&#8220;The Ramsey Show&#8221; co-host and financial literacy personality George Kamel blasted news agencies and influencers for urging Americans to withdraw Social Security early.
Recently, the Social Security Administration <a href="https://www.ssa.gov/oact/trsum/">announced</a> in the 2026 Trustees Report that the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund reserves “will become depleted” in 2032, and afterwards, “the fund’s reserves will become depleted and continuing program income will be sufficient to pay 78 percent of total scheduled benefits.”
The Congressional Budget Office also previously warned that this would result in a direct cut in retirement benefits, stating, “because the government would not have the legal authority to make payments in excess of receipts, it would no longer be able to pay the full amounts scheduled or projected under current law.”
News organizations took on the story about Social Security reaching its end, with Fox Business <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/social-security-has-less-than-10-years-before-reserves-exhausted-new-trustees-report-warns">reporting</a> that “Social Security has less than 10 years before reserves are exhausted.” Online financial influencers then started to call on their followers to take out their benefits early at 62 before Social Security goes ‘bankrupt.’
In an interview with Fox News, Kamel <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/why-ramsey-financial-expert-says-no-magic-age-claim-social-security">called</a> the Fox Business headline and similar headlines in other outlets “classic fearmongering” that are not “based in reality.”
“There’s a lot of context left out,” Kamel added. “But when you see ‘depletion 2032 Social Security,’ it’s like the toilet paper rush during COVID — everyone’s like ‘I gotta go to the store. Let’s clear the shelves. There’s not going to be any left for me.’”
Kamel debunked the idea that Social Security is going to go bankrupt by noting that the last time Social Security reserves were expected to dry out in 1983, Congress and the Reagan administration did “several small tweaks” to fix the system.
“A worst-case scenario is a 22% cut in monthly benefits,” Kamel said. “That’s a far cry from it going to 0, to bankruptcy. There is a lot of emotion here, and fear is a bad reason to grab it at 62.”
“I don’t see a world where, in 2032, we’re all going, ‘Where’s our money? We’re all going to retire broke.’” Kamel added. 
Kamel also mentioned that taking Social Security at 62 gives a 30% deduction in benefits, whereas waiting until 70 gives a 24% bonus. But he then noted that there is no “magic age” for taking Social Security.
“There [are] a lot of factors that come into play when you decide to take Social Security, and it really depends on your life, your health, your income, your family situation,” Kamel said.
Kamel advised listeners to take control of their finances rather than relying on the government.
“I call it Social insecurity, because if you’re relying on it, you don’t have that security, you don’t have that control,” Kamel said. “So I want to let people know that you are your best shot at great retirement. It’s not the government’s job, it’s not Washington’s job, it’s not a headline, it’s not a trust fund aid, you control the controllables.”

Social security card is teetering on side of cliff

Finance Guru Rips Viral Social Security Trend

Dave Ramsey

finance

Personal finances

Social Security

Babies born in the second half of 2026 will receive a special Social Security card commemorating America’s 250th anniversary, the Social Security Administration (SSA) <a href="https://www.ssa.gov/news/en/press/releases/2026-07-01.html">announced</a> on Wednesday.
Children born in the United States between July 2 and December 31, 2026, will receive this one-of-a-kind card featuring the Freedom 250 logo in black ink, which still functions as a standard Social Security card.
The cards will serve as the first official federal documents issued to millions of American children.
“Freedom 250 is a celebration of America’s storied history and the monumental moments that have shaped our nation, including the creation of Social Security over 90 years ago,” Commissioner Frank J. Bisignano said. 
The cards are part of the Enumeration at Birth program and will be issued at hospitals, birthing centers, or requested by licensed midwives during the birth registration process. Parents do not need to apply for the card, pay extra fees, or complete additional paperwork, according to Fox News.
Babies born before or after the July 2 to December 31 window will receive a standard Social Security card without the Freedom 250 logo.
The SSA also warned Americans about scammers attempting to duplicate the limited-edition cards. The agency said it would “never call, text, or email you requesting payment to obtain a commemorative card.”
“Under the leadership of President Donald J. Trump, we are strengthening Social Security, improving service, and building an SSA to serve Americans today and in the future,” Bisignano said.

