Could Trump Save Medicare?
By Thom Hartmann A...
Just a few weeks ago, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan was the most miserable man in Washington.
Hillary Clinton looked like a shoo-in to win the presidential election - and polls showed that Republicans were in serious danger of losing control of the Senate - and maybe even the House.
But today the Speaker couldn't be happier.
Thanks to Donald Trump's victory on Election Day - his dream of privatizing Medicare is finally within reach.
This has been Ryan's goal for years - but he's never been able to do anything about it because Democrats controlled the White House, and until recently, the Senate.
Well - those days are over.
Starting in January - Republicans will control Congress and the Presidency together for the first time in more than a decade, and Ryan will have free reign to destroy one of the most popular -- and successful -- government programs in American history.
He started the laying the groundwork for this during a recent appearance on Fox So-Called News.
What people don't realise is because of Obamacare, Medicare is going broke, Medicare is going to have price controls. Because of Obamacare, Medicare is in fiscal straits. So you have to deal with those issues if you're going to repeal and replace Obamacare. Medicare has got some serious problems because of Obamacare, so those things are part of our plan to replace Obamacare.
Like most things involving Paul Ryan and Medicare, this is a flat out lie.
Obamacare didn't hurt Medicare - it helped it.
Since the Affordable Care Act went into effect, the projected ten-year cost of Medicare has fallen by almost $2 trillion dollars.
But Paul Ryan doesn't care.
His obsession with "entitlement reform" - also known as stopping those "undeserving" poor and working-class people from getting anything from the government, while billionaires continue to rake in billions in tax cuts and subsidies - it isn't about policy, it's about ideology, which is why he repeated the same lie about Obamacare bankrupting Medicare earlier today.
We're going to make sure that this is a very successful administration. But more importantly, we're going to make sure that the voices we heard from this election from the American people are acted upon. That we actually fix this country's problems.
You take a look at -- to get to your specific point. If you take a look at what Obamacare did to our entitlement programs, it made them worse. We're going to fix that. We're going to help fix these problems that are plaguing this country.
So - will Ryan succeed in privatizing Medicare like now he seems poised to do?
Maybe - maybe not.
The ironic part of all of this is that Donald Trump - the man who made Paul Ryan's dream of privatizing Medicare possible - ran for president on a platform of protecting the social safety net which, of course, includes Medicare.
Time after time he refused to commit to the kind of deep cuts to Social Security and Medicare to which Republicans like Paul Ryan wanted him to commit.
It's arguably one the main reasons he won the White House.
And that raises the question: just how far can Paul Ryan go in his push to privatize Medicare with Donald Trump in the White House?
Comments
#2
More good news for Donald Trump. Chuck Shumer is Senate Minority leader. Two practical, ambitious New Yorkers. I believe both will work together to accomplish many things. It's going to be another Ronald Regan--Tip O"Neil relationship.
#3
What ever happened to all the noise about Benghazi and Clinton's emails????? Oh that's right, it was just all propaganda to prevent her from getting elected....How much did it cost taxpayers again, FBI time included???? Obama just considers this messy democracy...no, it's not remotely democracy....it's third world crap!
#4
One thing is for sure, Paul Ryan will be out of his government job quicker than Chris Christie can down a Kit Kat if he screws up the medicare/social security program with vouchers and privatization.
In fact when asked would you rather see your benefits cut or the payroll cap raised, 8 out of 10 people believe the payroll tax should be paid on all income! Teabaggers polled at 7 out of 10 in favor of lifting the cap....it's too bad these Teabaggers are so distracted and confused by Fox News that they don't realize Bernie wants to raise the cap and many other things the vast majority supports in polls.
Ryan is holding the don't mess with social security gun to his own head....let's see if he's delusional enough to pull the trigger.
#5
Define save. If Medicare is privatized, it can still be labeled as "saved." And, Mr Ryan will consequently be well equipped to retire if it comes to that... "Golden Parachute."
