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Donald Trump on Social Security
2000 Reform Primary Challenger for President
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Social Security isn't an "entitlement"; it's honoring a deal
Social Security faces a problem: 77 million baby boomers set to retire. Now I know there are some Republicans who would be just fine with allowing these programs to wither and die on the vine. The way they see it, Social Security and Medicare are
wasteful "entitlement programs." But people who think this way need to rethink their position. It's not unreasonable for people who paid into a system for decades to expect to get their money's worth--that's not an "entitlement," that's honoring a deal.
We as a society must also make an ironclad commitment to providing a safety net for those who can't make one for themselves.Social Security is here to stay. To be sure, we must reform it, root out the fraud, make it more efficient, and ensure that the
program is solvent.
Same goes for Medicare. Again, people have lived up to their end of the bargain and paid into the program in good faith. Of course they believe they're "entitled" to receive the benefits they paid for--they are!
Source: Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump, p. 68-69
, Dec 5, 2011
Disability Racket: $25B in fraudulent disability filings
The top estimates are $2,340,000,000 in Medicare fraud over a decade--or 16% of America's entire national debt!Then there's the disability racket. Did you know that one out of every 20 people in America now claims disability? That adds up to $170
billion a year in disability checks. Between 2005 and 2009, it is estimated that $25 billion were eaten up in fraudulent Social Security Disability Insurance filings. On and on, scam after scam it goes; as always, taxpayers are the ones getting stiffed.
Source: Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump, p. 77
, Dec 5, 2011
Pay off debt; put $3T interest savings into Trust Fund
I would impose a one-time, 14.25% tax on individuals and trusts with a net worth over $10 million. That would raise $5.7 trillion in new revenue, which we would use to pay off the entire national debt. We would save $200 billion in interest
payments, which would allow us to cut taxes on middle-class working families by $100 billion a year or $1 trillion over ten years. We could use the rest of the savings--$100 billion-to bolster the Social Security Trust Fund. By 2030, we [will
have] put $3 trillion into the trust Fund, which would make it solvent into the next century. [In addition to shoring up Social Security for the long term], I say it’s high time to separate Social Security from the general treasury. It is time to
lock-box it and throw away the key.
The rich will scream. Only the top 1% of people-those with a net worth of $10 million or more-would be affected by my plan. The other 99% would get deep reductions in heir federal income taxes.
Source: The America We Deserve, by Donald Trump, p.169-171 & 201
, Jul 2, 2000
Let people invest their own retirement funds
The solution to the Great Social Security crisis couldn’t be more obvious: Allow every American to dedicate some portion of their payroll taxes to a personal Social Security account that they could own and invest in stocks and bonds. Federal guidelines
would make sure that your money is diversified, that it is invested in sound mutual funds or bond funds, and not in emu ranches. The national savings rate would soar and billions of dollars would be cycled from savings, to productive assets, to
retirement money. And unlike the previous system, the assets in this retirement account could be left to one’s heirs, used to start a business, or anything else one desires. Privatization would be good for all of us. Directing Social Security funds
into personal accounts invested in real assets would swell national savings, pumping hundreds of billions of dollars into jobs and the economy. These investments would boost national investment, productivity, wages, and future economic growth.
Source: The America We Deserve, by Donald Trump, p.198-199 & 203
, Jul 2, 2000
No government investment of retirement funds
I would never support what has to be the craziest ideas in the history of U.S. politics: allowing the government to invest Social Security retirement funds in the stock market. Not only would a market downturn spell
disaster for millions of retirees, but the process by which government would choose stocks would also be entirely political, making lobbyists and other political hacks the new masters of the universe.
Source: The America We Deserve, by Donald Trump, p.273-74
, Jul 2, 2000
Page last updated: May 31, 2012