The Hill's 'Third Way' to Social Security: Starve It
The Hill trotted out another opinion piece on Social Security, framing it as a looming crisis requiring painful 'reforms.' This familiar drumbeat proposes cuts to benefits, raising the retirement age, or increasing taxes on workers. What it conveniently omits is any mention of the trillions diverted to the Pentagon's ever-expanding budget or the generous tax cuts for millionaires and corporations.
For context, consider that the U.S. national debt exploded from $10 trillion in 2008 to over $34 trillion today. During that same period, defense budgets regularly topped $700 billion annually. The 2024 National Defense Authorization Act alone authorized $886 billion—a sum that could fund Social Security for countless years. Curiously, solutions never involve touching the war machine or demanding
billionaires pay their fair share. It's always the elderly and the working class who must 'sacrifice.' One might ask: how many 'third ways' are there when the first two involve bleeding the public dry?