applegrove
applegrove's JournalStronger economy improves outlook for Medicare, Social Security
Stronger economy improves outlook for Medicare, Social Security
Benefits projected to last longer before running dry in the 2030s
By Caitlin Reilly and Jessie Hellmann
Posted May 6, 2024 at 6:18pm
https://rollcall.com/2024/05/06/stronger-economy-improves-outlook-for-medicare-social-security/
"SNIP...........
The hospital insurance trust fund, which pays for Medicare Part A benefits, will be able to pay 100 percent of total scheduled benefits until 2036, five years later than was reported by the trustees last year. Meanwhile, the outlook for Social Security improved slightly over last year’s projections by one metric and remained unchanged under another.
If combined with the program’s disability insurance trust fund, the old-age and survivors insurance trust fund could pay out the full retirement benefit until 2035, a year later than last year’s projection. At that point, Social Security benefits would face a 17 percent cut.
The results nonetheless represent “good news,” the program’s top official said Monday.
“Any potential benefit reduction event has been pushed off from 2034 to 2035. More people are contributing to Social Security, thanks to strong economic policies that have yielded impressive wage growth, historic job creation, and a steady, low unemployment rate,” Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley said in a statement. “So long as Americans across our country continue to work, Social Security can — and will — continue to pay benefits.”
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Applegrove:
Imagine if wages had risen in the last 40 years as they have in the last two. Imagine if employment had been high for the whole time.
A good portion of MAGA believe it is a witch hunt. Another
percentage want authoritarianism and to get rid of democracy. Some want to roll back immigrants and women's rights. Some just want to be entertained by Trump. 20% obviously are 'somewhat slow on the pick up' but want decency in office and say if he gets convicted they may vote elsewhere.
So authoritanian. Not democratic at all: the people
decide how they want the government to maintain order.
Trump Calls Biden Administration the 'Gestapo'
Trump Calls Biden Administration the ‘Gestapo’
May 4, 2024 at 10:18 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 345 Comments
https://politicalwire.com/2024/05/04/trump-calls-biden-administration-the-gestapo/
"SNIP...........
“Fresh from his criminal trial in New York, Donald Trump delivered a frustrated and often profane roughly 75-minute speech at a Republican National Committee donor retreat in Florida on Saturday, attacking one of the prosecutors pursuing him and comparing President Biden’s administration to the Nazis,” the New York Times reports.
Said Trump: “These people are running a Gestapo administration.”
“In his speech, he complained repeatedly about the criminal trial in Manhattan, to which he will return on Monday, insisted that Democrats use ‘welfare’ to cheat in elections and said he would need an attorney general with ‘courage’ as he mocked his former attorney general, William P. Barr, who recently endorsed him after speaking critically of Mr. Trump since the administration ended.”
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Applegrove:
I guess calling himself Nelson Mandela didn't test well. I wonder why? Now he is a Jewish victim of the Holocaust.
What creeps! Some dude from India, don't know if he is Indian Government or not,
https://c.im/@CNN/112379088279878118blamed Canada for allowing the immigration of people they, India, deemed trouble. That the Indian government warned Canada there were criminals immigrating to Canada from India. That reeks of a giant scam to export deranged people of the Sikh faith to Canada to muck up Canadian Sikhs and it looks like murder one of them last year (India told Canada he was a terrorist and Canada saw him as someone labeled a terrorist by India because he wanted an independant Sikh homeland in Punjab and not for any other reason). And then stand back and say "well we told you. You didn't pay attention to our warnings". Police in two countries, Canada and the US, think the Indian government assassinated him and were going to assassinate some Sikh independence advocate in the US.
I blame Trump for making America and the West look so vulnerable. And Trump's boss Putin.
LOCAL MEDIA TRASHES TRUMP AFTER CAMPAIGN DISASTERS IN MICHIGAN AND WISCONSIN
LOCAL MEDIA TRASHES TRUMP AFTER CAMPAIGN DISASTERS IN MICHIGAN AND WISCONSIN
JASON EASLEY DONALD TRUMP, TOP NEWS SAT, MAY 4TH, 2024
https://www.politicususa.com/2024/05/04/local-media-trashes-trump-after-campaign-disasters-in-michigan-and-wisconsin.html
"SNIP............
