The Republican Party is already viciously plotting to provoke
an economic crisis in which they force the Democratic Party and
potentially a Democratic president in the next term to
cave to their demands for austerity.
In this case, they have their sights set on cutting incredibly popular
government programs, like Social Security and Medicare.
Something to keep in mind as I give you the details of this story.
This is really important to remember.
While you have Republicans coopt populist language in order to trick
voters into believing they have any concern about their economic anxiety.
In reality, today's current Republican Party is no
different from the Republic Party that we've dealt with for decades.
They want austerity, they want tax cuts for the rich.
I mean, they've already succeeded with tax cuts for the rich and
corporations with Donald Trump's 2017 tax cuts.
But to be sure the reason why they want those tax cuts,
the way they plan on accomplishing those tax cuts is by cutting spending.
And we're not talking about frivolous pork, we're talking about spending
that prevents elderly people from ending up on the streets.
Programs like Social Security.
And how are they planning on doing it?
Well, they're actually pretty transparent about what their plan is,
how they want to accomplish it, and the corporate media asleep at the wheel.
Maybe because the corporate media is owned by corporate conglomerates who
also want those tax cuts.
But let's get to the details of this story.
As Jonathan chait of all people over at new york magazine writes,
Bloomberg's, Jack Fitzpatrick interviewed several Republican contenders to lead
the House Budget Committee.
They all said, with varying levels of specificity that they plan to
investigate or instigate, I should say a debt-ceiling standoff
to force Biden to accept cuts to retirement and health-care programs.
So the GOP plans on taking over the House after the midterms.
There's a pretty good chance that they will succeed in that goal.
And if they do, if they manage to control the House,
what they plan on doing is refusing to vote in favor of lifting
the debt-ceiling unless the Democrats with the help of Joe Biden,
assuming, he's willing to do this, will agree to tax cuts for
the wealthy, agree to austerity when it comes to Medicare and Social Security.
And if they don't, if they don't agree to those things, well,
the Republicans will refuse to vote in favor of lifting the debt-ceiling.
Now, if you fail to lift the debt-ceiling, that means a global economic catastrophe.
But it's really important to remember one thing,
the catastrophe mostly impacts stock portfolios.
And the individuals invested in those stock portfolios happened to be
the wealthiest people in the country, including members of Congress.
So this is a warning to Democrats that they are about to engage, assuming that
Republicans take over the House, they're about to engage in a game of chicken.
And it's really important that they stand their ground on this matter.
Now, let me continue.
Representative Buddy carter told Bloomberg just openly quote,
our main focus has got to be on non discretionary,
meaning non discretionary spending.
It's got to be on entitlements.
Now, Social Security and Medicare are entitlements, because guess what?
We pay into those programs, we are entitled to benefit from those programs.
That is why they're referred to as entitlements.
And that is specifically what the GOP wants to cut or
privatize in the case of Social Security.
Representative Jody Arlington from Texas was also clear in his goal to push for
stricter means testing and also raising the eligibility age for
Social Security in particular.
He says Republicans have a list of eligibility reforms,
and we don't like tax increases, don't like the tax increases.
So what he's referring to there is the way Social Security is funded.
Social Security is funded through payroll taxes.
And the fact of the matter is there is a cap on the amount of
income that can be taxed for Social Security.
So this year I believe it's somewhere around 134,000, if I'm not mistaken.
Anything, an individual makes above $134,000 will not be taxed for
Social Security.
And so when he says we don't like tax increases, what he's referring to
is we don't wanna keep raising that tax cap, that income cap.
Because we want to ensure that as much income as possible is not taxed for
Social Security.
That is what he's referring to there.
Now Representative Lloyd Smucker, who's also of course a Republican,
from Pennsylvania specifically said this to Bloomberg.
We should ensure that we keep the promises that were made to the people who
really need it, the people who are relying on it.
He's lying about that by the way.
So some sort of means-testing potentially would help to ensure that we can do that.
Now again, lemme reiterate, we're all paying into the system.
