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There are very few places an administration can cut costs without touching entitlements. Until voters stop punishing politicians for raising the retirement age

There are very few places an administration can cut costs without touching entitlements. Until voters stop punishing politicians for raising the retirement age or trimming wasteful healthcare spending, they will cut the discretionary budget.

alabastervlog 1y ago
Social Security doesn't come out of the general budget.
- bpodgursky 1y ago
  Who cares? It contributes to the deficit, which is what matters for fiscal policy.
  - alabastervlog 1y ago
    It does not.
  - mikeyouse 1y ago
    Social security is entirely self funded, has a large surplus in the form of the SS Trust Fund (that’s being spent down) and has contributed $0 to the deficit or debt. You should really learn the basic facts about something like that if you’re going to support cuts to the program.
    - bpodgursky 1y ago
      The SS Trust Fund is numbers on a spreadsheet. It doesn't matter. It's gone and spent. The question is about real actual resource distribution. SS is drawing more resources from young people than it is giving back. That's an actual problem, no matter how many tabs you add to your excel spreadsheet.
      - alabastervlog 1y ago
        This post is nonsensical. > The SS Trust Fund is numbers on a spreadsheet. It doesn't matter. "Numbers on a spreadsheet" is meaningless, you just described functionally all of accounting for the entire economy, and if that's a reason it "doesn't matter" then the debt also "doesn't matter" because it's also just numbers on a spreadsheet. What do you think nearly all money is? > It's gone and spent. Simply, factually wrong. If so, then so's your 401k. And all the money in your bank account. > The question is about real actual resource distribution. SS is drawing more resources from young people than it is giving back. That's an actual problem, no matter how many tabs you add to your excel spreadsheet. You're wrong about Social Security (and medicare, for that matter) contributing to the budget deficit, so you're trying to change the topic to "is social security's funding fair?"
        bpodgursky 1y ago
        I will expand, if you need. The SS trust fund produced a surplus. Boomers then spent the entire surplus on their own deficit spending. There is no actual cash in a bank — it was put on a spreadsheet and then spent on other budget priorities — wars, military, medicaid, everything else. The SS trust fund was one of the main reasons the US could spend profligately for the past couple decades! The SS Trust Fund is NOT A BANK ACCOUNT. I cannot emphasize this enough. The money got spent. Now, boomers are retiring and demanding that money — which they already spent — back again. That's absurd double spending which impacts young taxpayers as inflation or deficit spending.
        alabastervlog 1y ago
        You have fallen for propaganda aimed at getting people to not give a shit when republicans try to end Social Security. The money didn't "get spent", it's invested. If that counts as "got spent" then your savings account also "got spent" (funding loans) and your retirement accounts also "got spent" (buying bonds, treasuries, securities) so you can go ahead and sign those over to me since they're empty anyway—right? If the money had been spent then it would have reduced deficit spending by that much, but it didn't, because that spending was funded by debt (some of which the SS trust fund owns). If that isn't "real" then the entire debt isn't real so who cares if anything contributes to it?
  - skyyler 1y ago
    Where did you learn that it contributes to the deficit?
_DeadFred_ 1y ago
Society isn't going back to old people eating dogfood, a child labor workforce, and people being denied basic healthcare. Adjust to reality and make it work, or the masses will make it work but it won't benefit anyone how we get there.
- bpodgursky 1y ago
  [flagged]
  - tomhow 1y ago
    Some of your comments in this subthread were arguably unfairly downvoted and flagged, as you were making valid points, but you fanned the flames with some activating language, most notably this: > Lol what an internet tough guy. Please take care to read and observe the guidelines, particularly these ones: Be kind. Don't be snarky. Converse curiously; don't cross-examine. Edit out swipes. Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- astrange 1y ago
  "The masses" are going to spontaneously organize improved state capacity?
thrance 1y ago
Then what about the additional trillion dollars awarded to the Pentagon?? Did this come for free?

alabastervlog 1y ago

Social Security doesn't come out of the general budget.

bpodgursky 1y ago
Who cares? It contributes to the deficit, which is what matters for fiscal policy.
- alabastervlog 1y ago
  It does not.
- mikeyouse 1y ago
  Social security is entirely self funded, has a large surplus in the form of the SS Trust Fund (that’s being spent down) and has contributed $0 to the deficit or debt. You should really learn the basic facts about something like that if you’re going to support cuts to the program.
  - bpodgursky 1y ago
    The SS Trust Fund is numbers on a spreadsheet. It doesn't matter. It's gone and spent. The question is about real actual resource distribution. SS is drawing more resources from young people than it is giving back. That's an actual problem, no matter how many tabs you add to your excel spreadsheet.
    - alabastervlog 1y ago
      This post is nonsensical. > The SS Trust Fund is numbers on a spreadsheet. It doesn't matter. "Numbers on a spreadsheet" is meaningless, you just described functionally all of accounting for the entire economy, and if that's a reason it "doesn't matter" then the debt also "doesn't matter" because it's also just numbers on a spreadsheet. What do you think nearly all money is? > It's gone and spent. Simply, factually wrong. If so, then so's your 401k. And all the money in your bank account. > The question is about real actual resource distribution. SS is drawing more resources from young people than it is giving back. That's an actual problem, no matter how many tabs you add to your excel spreadsheet. You're wrong about Social Security (and medicare, for that matter) contributing to the budget deficit, so you're trying to change the topic to "is social security's funding fair?"
      - bpodgursky 1y ago
        I will expand, if you need. The SS trust fund produced a surplus. Boomers then spent the entire surplus on their own deficit spending. There is no actual cash in a bank — it was put on a spreadsheet and then spent on other budget priorities — wars, military, medicaid, everything else. The SS trust fund was one of the main reasons the US could spend profligately for the past couple decades! The SS Trust Fund is NOT A BANK ACCOUNT. I cannot emphasize this enough. The money got spent. Now, boomers are retiring and demanding that money — which they already spent — back again. That's absurd double spending which impacts young taxpayers as inflation or deficit spending.
        alabastervlog 1y ago
        You have fallen for propaganda aimed at getting people to not give a shit when republicans try to end Social Security. The money didn't "get spent", it's invested. If that counts as "got spent" then your savings account also "got spent" (funding loans) and your retirement accounts also "got spent" (buying bonds, treasuries, securities) so you can go ahead and sign those over to me since they're empty anyway—right? If the money had been spent then it would have reduced deficit spending by that much, but it didn't, because that spending was funded by debt (some of which the SS trust fund owns). If that isn't "real" then the entire debt isn't real so who cares if anything contributes to it?
- skyyler 1y ago
  Where did you learn that it contributes to the deficit?

_DeadFred_ 1y ago

Society isn't going back to old people eating dogfood, a child labor workforce, and people being denied basic healthcare. Adjust to reality and make it work, or the masses will make it work but it won't benefit anyone how we get there.

bpodgursky 1y ago
[flagged]
- tomhow 1y ago
  Some of your comments in this subthread were arguably unfairly downvoted and flagged, as you were making valid points, but you fanned the flames with some activating language, most notably this: > Lol what an internet tough guy. Please take care to read and observe the guidelines, particularly these ones: Be kind. Don't be snarky. Converse curiously; don't cross-examine. Edit out swipes. Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
astrange 1y ago
"The masses" are going to spontaneously organize improved state capacity?

thrance 1y ago

Then what about the additional trillion dollars awarded to the Pentagon?? Did this come for free?