Social Security

McConnell: Entitlement Cuts Probably Won’t Happen Under Trump

By Yuval Rosenberg

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) unleashed a storm of Democratic criticism earlier this week by telling Bloomberg News that rising deficits and debt are driven by Social Security,...
Mitch McConnell on Rising Deficit: ‘It’s Not a Republican Problem'

By Yuval Rosenberg

The quotes: “It’s disappointing, but it’s not a Republican problem. It’s a bipartisan problem: unwillingness to address the real drivers of the debt by doing anything to adjust those programs to the...
A Fiscal Hawk’s New Plan to ‘Avert a Debt Crisis’

By Yuval Rosenberg

The national debt rose by more than $1 trillion in fiscal 2018, and yet lawmakers have evinced little concern about it ahead of this year’s elections, instead pushing tax cuts and spending increases...
How GOP Rhetoric on Entitlements Has Changed

By The Fiscal Times Staff

The Washington Post’s David Weigel describes how Republicans have changed their tune on Medicare and, for this year at least, largely abandoned the idea of entitlement reform: “[O]ver eight years,...
Kudlow: ‘I Don’t Buy’ That Tax Cuts Boosted Deficit

By Yuval Rosenberg

Larry Kudlow is at it again. Speaking at the Economic Club of New York, the top economic adviser to President Trump said that, while the administration is looking to cut federal spending — including...

Social Security Pulled 27 Million People Out of Poverty in 2017

By Michael Rainey

Since 2011, the U.S. Census Bureau has produced a more sophisticated measure of poverty that, among other things, includes the income effects of government assistance programs such as Social Security...
‘Things Are So Much Worse’ – but Does Anyone Care About the Deficit?

By Yuval Rosenberg

As we told you yesterday , the Congressional Budget Office estimated this week that the deficit for the first 11 months of fiscal 2018 totaled $895 billion, or $222 billion more than it was over the...
Social Security’s Troubling Trend

By The Fiscal Times Staff

Unequal gains in life expectancy over the last half-century between Americans with greater earnings and education and those of lower socioeconomic status mean that the benefits of Social Security are...
Trump Says He Made Social Security, Medicare Stronger. Fact-Checker Says False.

By The Fiscal Times Staff

President Trump said this week that "Democrats want to destroy Medicare. If you look at what they’re doing, they’re going to destroy Medicare. And we will save it. We will keep it going. We’re making...
Happy Birthday, Social Security!

By Michael Rainey

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law 83 years ago today, August 14, 1935. Here are some key facts about the program, courtesy of the Center on Budget and Policy...

The GOP’s Tax-Cut Two-Step

By Yuval Rosenberg

Liberal critics of the Republican tax plan have long warned that it’s just the first part of a two-step plan that, after adding $1.7 trillion to the nation’s long-term debt, would quickly lead to GOP...
Many Americans Don’t Trust Trump to Protect Social Security, Medicare

By Yuval Rosenberg

As a candidate, President Trump pledged to “save Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security without cuts,” but nearly 60 percent of Americans heading into their retirement years don’t trust him to...
Why Pension Funds Have Fallen Behind, Even as Stocks Boom

By Richard Leong, Reuters

While U.S. corporate pensions regained some swagger after Wall Street’s record run this summer, they are still far from their heyday before the 2007-2009 credit crunch when they appeared to be in...
Does Trump’s Deal with Dems Signal the Beginning of the End for the GOP?

By Yuval Rosenberg

Last week’s kumbaya moment between President Trump and congressional Democratic leaders has upended political calculations on Capitol Hill and given the administration something it can tout as a win...
Why We Can’t Shrink the Government — and You Probably Need to Pay More in Taxes

By Michael Rainey

Reducing the size of government has long been a goal for conservatives, but it’s been a tough promise to keep even when Republicans are in full control of Congress and the White House. And a new...