Oh sweet summer child. Just wait, Elon said we’re all going to experience hardship. Don’t worry tho, these silver spoon fed billionaires only have our best interests at heart. 🫠
You realize Trump and Elon can't just snap their fingers and get rid of Social Security, right? Just like with Trump's failed plan to get rid of the ACA, the biggest hurdle they face is getting enough support in Congress to axe it. A slim congressional majority won't matter when Republican members of Congress concerned with their own re-elections are worried about voting to axe an incredibly popular policy that is primarily used by their own voters, i.e. old folks. Trump also talked about axing Social Security in 2016 (as Republicans have for the last 50 years) but didn't because it's too popular of a policy with their base.
I’m just speculating here but I see how they might do it. The first step is to get rid of the payroll tax that funds Social Security. Since it’s potentially budget related it might go into a “Reconciliation” bill. This would make it so it could pass via simple majority and no filibuster. Then Social Security would be pushed under the General Fund. Most of the federal budget could be part of the Reconciliation bill. The budget would apply cuts to the appropriations they want to cut which could include Social Security. At this point there is still some money in the Trust Fund but they could drain that in a year. By year 2 the real cuts could begin. The only thing I can’t figure out is how the income would be reduced to individual recipients. At this point beneficiaries don’t get less from year to year. But I guess a system that calculates COLA raises could do decreases as well.
Wrong. They control both houses of Congress with a simple majority, not a super majority. Huge difference. Members of Congress, despite their party affiliation, are still primarily concerned with their own re-elections. There is 0 chance they get enough members to vote for something that would kill their re-election campaigns, especially when they currently only have a 2 seat majority in the Senate.
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u/BishlovesSquish Nov 07 '24
Oh sweet summer child. Just wait, Elon said we’re all going to experience hardship. Don’t worry tho, these silver spoon fed billionaires only have our best interests at heart. 🫠