We're all paying into these programs, Medicare and Social Security,
that we are entitled to because we pay into it.
The idea of means-testing those programs is insane,
because again, we paid into it, that's our money.
But they wanna deny us those programs.
This is who the Republican party is.
And by the way, the way the right wing media covers this is laughable,
because they hide the fact, that the whole intention here is to cut these programs,
to privatize Social Security.
They hide it because these are incredibly popular programs even among Republican
voters.
So I know we do have some Republicans who watch the Show,
either to understand the other side.
And I really respect you for that, or to hate watch and you know what?
Do you boo, you could hate watch me all day long, but it is important for you
to understand that while you're constantly fear monger too about trans athletes and
about all sorts of boogey men who have no impact on your life whatsoever.
They wanna cut programs that keep you off the streets,
programs that you have paid into.
But lemme continue.
Republicans are committed to scaling back the safety net,
but they realize the agenda, again, is toxic and unpopular.
So they wanna do this under the leadership of the Democratic Party.
That's something really important to remember.
Because if they refuse to lift the debt-ceiling and
a Democrat is in the White House, and let's say, we assume Democrats
are still in charge of the Senate, well then if there is an economic collapse,
they can point to Democrats and say it's their fault, it's their fault.
But they've tried this before and they failed.
And it's really important to understand exactly how they failed.
So for instance, back in 2011, Obama fell for this strategy, okay?
It was referred to as the Grand Bargain, again in 2011.
And there were two previous Democratic presidents in particular who
showed some willingness to cave to the demands of the GOP.
One was Obama of course, the other was Bill Clinton.
In the 1995-96, The Republican Congress instigated
a series of government shutdowns in the belief they could
force Bill Clinton to accept cuts to taxes and social programs.
The crusade blew up in their faces, luckily,
and helped Clinton win reelection.
But rather than abandon it, they tried it again under Barack Obama,
this time using the debt ceiling as the hostage of choice.
That, too, failed.
Now the reason why it failed is because Obama demanded tax increases in return for
cuts to Social Security.
Which, by the way, that Grand Bargain was pretty gross.
The idea that you have a Democratic president who is willing to cut
Social Security, tells you all you need to know about how far the Democratic Party
has moved away from representing average working americans.
I mean, the fact that Obama has the favorability rating that he does is really
mind boggling considering how much he was willing to play ball with corporatists and
with the goons in the Republican Party.
Now they do intend on trying this strategy, again this time specifically
with the debt ceiling as the leverage they need to get the Democrats to cave.
What I'm concerned about, is the transformation we have seen with
the Democratic Party over the last several decades,
even since the Obama administration.
They have been taken over by corporate interests.
That culture is even more extreme today than it was during the Obama
administration.
And I'm worried that we have corporate Democrats who might actually want
to privatize Social Security, might actually want to cut Medicare.
So they might actually be allies with Republicans, some of them.
But I'm also worried that when push comes to shove,
once corporate donors make their opinions heard within the Democratic Party,
maybe Democrats will be more willing to cave to Republicans this time around.
But that would be devastating for them politically.
Because remember this is a trick.
This is a way of ensuring that Republicans get what they want, in regard to
austerity, knowing full well that, that austerity would be incredibly unpopular.
But then they get to shift the blame to Democrats.
If Democrats cave and play ball, they can point to Democrats and say, look,
these cuts to Social Security and Medicare happened under the Democrats watch,
not under our watch.
You had Joe Biden, a Democrat in the White House when this happened.
So Representative Jason Smith, who's a Republican who says if Republicans
are trying to cut spending, surely he wouldn't try to default.
So that is a statement in regard to the debt-ceiling and
how the failure to raise the debt-ceiling will lead to default.
And that default would lead to the stock market crashing,
the stock market crashing would lead to their stock portfolio suffering.
And as we know, as I've talked about on the Show multiple times,
you have members of both parties heavily invested in the stock market.
They don't wanna lose money in the stock market by failing to lift
the debt-ceiling.
