# Republicans Against Retirement (except for the wealthy)

**URL:** <https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/republicans-against-retirement-except-for-the-wealthy/4479>\
**Category:** Politics and Social Issues\
**Created:** [August 17, 2015, 5:48pm UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/republicans-against-retirement-except-for-the-wealthy/4479 "2015-08-17T17:48:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![loisl](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.centerforinquiry.org/loisl/32/18_2.png) [@loisl](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/loisl)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2015, 5:48pm UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/republicans-against-retirement-except-for-the-wealthy/4479/1 "2015-08-17T17:48:53Z")

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Krugman gets it right.  
His last line is excellent and true.  
Republicans Against Retirement  
AUGUST 17, 2015  
Paul Krugman  
Something strange is happening in the Republican primary — something strange, that is, besides the Trump phenomenon. For some reason, just about all the leading candidates other than The Donald have taken a deeply unpopular position, a known political loser, on a major domestic policy issue. And it’s interesting to ask why.  
The issue in question is the future of Social Security, which turned 80 last week. The retirement program is, of course, both extremely popular and a long-term target of conservatives, who want to kill it precisely because its popularity helps legitimize government action in general. As the right-wing activist Stephen Moore (now chief economist of the Heritage Foundation) once declared, Social Security is “the soft underbelly of the welfare state"; “jab your spear through that" and you can undermine the whole thing.  
But that was a decade ago, during former President George W. Bush’s attempt to privatize the program — and what Mr. Bush learned was that the underbelly wasn’t that soft after all. Despite the political momentum coming from the G.O.P.’s victory in the 2004 election, despite support from much of the media establishment, the assault on Social Security quickly crashed and burned. Voters, it turns out, like Social Security as it is, and don’t want it cut.  
More at:

> **[Opinion | Republicans Against Retirement (Published 2015)](https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/17/opinion/republicans-against-retirement.html?referrer=)**
>
> Why have most Republican candidates vowed to limit Social Security? Because they really answer to the relatively few people who oppose it.

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**Author:** ![timb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3e96dc/32.png) [@timb](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/u/timb)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2015, 9:50pm UTC](https://forum.centerforinquiry.org/t/republicans-against-retirement-except-for-the-wealthy/4479/2 "2015-08-17T21:50:04Z")

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Social programs that are a legitimate function of govt. do not generate much more wealth for the wealthy, unless money is siphoned off through fraud or siphoned off “legally” through privatization.