Opinion: Everyone’s practicing the politics of evasion on Social Security and Medicare
By Robert J. Samuelson Robert J. Samuelson Columnist focusing on economics Bio Columnist April 24 at 11:44 AM Just for the record, we ought to note that trustees for Social Security and Medicare recently released their annual reports. The two programs alone constituted 45 percent of the non-interest federal budget in 2018, a share that the trustees say is being driven up by the continuing retirement of baby boomers and the high cost of health care.
Of course, this will trigger chain reactions, because the money has to come from somewhere, and the choices are no secret: higher taxes; higher borrowing — and bigger budget deficits; cuts in other programs, from scientific research to the FBI to the National Park Service, indeed, most other federal programs. The message here is familiar. The aging of the population, including the high cost of health care, is determining the nation’s budget priorities.
Consider. Sen. Bernie Sanders plugs his Medicare-for-all proposal. Sen. Elizabeth Warren wants to make tuition at public colleges free. Sen. Kamala D. Harris touts a roughly $3 trillion tax cut , which she describes as “the most significant middle-class tax cut in generations.” On paper, each of these proposals is financed by some sort of tax increase.
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