#6
When DJT was campaigning, he was free to say whatever he wanted. It was pointed out that he spoke to whatever audience he was courting at the moment resulting in what seemed to be a barrage of contradictory statements. He did, however, make some promises that, since the election win, he seems to be back-pedaling on, so who knows how safe Medicare and Social Security are? If Ryan is successful, though, in privatizing these two very popular social safety nets, I think it will be a very long time before the Republicans ever see a dominance in at least two of the branches of government ever again. Thus far, what I'm seeing of Trump is running in the same track as Obama. That is, lots of campaign promises together with lots of contradictory statements (called "patter") designed to keep people in the dark as to the real intentions. (Obama played this game for several years before We, the People caught on.) Then what follows is a complete lack of transparency, followed by very unpopular legislation, Executive Orders, and policies. Obama may have gotten away with this because We weren't aware of the hidden agenda, but now, we've seen this all before. If Trump continues on down this road, he will get called out on it. Then he will have two choices, either do what he said he will do and keep his promises to the American people, or get tough and ram through things that are really upsetting to all but the billionaires (The Billie Club) who are the little men behind the green velvet curtain. I, for one, certainly hope that Trump will, at the very least, keep the economy from tanking, or using such an event to declare Martial Law in a final phase of the American take over leading to the global take over of the so-called New World Order. I hope Trump is enough of a real maverick to buck these (totally sick) powers and do some real good for this country. Heaven knows we've earned it.
#7
Interesting article on Bloomberg.com today by Brendan Greeley "How Republicans plan to spend like crazy without running up debt" - relates to your commentary on Chuck Schumer.
#8
Thom, many partisans, especially republicans never acknowledge or remember the horrendously damaging actions they pass and impose on this nation and its people. Have you or another progressive organization considered keeping a spreadsheet of the those actions. Record the issue, the action, date, and where to find the information, perhaps an organization which is opposing and seeking reversal. Record the good and bad. Lot of speculation on Trump and republican controlled house and senate. From the start we need to record the actions, blow by blow.
#9
Every member of Congress gets a lifetime pension and medical benefits, even if they only served one lousy term. Talk about entitlements. Paul Ryan is a lying miserable trust fund brat who cares only for himself and the hell with working Americans. When is father died he made a big fuss of that loss saying how Social Security helped him and his mother as if he were poor. In fact his father was an attorney and probably either had a huge life insurance policy or set up trust funds for his family; his mother didn't go to work upon her husband's death, she went to a four year college and studied interior design. Plus Ryan "forgot" to declare $60,000 in income from a trust fund from his great grandmother; I was amazed that not one reporter ever asked Ryan just how many trust funds he is heir to. I do know his wife inherited something like $11 million and then they want to steal our Medicare and Social Security benefits for those of us who worked all our lives and paid into these programs. And this is what some idiots voted for. As Tom Brokaw stated election night, the GOP had control of the House and Senate for years under Obama and did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING FOR WORKING AMERICANS! Dupes or dopes?
#10
If you are a senior on Medicare and Social Security you need to go to
www.greatagain.gov and look under the "Healthcare" tab and see where it
talks about "modernizing" Medicare, I'm willing to wager to that Trump has
done a deal with Paul Ryan whereby Ryan helps Trump with his legislative
agenda and Trump will stand by and do nothing (as in use his veto pen) while
Ryan executes on his long-held dream of privatizing Medicare and Social Security.
What I suggest you do is to write Trump at: Trump Tower/725 5th Ave./New York/
N.Y. 10022-2523 and tell him he will be electoral toast in 2020 (i.e, will not have
your vote) if he goes back on his oft repeated campaign pledge to hold Medicare
and Social Security "sacrosanct". I further suggest that you contact all the seniors
in your network and convey the above information to them. Also, it would be good
to write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper which conveys the above.
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I feel like our only hope is that the electoral college makes the right decision & undo this mess. I know that's not likely to happen.
The really disgusting thing about this whole mess is the cabinet/staff, etc that Trump seems to be putting together. Is he trying to take this country back to the heyday of the KKK? Who's next? David Duke?