The following article on MSN is a classic example of what is seriously wrong with the MSM. In their lust to trash Donald Trump, at any cost, they continue to distort reality. Whether this is simply the result of stupidity or is a continuing effort to put Democrats in power permanently, the effect is the same.
Retirees face potential 33% benefit cut under new tax plan; Here’s why
“While this might initially seem beneficial, experts warn it could lead to a significant reduction in Social Security benefits, potentially cutting them by 33% by 2035.”
Trump wants to eliminate tax on Social Security benefits because people who paid for Social Security Benefits, for years while being employed, should not be punished by continuing to pay taxes after retiring. Seems simple, but the MSM has somehow decided this will cause social security benefits to be cut by 2035.
Republicans have never cut Social Security benefits. Obama cut them, three times, by not approving a cost-of-living increase.
The following chart by AARP shows social security COLA increases by year:
History of Social Security COLA Increases by Year
2010 – Obama – 0
2011 – Obama – 0
2016 – Obama – 0
If Social Security runs out of money, the person most to blame was President William Jefferson Clinton. The following article from factcheck.org documents this.
The Budget and Deficit Under Clinton – FactCheck.org
“Clinton’s large budget surpluses also owe much to the Social Security tax on payrolls. Social Security taxes now bring in more than the cost of current benefits, and the “Social Security surplus” makes the total deficit or surplus figures look better than they would if Social Security weren’t a factor.”
This was ignored by the MSM. Republicans tried and failed to get Clinton to stop “Washington’s budget practice of stealing from the Social Security Trust Fund.”
GOP House leaders want Clinton to recommit to Social Security ‘lockbox’ – September 14, 1999
So once again the MSM, encouraged by irresponsible and deliberately misleading attacks by the increasingly left-wing Democrat Party, is falsely accusing Republicans of cutting Social Security. Once again, they ignored the person who deserves most of the blame, Bill Clinton. In fairness both Reagan and George H.W. Bush also spent part of the Social Security surplus. Bill Clinton just had more funds available, and he did this at the worst possible time. If a private insurance company managed money like Social Security the management would be lucky to avoid criminal prosecution.
Neither party should be proud of this, but at least Republicans tried to fix this in 1999, and they tried again in 2023.
Social Security and Medicare Lock-Box Act (2023; 118th Congress H.R. 853) – GovTrack.us
As far as I can tell the strategy of the MSM and the Democrat Party is to focus on pointing fingers at Republicans, hoping no one will notice the real facts. The good news is that both the MSM and the Democrat Party have been caught lying too many times that fewer people buy this nonsense anymore. My sad prediction is that both parties will just kick the can down the road, hoping once again, that tomorrow never comes. Or perhaps, more accurately, that if tomorrow comes it will be “someone else’s problem”
TDM