1 00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:08,600 Speaker 1: How do you fix the ticking financial time, Bob? Do 2 00:00:08,640 --> 00:00:10,840 Speaker 1: you do it with speeches? Do you do it with 3 00:00:10,920 --> 00:00:15,280 Speaker 1: an expert commission? Social Security is going to go broke 4 00:00:15,320 --> 00:00:18,560 Speaker 1: in a few years. What should the lawmakers be doing? 5 00:00:19,040 --> 00:00:21,240 Speaker 1: There is one woman who says that we need a 6 00:00:21,360 --> 00:00:26,279 Speaker 1: Social Security commission. Her name is Maya McGinnis and she 7 00:00:26,440 --> 00:00:30,800 Speaker 1: is the president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Well, 8 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:34,839 Speaker 1: that sounds like an important position, and she has argued 9 00:00:34,920 --> 00:00:38,480 Speaker 1: that America needs a Social Security commission. 10 00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:43,239 Speaker 2: Are headed towards insolvency social Security in particular, it's going 11 00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:48,440 Speaker 2: to be insolvent in six years. This is an unconscionable 12 00:00:48,479 --> 00:00:51,840 Speaker 2: situation that we found ourselves in. And yet the conversation 13 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:55,200 Speaker 2: still continues to be people competing not to do anything 14 00:00:55,400 --> 00:00:59,240 Speaker 2: to fix the program, with some important exceptions. But I 15 00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:02,360 Speaker 2: will say that the ARP that says it focuses on 16 00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:06,080 Speaker 2: protecting seniors is one of the organizations that actively opposes 17 00:01:06,120 --> 00:01:08,839 Speaker 2: any changes to fix it, and it tries to intimidate 18 00:01:08,880 --> 00:01:11,200 Speaker 2: members whenever they start to talk about those changes. 19 00:01:11,400 --> 00:01:14,759 Speaker 1: Okay, so social Security we know facing real financial crisis. 20 00:01:14,959 --> 00:01:19,080 Speaker 1: The program's retirement trust fund, it's projected to run out 21 00:01:19,120 --> 00:01:23,800 Speaker 1: of money within about seven years unless Congress does something. 22 00:01:24,040 --> 00:01:27,959 Speaker 1: And you know, we've heard repeated warnings and analysis, but 23 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:31,600 Speaker 1: lawmakers are just kicking this can down the road. We've 24 00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:33,960 Speaker 1: heard Donald Trump say that he's, you know, not going 25 00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:38,040 Speaker 1: to let it fail. However, we're talking about the same 26 00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:41,600 Speaker 1: Congress who can't even pass the Save Act, which eighty 27 00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:43,520 Speaker 1: percent of people want done. 28 00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:45,640 Speaker 3: Right right, can't even get all the Republicans on board 29 00:01:45,720 --> 00:01:48,680 Speaker 3: with the Save Act. This is I'm not hopeful that 30 00:01:48,720 --> 00:01:50,720 Speaker 3: we can solve this problem, but I know if we 31 00:01:50,760 --> 00:01:53,200 Speaker 3: want to do we could. And here's here's let's start with. 32 00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:55,960 Speaker 3: You know, part of the big problem is the American 33 00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:59,000 Speaker 3: people think, oh, I paid this money, that's my money. 34 00:01:59,280 --> 00:02:01,600 Speaker 3: I should get it back. Yeah, that's not how it works. 35 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:05,080 Speaker 3: The Congress has been raiding the Social Security Trust Fund 36 00:02:05,160 --> 00:02:08,600 Speaker 3: for generations. It's all co mingled essentially with the rest 37 00:02:08,600 --> 00:02:10,600 Speaker 3: of the budget and the rest of the finances of 38 00:02:10,639 --> 00:02:13,040 Speaker 3: the federal government. And by the way, it's not your 39 00:02:13,080 --> 00:02:15,880 Speaker 3: money because if you pass away before you collect, social 40 00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:20,160 Speaker 3: Security gets what your estate gets zero, absolutely nothing out 41 00:02:20,200 --> 00:02:22,800 Speaker 3: of it. So it's really not your money. It's the 42 00:02:22,880 --> 00:02:25,640 Speaker 3: government's taking your money to do whatever they want with 43 00:02:25,680 --> 00:02:27,600 Speaker 3: and Social Security is just one of the things they 44 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:29,680 Speaker 3: spend it on as opposed to anything else. But I 45 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:35,120 Speaker 3: think a commission, I'm not hopeful that they could fix 46 00:02:35,160 --> 00:02:37,320 Speaker 3: something in this, but it's probably the only root because 47 00:02:37,440 --> 00:02:39,840 Speaker 3: can you imagine if Donald Trump came out with a 48 00:02:39,880 --> 00:02:43,040 Speaker 3: social security plan. Make up whatever plan you want, don't 49 00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:45,160 Speaker 3: care what the plan is. If Donald Trump came out 50 00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:47,320 Speaker 3: with a social security plan, you better believe that every 51 00:02:47,320 --> 00:02:49,040 Speaker 3: single one of the Democrats would line up on the 52 00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:51,239 Speaker 3: other side of it and rail against how Donald Trump 53 00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:53,400 Speaker 3: is trying to kill your grandmother. That would be the 54 00:02:53,480 --> 00:02:55,320 Speaker 3: rhetoric that would come out of this. And we saw 55 00:02:55,440 --> 00:02:58,239 Speaker 3: what this happened before we were able to actually fix 56 00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:00,399 Speaker 3: social security in the eighties. It was called the Green 57 00:03:00,480 --> 00:03:03,000 Speaker 3: Span Commission. It was pretty smart, and they basically looked 58 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:05,120 Speaker 3: at this and said, okay, there's two ways to fix this. 59 00:03:05,360 --> 00:03:08,400 Speaker 3: We can either bring more money in. We do that 60 00:03:08,440 --> 00:03:11,360 Speaker 3: by raising taxes, or we can spend less money, which 61 00:03:11,440 --> 00:03:13,840 Speaker 3: is either raise the retirement age or reduce what the 62 00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:16,080 Speaker 3: payout of Social Security is. And the smart thing that 63 00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:17,840 Speaker 3: they did they said, okay, we're going to do both 64 00:03:17,919 --> 00:03:20,360 Speaker 3: because that way we'll make sure that both sides have 65 00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:22,400 Speaker 3: to give something up in this process, and so the 66 00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:26,600 Speaker 3: green Span Commission raised the full retirement age slowly, it 67 00:03:26,639 --> 00:03:30,160 Speaker 3: was incorporated over decades the changes in the retirement age. 68 00:03:30,200 --> 00:03:32,040 Speaker 3: And then they also raised the amount of taxes. And 69 00:03:32,080 --> 00:03:33,640 Speaker 3: I think that that's the only way that this is 70 00:03:33,639 --> 00:03:36,960 Speaker 3: going to get fixed going forward is probably again slowly 71 00:03:37,200 --> 00:03:40,320 Speaker 3: over time, raising the full retirement age. And then I 72 00:03:40,320 --> 00:03:43,520 Speaker 3: think if you remove the cap on Social Security, I 73 00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:46,400 Speaker 3: think you only pay Social Security up to one hundred 74 00:03:46,600 --> 00:03:48,320 Speaker 3: I think this year it's about one hundred and ninety 75 00:03:48,320 --> 00:03:50,640 Speaker 3: thousand dollars in earnings. So if you make more than 76 00:03:50,640 --> 00:03:52,880 Speaker 3: one hundred ninety thousand dollars a year, anything after that 77 00:03:52,880 --> 00:03:55,680 Speaker 3: one hundred and ninety k, you don't pay Social Security on. 78 00:03:55,760 --> 00:03:57,600 Speaker 3: And by the way, your employer doesn't pay their portion 79 00:03:57,640 --> 00:03:59,400 Speaker 3: of the Social Security on. So I think that's what 80 00:03:59,440 --> 00:04:01,360 Speaker 3: you've got to do. If you truly want to fix this, 81 00:04:01,560 --> 00:04:03,320 Speaker 3: you need to go at both ends. You need to 82 00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:05,800 Speaker 3: find a way to increase the money coming into Social 83 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:08,840 Speaker 3: Security and also find a way by reducing what you're 84 00:04:08,880 --> 00:04:12,160 Speaker 3: paying to Social Security and raising the retirement age would. 85 00:04:11,920 --> 00:04:14,560 Speaker 1: Certainly do that well. This woman believes that there needs 86 00:04:14,600 --> 00:04:17,280 Speaker 1: to be a formal Social Security commission, and that would 87 00:04:17,279 --> 00:04:20,240 Speaker 1: bring lawmakers together to analyze and also recommend fix this 88 00:04:20,320 --> 00:04:22,600 Speaker 1: nice job. By the way, you just offered a solution 89 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:25,760 Speaker 1: that rarely happens. Many people just like to complain and 90 00:04:26,279 --> 00:04:28,960 Speaker 1: moan about things, but never offer for a solution, So 91 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:33,200 Speaker 1: props to you for that. But you're talking about putting 92 00:04:33,640 --> 00:04:41,279 Speaker 1: these people together establish a bipartisan commission. And again, even 93 00:04:41,320 --> 00:04:44,000 Speaker 1: if you do that, what is going to get done, Well, 94 00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:45,640 Speaker 1: most likely nothing.