Laura Clawson has a great diary up now examining Trump’s pride in being the “King of Debt” — his “Debt has made me very, very rich” spiel.
“I’m the king of debt. I’m great with debt. Nobody knows debt better than me,” Trump told Norah O’Donnell in an interview that aired on “CBS This Morning.” “I’ve made a fortune by using debt, and if things don’t work out I renegotiate the debt. I mean, that’s a smart thing, not a stupid thing.”
“How do you renegotiate the debt?” O’Donnell followed up.
“You go back and you say, hey guess what, the economy crashed,” Trump replied. “I’m going to give you back half.”
Trump points out that we currently have close to $19 trillion dollars in Federal Debt. He argues the standard Cato Institute line — that figure must be brought down for the country to thrive (as well as give bondholders hefty increases in value.) Trump has said that that he can renegotiate part of that debt — which has caused the National Review, for instance, to freak out. They imagine that he would contact the Chinese or the Saudis, and attempt to “do a deal,” perhaps suggesting they take $.50 on the dollar for our trade imbalance. Every economist and all Republicans know could turn out very badly for the world economy, and crash our own. Moreover, Trump would be violating he 14th Amendment: Section 4. of the U.S. Constitution:
The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.
Yes, it’s true. Trump will attempt to make a deal with our biggest creditors. He will renegotiate our Federal Debt, all right, by up to 28%. But he won’t renegotiate our foreign debt. He is going to “renegotiate” our domestic debt.
As of June 2015, our domestic debt --”intragovernmental debt” — was $5.1 trillion of the $18.2 trillion national debt. This — the money borrowed from the Social Security Trust Fund — is the debt that Donald will renegotiate. This is the money borrowed by Congress from the Social Security Trust Fund surplus in order to fund other programs: the Bush wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as his tax cuts, and the huge ramp-up in Defense and National Security expenses during the Bush and Obama administrations.
In the early 1980s, the threat of a future collapse of Social Security due to future withdrawals by the large cohort of Baby Boomers was scaremongered by Republicans and President Reagan. The federal government appointed the National Commission on Social Security Reform, headed by Alan Greenspan. The Greenspan Commission developed a plan to ensure Social Security’s solvency for 75 years, and President Reagan signed those recommendations into law in 1983. That law doubled the payroll tax and ostensibly created the Social Security Trust Fund.
Trump’s campaign may give lip service to protecting “the old and poor”, but he is setting up the rationale for big entitlement cuts. He has made getting rid of deficit spending and reducing our Federal debt one of the cornerstones of his campaign. Trump wishes to eliminate deficit spending and pay down the national debt “big league” through cuts in government spending ,citing examples such as the Department of Education and the Environmental Protection Agency. But he knows that the only way to truly reduce the deficit is to cut entitlements. Late last month, Trump met with Paul Ryan, the great Congressional champion of such cuts, and promised to get on board with cutting Social Security and Medicare. It is this deal with the Republican elites to renege on Social Security and Medicaid commitments that willassure that they nominate him and support him in the General, no matter what his poll numbers now. They are about to complete the greatest theft of American wealth ever conceived. Trump is the man to carry it off.
And how will he do it? By making a speech to the American people from the Oval Office, where he says, “Hey guess what, the economy crashed. I’m going to give you back half.”
A Trump Presidency means that the Baby Boomers will be eliminated early because malnutrition and lack of health care — certainly long before they can collect the benefits that they’ve paid in over their lifetimes. And as for his promise to take care of the “old and the poor”? Get ready for Chris Christie’s favorite business, the Corrections Corporation of America, will buy up old shopping centers and turn them into old-age barracks where seniors are sent to die. (CCA would, of course, collect their checks directly from Social Security to house them.)