Americans, social safety net and taxes

With our current budget deficit approaching $34 trillion, In 2022, both Social Security and Medicare represented over 45% of the total federal budget, and that percentage is likely to keep growing as more people will become eligible for these programs. 

Yet, at the same time, an April poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, found that Americans are clearly against negative changes to Social Security and Medicare, like cuts to benefits or raising the programs’ eligibility age. Here are the numbers: 

79% of Americans are opposed to reducing the benefits people receive from Social Security. The same is true about raising Social Security’s eligibility age from 67 to 70, with 75% of Americans opposed to it. As far as Medicare goes, 67% are opposed to increasing premiums and regarding raising Medicare’s eligibility age from 65 to 67, 70% of Americans were against it. 

This means that the only way to satisfy these expectations is to raise taxes. Not easy either as taxes have been regularly demonized in American culture, mostly by the political right, so the resulting quandary would suggest that a true miracle coming from God is needed. 

So, expect that in the bitter end it will require (as always) a God-awful crisis to get our incompetent Congress to finally do what’s needed!