Hazy Memory? Trump Backed Age 70 for Retirement Back in 2000 - AMAC & CNN
“The truth is undeniable; the workers of America have been forced to invest a sixth of our wages into a huge Ponzi scheme. 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. We can also raise the age for receipt of full Social Security benefits to 70.” Privatization and age 70 retirement. Those were the words of former President Donald Trump in his 2000 book entitled “The America We Deserve.” Andrew Kaczynski of CNN reports Trump was considering a third party run for President that year. He further notes Trump is fiercely criticizing his presumed main opponent, Ron DeSantis, for a vote in Congress to raise the full retirement age to 70. Kaczynski’s piece takes readers through Trump’s back and forth positions on entitlements in the early 2010s, when Congress was openly grappling with how to fix Social Security’s and Medicare’s financial woes. Trump, as president, and even since losing in 2020, has seemingly settled on a hardline “don’t touch entitlements” stance. But economists and experts say that is untenable given the magnitude of the 20% or greater cuts every beneficiary will face in ten years in the absence of raising the retirement age, raising taxes, or cutting benefits at some level. Full piece here.
The Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC) believes Social Security must be preserved and modernized. This can be achieved without tax increases by changing cost of living adjustments, increasing the retirement age, and modest adjustments to the highest income beneficiaries. The AMAC plan also suggests eliminating taxation of benefits, or at least annually adjusting the amount taxed for inflation, and eliminating the reduction of benefits for those who work before full retirement age. AMAC is resolute in its mission that Social Security be preserved for current and successive generations and has gotten the attention of lawmakers in D.C., meeting with a great many congressional offices and their staffs over the past decade. See it here.
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