At about the 11 minute mark ...
The U.S. will hit debt limit January 26, 2023.
What’s really creepy is (the Republicans) are going to start threatening Medicare and Social Security. They will do that by saying mandatory spending – there are two kinds of spending: discretionary and mandatory. Social Security and Medicare are mandatory. (The Republicans) want to put that in the discretionary column. This is exactly what Ronald Reagan did. Reagan decided to tell you a lie, he told you the same lie in 1983 (the GOP) are telling you now. He said “Social Security and Medicare they’re gonna default, they’re going bankrupt!” None of that is true.
What is true is we need to raise the cap on salaries because up to $110,000 a year, you pay into Social Security and Medicare. After that, people who make more than $110,000 and one cent are un-taxed for Social Security and Medicare. If you make a million dollars, you only pay into Social Security and Medicare on your first paycheck, that's it!
Reagan told the same lie. He said Social Security and Medicare would be bankrupt because of the Baby Boomers by 2010. So he raised the Social Security tax by $2.7 trillion. Social Security now is short about $49 to $50 billion every year. Where did this $2.7 trillion go? It didn’t go to the Social Security trust or the Medicare trust fund, no, no. Reagan put that $2.7 trillion he raised into the General Fund. They did this so they could use the money for tax cuts for the wealthy. Now, we who are ready to collect Social Security realize that we raised $2.7 trillion not for our Social Security, but for tax cuts for the wealthy. Anything in the General Fund can be used for any damn thing that Congress wants.
