maybe Vivek) signing up to work for him. And actually qualified? ***etaboutit.

[Do not bypass obscenity filters. The last ban apparently didn't work so try a longer one this time -- Staff]

Phatbob said:

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Science Denier said:

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Social Security is paid for by workers.
Medicare is paid for by workers.

These payments should actually buy something.

There is enough **** in government spending that these should not be touched. Want to cut Medicare costs? Stop paying ridiculous amounts for prescription medicine. Negotiate these down. But cutting benefits from those that paid for them is not the way.

Cut things like welfare (bring back work requirements), Medicaid, etc. fine. Cut the **** out of those.

Cut the insanely bloated alphabet agencies.

Stop giving countries like Ukraine billions of dollars.

Stop funding ridiculous wars.

Want to offer folks an alternative to SS and Medicare? OK, fine. But just cutting these programs is not necessary.

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Is math not one of your strong suits? Cause these programs don't have math that adds up. This is the kind of attitude that got us where we are now. F the next generation because we need to get ours.

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Math? Well, consider the following::

Statista

We are forecasting to spend 1.5 T on Social Security
We are forecasting to spend 700 billion on Medicare.
Total = 2.3 T

This is offset both by what the government collects in SS and Medicare taxes as well as what they collect from Medicare premiums.

Unless one is a tax and spend liberal, a cut in benefits would mean cutting the taxes/premiums collected, so cutting costs won't be a one for one offset.

All other spending = 4.6 T

Again, I'm all for cutting actual costs of SS and Medicare, where possible. Like negotiating prescription drug costs so the US government doesn't have to pay for the world's research. Let us pay what the rest of the world pays for the same drugs. But cutting bene

How much do we need to cut and why can't it come from the other 4.6 T?

[If you're going to insult other posters, then take some time off. Keep it up and your bans will increase in length -- Staff]

Tea Party said:

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CDUB98 said:

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Promising to cut entitlements is instant death to any campaign.

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Exactly.

I would love nothing more than candidates to come out in support of cutting entitlements, but the populace is not ready for that reality especially leading up to an election.

It would be nice if lame duck Trump advocated for it IF he wins the presidency, though I'm not sure if it would be best to have that drastic policy change attached to the toxic name Trump in the long run. But either way, there is no way big spender Trump goes for it nor does the GOP back it....

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The populace only gets on board when they have been smacked over the head with reality so hard that even the most uninformed and dense realize that the only way out is austerity. Not sure if we will ever get there. It would require government and FED default and a huge devaluation event, wiping out hoards of wealth tied in assets before that even starts to enter the general populace mind.

I don't think he will cut entitlements, but I suspect he will suggest a way to eliminate the waste and mismanagement. I bet he pushes for SS to be held in private accounts that citizens can manage themselves like a 401k. This would be welcomed on my end. It would make the individual responsible for their own performance, it would allow for more investment options (not just treasuries ), and most importantly it would keep congress from "borrowing" against it to fund other areas of the government. If this is all that Trump did, it would be a massive win.

2.3 Trillion and growing every single year. For those 2 programs alone. It is unsustainable. The boomers are starting to get their end of the ponzi scheme money while there are about to be fewer people to pay in. The rest of the budget needs to drop significantly, but unless something changes, we're talking about MULTIPLE points of failure, not just "the rest of it". I get it, you paid your money in and you want the return you were promised. The problem is, it was always a ponzi scheme, you just don't want to suffer from it. Well since we have been refusing to fix it for so long, it's going to hurt... a lot, when we do. And the longer we wait, the worse it's going to be.

jwhaby said:

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I don't think he will cut entitlements, but I suspect he will suggest a way to eliminate the waste and mismanagement. I bet he pushes for SS to be held in private accounts that citizens can manage themselves like a 401k. This would be welcomed on my end. It would make the individual responsible for their own performance, it would allow for more investment options (not just treasuries ), and most importantly it would keep congress from "borrowing" against it to fund other areas of the government. If this is all that Trump did, it would be a massive win.

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So....





...copy W's plan? The big establishment R?

Waste and mismanagement won't make a meaningful difference.

Now, privatizing SS is an interesting question when you consider a Great Recession event, there will be a bailout because too many retirees will have lost their retirement. I'd prefer no corporate bailouts. Maybe something like 20% of your payments or some excess amount goes into the private SS account to investment.

Unless R's get a super majority in house and senate, nothing would get cut. Doesn't matter what Trump wants.

El Gallo Blanco said:

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rgag12 said:

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This is the best we could muster?

He got away with it in his first term because he surrounded himself with people that were way more qualified than himself. IF, big if, he gets another term there aren't going to be that many smart people flocking to sign up for this.

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This is what mostly concerns me. There is almost no upside to pledging loiyalty to him. He will cast you aside and insult/mock you and your family the second it becomes convenient for you to be the fall guy. I just can't see many smart people (outside of maybe Vivek) signing up to work for him. And actually qualified? ***etaboutit.

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80% of the government is unqualified and or just punching the clock until they can retire with pensions. Look at Biden's cabinet ffs it's just DEI utopia qualifications be damned. Trump appointees have a REALLY low bar. I think we'll be ok.

Everything Trump says should tie back to illegal immigration.

I don't want to cut entitlements, but if we don't get a handle on illegal immigration there will be cuts. There isn't enough money to split the budget for these programs in half, in thirds, or fourths. I don't know what will be left for those who count on entitlements to survive or retire with Joe Biden's open border policies.

Science Denier said:

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Social Security is paid for by workers.
Medicare is paid for by workers.

These payments should actually buy something.

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They did buy something.

The government used SS to buy US Treasury Bills

Which are guaranteed by the government

So when the Treasury Notes mature tax dollars will be used to fund social security.

It's the perfect ponzi scheme. The government forcibly takes ur SS dollars.

Then when that money runs out they forcibly take someone else's tax dollars to pay you the SS you put in 30 years ago.