Lawmakers, activists and union leaders across the US remember the co-founder of United Farm Workers union
Following the news that Dolores Huerta – the civil rights icon who popularized the rallying cry “Sí, se puede! – had died at the age of 96 on Wednesday, activists, lawmakers and civil rights leaders paid tribute to Hureta’s long and lasting legacy.
In California – where Huerta helped found the United Farm Workers (UFW) union – her death was deeply felt. It was in California’s central valley that she laid the foundations for the United Farm Workers, and helped organize the 1965 Delano grape strike – a national boycott of table grapes that resulted in better wages and working conditions for grape pickers. Several schools in California bear her name, and murals across the state depict her likeness. And in 2018, California declared 10 April – her birthday – Dolores Huerta Day.
"We will always protect Social Security, Medicare!" says President Donald Trump.
That would be nice.
But when I look at these programs' balance sheets, I don't see how he's protected anything. Both Social Security and Medicare are on track to run out of money.
Politicians mostly ignore the problem. Worse, progressives like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I–Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D–N.Y.) say they want to expand Social Security benefits.
That's just irresponsible.
My new video points out what we've known for years: These programs are unsustainable.
The problem is that people like me live longer. We like getting monthly Social Security checks and medical care that appears free.
Since we vote more consistently than others, politicians don't want to make us mad by cutting our handouts.
My fellow geezers say, "Social Security is not a handout! I contributed to the 'trust fund' every year. I'm just getting back what I paid in!"
But that's not true. Today, most of us get back much more than we paid in.
In 1935, politicians created the handout, saying, even if you don't save for retirement, government will save for you.
But that was another political lie. They didn't create individual retirement accounts. They didn't save our Social Security payments. They spend every penny as it comes in.
It's why Social Security is like a Ponzi scheme.
Bernard Madoff went to jail because he used new investors' money to pay old investors. That's exactly what our government does.
Few Americans realize it.
"What happens to the money?" I ask people on the street.
"It's held in trust," said one woman.
It isn't.
When politicians started Social Security, there were enough young workers to tax to cover the cost of sending checks to old people.
But now, since we live longer, there aren't enough young workers to fund our payments.
Social Security's costs exceed its income by billions of dollars.
"There is a plan out there to save it, but it requires some tough choices," says the Cato Institute's Romina Boccia. "Commonsense tweaks we can make."
Those include raising the retirement age, capping checks to the affluent, and letting young people opt out of Social Security. Reforms like that require tradeoffs. But ignoring the problem doesn't make it disappear.
We need to act, says Boccia, because Social Security is like the Titanic—gradually heading for disaster.
"Make reforms now," she says, "we can avoid the iceberg. [But] if we wait until the iceberg is in front of our noses and try to turn the ship, we're going to run right into it."
Medicare will hit its iceberg in 2033; then benefits will automatically be reduced. Social Security will hit it the year before.
At that point, incoming taxes will cover only about 78 percent of promised retirement benefits.
Yet irresponsible Democrats say: Spend even more.
"Human wants and needs are unlimited," replies Boccia. "There's always another program that needs more funding."
Sanders says, pay for it by taxing the rich more.
"There isn't enough money even that the rich would have, to pay for the…unfunded liabilities," Boccia points out.
If only politicians had listened years ago, when Cato and the Heritage Foundation proposed letting workers put some of their Social Security money into personal retirement accounts. Instead of relying on future taxpayers, workers could accumulate real assets that grow over time.
Personal accounts give workers something Social Security doesn't: assets we own.
"Even a conservative portfolio of stocks and bonds that got you a 5 percent annual return would have made you many times more [than Social Security]," says Boccia.
Private accounts helped Chile rise from one of the poorest countries in Latin America to one of the richest. Yet leftists still object to capitalists getting a cut of the pie.
"We lack gratitude for what the free market provides," says Boccia.
We should adjust these programs now.
The longer politicians wait, the worse the choices become.
But today's politicians will probably be gone by then.
Cottonwood Falls, in the heart of Kansas, is a small town surrounded by prairie as far as the eye can see and dotted with idyllic farms and red barns. This ranching community of roughly 850 people proudly hosts a tiny museum whose centerpiece is a perfectly preserved settlers’ wagon. Next to it is the “House of God,” a café that also functions as a church, or vice versa. The cobblestone main street features at one end a hotel where what may once have been a saloon is now a bar. At the other end stands a startling stone building in French Renaissance style: one of the oldest courthouses still in operation west of the Mississippi River. Currently, it also serves as an early voting polling place for next Tuesday’s midterm elections.
The left says its populist message can attract moderates and conservatives in addition to liberals. That theory will be put to the test in a series of competitive races on Election Day.
The transfer came a day after the news that the pro-Israel lobby was planning to contribute as much as $9 million to defeat the Democratic nominee for Senate.
Dan Hanover has planted a sign in the front yard of his home in Tarrytown as if trying to ward off a curse. It bears just three words, “Mike Lawler for Congress,” but that is more than enough for everyone here to understand what it means: the retiree is determined to do whatever he can to help the Republican who represents this charming village north of New York City keep his seat in the House of Representatives after the November 3 election.
There is still over an hour before the protagonist appears, but the line already wraps around the block. Dozens of people wait patiently for their turn to see the man who has become the great hope of the Democratic left wing. When he begins to speak, pandemonium breaks out: “My name is Abdul El‑Sayed and I am going to be your next senator in Washington.” Over the next hour, the hundreds gathered in this venue will applaud, laugh, and cheer every word from the mouth of the new star of American politics, who has already made a fitted black T‑shirt and jeans his trademark look. We are in Lansing, Michigan’s capital, where one of the most gripping battles of the midterm elections — just over two weeks away — is being fought.
Abdul El‑Sayed, Democratic candidate for U.S. senator from Michigan, last Thursday after debating Republican Mike Rogers in Grand Rapids, United States.
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