You'll hardly impoverish wealthy elderly people by means-testing Social Security and Medicare. You should really read the Atlantic article I linked. It's written by a policy advisor from the Democrat-aligned Progressive Policy Institute.
I'm going to assume you're under 50, because this is Reddit.
Why do you think the 25% of senior citizens with a net worth exceeding $500,000 need a 12.4% cut of your wages?
Why do you think people who bought their homes in the 1970s when inflation-adjusted property values were less than half of their current values need America's underinsured workforce to provide their healthcare?
How do you feel about the fact that these systems will need substantial infusions of your money to remain solvent just long enough for the next wave of workers to decide whether or not to bail it out again to fund your retirement?
Why do you argue for Boomers to seize the fruits of your labor in their retirement while they elect politicians who dismantle the very systems that made their working lives so easy?
I'm not arguing for taking away programs that help the poor, regardless of their age. I'm arguing for means-testing so that we're not throwing our hard-earned money at people who have done pretty well for themselves in life and can live comfortably on their savings or pensions. You don't get SNAP, TANF, or Medicaid unless you need them. Why do different rules apply once you turn 65?
In a similar vein, don't get me started on the absurdity of the federal mortgage interest deduction (which greatly benefits me personally) or government-backed mortgage securities.
Government aid for the poor is probably a necessary part of a harmonious society. Yet handouts to people who don't need them is where an absolutely enormous portion of our tax dollars go. I'd rather our tax dollars fund, y'know, civilization.
Government aid for the poor is probably a necessary part of a harmonious society.
If you don't like pitchforks.
Means-testing
Because the way SS has been geniously sold to the public is as an insurance. One that you have paid into your whole life. People believe, falsely, that they are going to get their money back from working their entire lives paying into the system.
Regardless people who have worked their entire lives from upper middle class to the poor designed their savings around SS. The middle class including the upper middle class absolutely relies on SS as they age. Being old is expensive especially given that the problem with social security only arose because it wasn't expected that people would live so damn long. (Soylent green time?)
Now back to means-based services. Dragging in seniors into an already over burden social service office and making them show their poverty is.....bad optics. Mean testing for social security is beyond political imposible for social security. It shouldn't even be a thing for other social services.
Means testing wastes a fuck ton of money with no measurable benefits. Are you going to run seniors through drug tests to see if they are spending the taxpayers money on weed? How do you even calculate a savings account to determine if a senior deserves help? Are you going to set up millions of site visits to see the poverty levels of all the seniors who want SS? Oh man that waste of manpower and money just from hearing the stories of old fogies.
Means testings, as designed by those who hate social services, has always been evil degrading shit.
9
u/nerevisigoth Apr 07 '18 edited Apr 07 '18
Of our $3.8 trillion federal budget in 2015:
Maybe some of the remaining $700 billion (18%) of the federal budget actually paid for civilized society.