comment: >
  
  First, social security is not an entitlement program.  It is an earned benefit paid through one's working life.  So, that in itself is an earned benefit.  As for Medicaid and Medicare, they are entitlement programs in which the government is obligated to fund along with the citizens.  So, you relax.  And stop with the bullshit social security is an entitlement.
context: Raising the top level tax rates, removing the social security income tax cap. Just those two right there would go a long way to solvency. >
  
  Didn’t they reduce said tax rates when they were in power last time around? >
  
  Yes, but you asked what the alternative is to cutting programs. That's it. >
  
  I think more people need skin in the game.    Both houses and staff if not already and everyone who draws a paycheck. Take all or take your pick. Social Security for everyone. >
  
  Republicans want to privatize anything and everything that they can. Profits before the people. That's their only alternative. >
  
  I’m not saying there’s a link between privatization and allowing faith-based groups (that have been constitutionally unbound by various SCOTUS rulings) to pick up the slack, but it is something that more Americans should be alarmed by. >
  
  Think about how many of our health systems are run by religious organizations.   The Catholics,  Baptists and Methodists come to mind.   The ACLU estimates that 1 in 6 hospital beds in the US are in Catholic hospitals alone.   Now ask yourself why we can’t have Universal or single payer healthcare and the answer becomes clear. >
  
  Something like 75% of the Federal Budget is Defense, Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, and Debt Payments. If someone is serious about tackling the deficit, then you have to start with that discussion.
  The thing is that you can't balance the budget on the backs of poor and working class people. You can't raise taxes on people that have little to no income.
  Now, Defense is an easy place to start. The DoD has never been able to pass an audit and is notorious for being a haven for fraud, graft, overly generous contracts, and is an accounting black hole. Just recovering some of that waste would be a net benefit.
  Next, you fund the IRS. Pound for pound, the IRS is the most profitable agency in the Federal Government. You empower them to go after tax cheats - rich ones, with real money - and keep funding them until they say stop.
  After that, you have to look at taxes for corporations. Agriculture and Energy get a TON of tax breaks and benefits - it's time to re-evaluate where those tax breaks are going and if they're really serving the public interest. Then you have to look at the Financial sector, and ask if Wall Street should be compensated the way they are.
  After that, you look at Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid. Should billionaires or even millionaires get SSI? It's a question worth asking and answering one way or another. Regardless, you can look at the patchwork Federal and State social safety net and determine if we'd collectively be better off with a Universal Basic Income system that replaces all of that.
  And, if all that fails, you tax the rich and explain that taxes are the price they pay to keep people from setting up guillotines on their front lawns. >
  
  Gonna lose all my karma but, So a friend was a Marine for 3 years 40 years ago.  Got two degrees on the government (never did anything with them) gets his healthcare through the VA, now a diabetic, so for 3 years of service we have paid for 2 degrees and 40 years of health care, insulin and two surgeries I know of.   My father is a vet, he didn't use the VA.  A corporal for 3 years can't cost us a few hundred thousand dollars. (obviously different if they are wounded). >
  
  Nothing. They want the social programs destroyed, budgetary concerns are merely the pretext for doing so. >
  
  Why do you think they want them destroyed >
  
  Because they Act like they want them destroyed. >
  
  No, they act like they want them improved by privatizing them >
  
  Adding profit on top of grossly inflated overhead has only ever profited Wall Street >
  
  Privatization allows for the cutting of overhead >
  
  Privatization actually increases it though. >
  
  Cut the defense budget. The US comprises less than 5% of the world's population but spends 40% of the world's defense expenditures. The US spends more on defense than the next 15 countries COMBINED. I believe the US should have a strong military but the amount that the US spends on defense is absurd at this point. >
  
  So we should remove low skill gov jobs of poor people who work for their money and instead give more money to people not working >
  
  Where did you get that nonsense? I  said nothing even closely resembling that nonsensical statement. >
  
  First and foremost, they ARE NOT entitlement fucking prigrams!!  Citizens pay into to these programs.  Stop spreading propaganda!!!