It is much the same story when we look at the tax cut’s effect on seniors who are counting on the guaranteed benefit of Social Security, and who desperately need a reliable and affordable Medicare prescription drug benefit that covers all seniors.
Just as the true cost of the president’s tax plan explodes – and the cost will be much higher than advertised – America’s baby boom generation will retire. The strain on Social Security will be enormous. And when the Treasury moves to issue those checks, the message will come back: ‘insufficient funds.’ Spending the entire surplus on this inequitable tax cut leaves us with few choices.
Whether we follow the president’s risky plan to privatize Social Security or not, we will be forced farther into debt in order to keep our promise to America’s seniors. Once again, we will be mortgaging America’s future because of a shortsighted, and irresponsible tax cut. Does any of this sound familiar? Well, here we go again.
And whither the president’s promise of a prescription drug benefit for America’s seniors? The president’s budget fails to make room for the grandmothers and grandfathers who are struggling to afford the ever rising price of prescription drugs. The president’s tax plan guarantees that he will not be able to extend a Medicare prescription drug benefit to all seniors. His plan for an ‘immediate helping hand’ is beginning to look more like a wave goodbye to America’s seniors, because when it comes to prescription drugs, the president is telling them that they are on their own.
The price tag of the president’s tax plan isn’t just a number. The price tag comes when you see the real people -- America’s seniors -- who will face the broken promise of retirement security. They’ll face a Social Security system that does not guarantee their benefits and provides little or no help with the prescription drugs they need to live healthy lives. That is the real cost of a tax plan that fails America’s seniors because it fails to live up to their values.
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