So if Democrats have a backbone on this issue, they should call Republican out.
They should call their bluff and refused to play ball.
It would be stupid if they did, it would be politically, I mean,
it would be political suicide if they did.
Because the vast majority of Americans favor Medicare and Social Security.
Which is why Republicans wanna do it this way, so
they can place the blame on Democrats and not take any responsibility for
this little plot that they've come up with.
And have tried multiple times before, but luckily failed.
So, one final thing I wanna mention here is that last June,
the Republican Study Committee, a conservative caucus that includes more
than three-quarters of the House Republicans.
By the way, Republican Study Committee sounds both ridiculous,
dorky, and considering what the Republican Party is like today,
dangerous, in like a predatory way.
But lemme continue.
Released a sweeping domestic-budget plan.
It received little attention in the mainstream media.
So the mainstream media didn't cover it at all.
What that budget plan included was raising Medicare eligibility
to the age of 67, raising Social Security age to 70.
70 years old before indexing both to life expectancy.
Withholding payment to those who retire early.
Remember that's your money, you paid into it.
But if you need to retire early for whatever reason,
they wanna deny you that money that you've paid into the system.
The budget plan also endorsed the consideration of options to reduce
payroll taxes that fund Social Security, so tax cuts for businesses.
And finally phase in an increase in means testing for Medicare.
Again, these are all programs that you get taxed on every single paycheck, and
they wanna deny these programs to you.
Now as I mentioned the mainstream media did not cover this at all.
They totally ignored it.
But the right wing media covered it.
And I think they're framing communicate something, and
prove something that I've been saying on this Show.
Which is their austerity measures, their efforts to provide more tax cuts for
the rich, and government program cuts for everyone else,
is really shrouded in their culture war messaging.
So let's go to Town Hall.
How did they cover? What was their headline?
Exclusive First Look,
RSC Budget Blueprint Includes Protecting Kids from Woke Trans Agenda.
There was nothing in the piece about cuts to Medicare and
Social Security, of course.
Let's go to the daily caller.
Exclusive, GOP Budget Proposal Seeks To Reverse Decades Of Anti-Family Policies.
You guys get what they do?
I hope people understand why it is that they spend all of
their time crying about CRT.
Which doesn't exist in grade schools.
Crying about trans athletes, when they can't even name a single trans athlete
that's impacting anyone in their state.
The reason why they focus on these made up boogie men,
is to scare their own voters and distract from the fact that they wanna
rob their voters of programs that they've paid into.
There's more, National Review.
GOP Budget Proposal Would Return U.S. to Cold-War Footing to Counter China Threat.
There's a little bit of honesty, by the way.
A little bit of honesty, in that headline.
Because while they have a huge problem with our taxpayer money,
helping our fellow Americans, they have no problem with taxpayer money being
funneled to defense contractors for all these wars that we get involved in.
And china's next.
Make no mistake about it.
So the bottom line, if you could read in between the lines with that headline,
it's, we need the resources to combat china.
Let's give you more though.
Exclusive, this is from Breitbart.
Republican Study Committee creates holistic immigration
plan to raise wages, grow middle class [LAUGH].
No, the entire budget, that they're proposing,
is all about privatizing Social Security and cutting Medicare.
That's what it's about.
And fact of the matter is the Republican Party has always been this way.
This is who they are.
Coopting populist lingo and language,
doesn't change who they fundamentally are, and who they fundamentally work for.
Dennis Prager had the audacity to come on the Show and say he hates corporations.
He spits on corporations.
And he followed that up by saying, it's because they're woke.
No, no, no, he doesn't dislike corporations.
He loves corporate greed.
He has enabled corporate greed, much like these Republican goons.
But if a corporation might say something that's tolerant or friendly toward
an underserved population in America, I hate corporations, they're so woke.
They love the corporate greed.
They love assisting corporations and robbing you.
And it's about time that Republican voters woke up to that.
Cuz they're about to rob you of the programs you paid into.