Local media, which was a source that Trump used to be able to count on for good coverage had fact checks and damaging headlines after the ex-president tried to campaign in Michigan and Wisconsin.
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In Michigan, Trump got fact-checked for falsely claiming that the state has lost manufacturing jobs under Biden, “Just a little bit of some information, some fact checking. According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, our state, Michigan, actually gained 24,000 manufacturing jobs between January of 2021 and May of last year. That’s actually tied for seventh in the country. And so this notion that the auto industry in Detroit is falling apart… may not be as on point as [Trump] would like.”
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When Trump tries to campaign, it is a disaster. He has reverted back to complaining that the 2020 election was stolen from him, while ranting and raving about his current legal troubles, and making things up about the state of the nation under President Biden.
Trump has nothing to run on and no reason to be running, except for a desire to avoid prosecution and potential incarceration.
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Applegrove:
He doesn't mention making the country fascist. Tax cuts for the rich extended. Making abortion illegal. Detention camps for undocumented. He has no policy to help the average American and grow the middle class. He didn't mention these things because why would people in Michigan and Wisconson want those things?
House Republicans Finally Think They've Found an Issue
House Republicans Finally Think They’ve Found an Issue
May 2, 2024 at 7:30 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 129 Comments
https://politicalwire.com/2024/05/02/house-republicans-finally-think-theyve-found-an-issue/
"SNIP.............
“After flailing around for months unable to unite on anything, House Republicans finally think they’ve found an issue they agree on — countering the scourge of antisemitism on college campuses nationwide,” Punchbowl News reports.
“With 187 days until Election Day, a legislative cupboard that’s all but bare, a presidential impeachment inquiry that’s going nowhere and a speaker who has struggled to generate any discernible level of excitement, the anti-Jewish sentiment that’s spilled out at universities from coast to coast during Gaza war protests offers what Republicans believe is a compelling plot line during the closing months of the 118th Congress.”
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Applegrove:
They mean they needed to find an issue they could work hand in hand with Russia on as Russia manipulates young people on the internet. There is enough anger without Russia seeding and spreading it. Who needs wedge issues when you can have bar b que tongs with Russia on one side and MAGA on the other working together to rile up the issue.
Trump Auditions VP Picks Before Wealthy Donors
Trump Auditions VP Picks Before Wealthy Donors
May 2, 2024 at 1:42 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 98 Comments
https://politicalwire.com/2024/05/02/trump-auditions-vp-picks-before-wealthy-donors/
"SNIP...........
“Donald Trump is sharpening his focus on a possible running mate by taking a page from his days hosting reality show The Apprentice and parading the top contenders for the slot in front of rich benefactors this weekend,” Bloomberg reports.
“Contestants jockeyed for a job with his business empire for over a decade on the NBC show, with Trump pitting them against each other for his favor. An exclusive donor retreat at the Four Seasons in Palm Beach this week promises a similar vibe — drawing hundreds of deep-pocketed GOP backers as well as allies eyeing the No. 2 spot on the Republican presidential ticket.”
“The spectacle comes as Trump is narrowing his gaze on a handful of potential running mates: Ohio Senator JD Vance, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, Florida Senator Marco Rubio and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, according to people familiar with the deliberations as recently as this week.”
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Applegrove:
VP Harris will wipe the floor with Rubio in a debate because he doesn't have a killer instinct when it comes to lying. The others are cartoon characters but accomplishments liars. I mean Rubio will be asked by Harris about the 6 week abortion ban in his home state and he will sputter and swallow and gag his way through the answer because 64% of people in the battleground states want to see access to abortion.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100218916061
And he's going to have camps for 11 million the undocumented? Let disease
that is novel go rampant? What could go wrong?
Younger people did not experience inflation until
Bide's administration. It probably scares them. Remember jobs were outsourced to China and cheap good were imported in the 2000s and 2010s. The worker fought inflation. There was little inflation until Covid. Not Biden's fault but young people's fears should be attended to.
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