You keep using that word . . .
In the film, “The Princess Bride,” Wally Shawn repeatedly exclaims “inconceivable.” Finally, Mandy Patinkin (as Inigo Montoya) replies: “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
Whenever GOP politicians announce their belief that the age for Social Security and Medicare Benefits should be raised, the mainstream media report this as “reform.” I saw this most recently in a CNN headline “Nikki Haley wants to reform Social Security and Medicare. Donors are paying attention.”
Feh. Haley and GOP megadonors aren’t interested in reform, they’re interested in destruction. Read further and you’ll see these programs referred to as “entitlements.” That’s a tell. They want to turn these programs into entitlements so they can shrink them down to the size where they can drown it in the bathtub, to paraphrase Grover Norquist.
This is what we’re up against, peeps. Not only does the right-wing GOP want to destroy government programs, but the media enable them by using words like “reform” when they really mean “destroy.” The right claims that the media are leftist, but the mainstream media are owned by corporate America and reflect its basic conservatism.
As Inigo Montoya reminds us, words matter.
You keep using that word
Suggestions about raising the age for full Soc Sec eligibility are plausibly based on the actuarial observation that life-spans are increasing. However, that observation is mooted by the further observation that it’s the wealthy people who are living longer, not the main body of the Middle Class. And they are ostensibly the folks who contribute disproportionately to the Soc Sec trust fund. (Or, arguably, it’s the higher earning portion of the middle class that does, aside from the fact that everyone who contributes – up to the salary cap – is doing so at the same rate – i.e., regressively.)
So, if the GOP is going to ‘worry’ about anybody in the Middle Class, it’s going to be those they can con, and those who earn the most.
@Fred,
The challenge to SS isn’t increased lifespans, its the baby boomers. The Trust Fund was supposed to address that, but it didn’t quite get there.
There are various proposals for addressing the gap, some serious and some phony. Increasing the retirement age, raising the cap and cutting off benefits at a certain retirement income are phony–they’re just meant to cripple SS.
Increasing SS taxes on all earners and increasing immigration are two serious ways to stabilize SS for the long term.
The challenge to SS is that costs are rising faster than revenue and the primary reason for that IS that beneficiaries are living longer.
I happen to believe that over the coming decades, fewer & fewer people will wrangle the high-salary jobs that baby boomers got, due to AI mostly.
Maybe a recession or two will accelerate this process.
This ends up making Soc Sec look something like a Ponzi scheme, or perhaps just ruined by what Malthus told the world 225 years ago. Sure, make people pay more into FICA & hope that it helps.
Why is the word “entitlements” a tell. Because Republicans turned a perfectly good word into a slur. People are entitled to their benefits because they paid for them.