Father holding her newborn baby

Newborns To Receive Special Social Security Cards Honoring America’s 250th

America 250

Entitlement reform is about to become a hot-button issue, again, due to imminent fiscal shortfalls.
And right now the politics don’t look great for Americans under 40. According to recent <a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/social-securitys-finances-are-getting-worse-americans-dont-know-how-hard-choices-will-be">polling</a> by the Cato Institute, 89% of senior citizens would support raising taxes on younger workers in order to maintain their Social Security benefits. Now consider that the <a href="https://voteathome.org/new-report-on-primary-voting-highlights-path-to-increase-voter-participation/">median</a> primary voter is 65 years old.
Gen Z <a href="https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2025/2024-presidential-election-voting-registration-tables.html">votes</a> at much lower rates than older Americans, especially in <a href="https://theharvardpoliticalreview.com/gen-z-voter-barriers-2024-election/">midterms</a>. Worse, many Zoomers don’t even know how Social Security works. Half think their payroll taxes are either saved for them in a personal account or invested in a trust fund on their behalf.
In reality, Social Security is a <a href="https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/social-security-trust-fund-myth">pay-as-you-go program</a>. That means today’s beneficiaries are funded through taxes paid by younger workers, today. While retirees say they “paid in,” those dollars were spent long ago. Social Security’s mythology has obscured the economic trade-offs it requires: between the incomes of younger workers and the retirement lifestyles of seniors.
For decades, Social Security spending has gone in one direction: up, up, and up, on <a href="https://epicforamerica.org/federal-budget/epic-explainer-discretionary-v-autopilot-spending/">autopilot</a>. As a result, it now accounts for <a href="https://usafacts.org/articles/how-much-does-the-us-spend-on-social-security-is-it-sustainable/">over</a> 22% of the federal budget, costing nearly $1.6 trillion per year. That makes it the single biggest item in America’s federal budget, and it’s <a href="https://www.pgpf.org/article/top-10-largest-budget-functions/">not close.</a> If you add up all spending on seniors in the federal budget, it’s about <a href="https://budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu/p/2026-04-01-how-federal-spending-is-distributed-by-age-group-in-fy2025/">$2.7 trillion</a> annually. We spend six times as much on senior citizens, the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/economy/over-65-congratulations-you-own-the-economy-5acea4c4">wealthiest demographic,</a> as we do on children and young adults.
Congress has made no major changes to Social Security since 1983, when President Ronald Reagan signed a bipartisan bill that saved it from imminent collapse. Contrary to today’s facile notion that entitlement reform is “a third rail,” Reagan signed bipartisan legislation that cut Social Security and Medicare spending in 1983, in addition to raising taxes. He won 49 states the very next year (when the economy jumps 7% in a single year, they let you do it).
Since Reagan, no president has been able to change the course of Social Security. Bush and Obama both talked about it. Neither got it done.
Something must change. The Social Security Trust Fund (technically it’s the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund) is projected to run out in late 2032. That’s just six years from now. It means senators elected or re-elected in the November 2026 midterms will confront this crisis within their upcoming terms.
And that’s not the only crisis on the horizon. Medicare Hospital Insurance is <a href="https://www.cms.gov/oact/tr/2026">projected</a> to run out in 2033. Chinese President Xi Jinping has directed the Chinese military to be able to strike Taiwan by 2027, though this does <a href="https://news.usni.org/2026/03/19/china-not-committed-to-2027-taiwan-invasion-u-s-intel-report-says">not</a> necessarily mean China will attack then. And the United States has been so occupied with <a href="https://americanmind.org/salvo/what-is-total-boomer-luxury-communism/">transferring</a> wealth to senior citizens that it forgot to match its defense production to its national security strategy. And that means significant production shortages of <a href="https://www.heritage.org/defense/commentary/chinas-naval-buildup-exposes-us-shipbuilding-gaps-and-fleet-weakness">ships</a>, <a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/rebuilding-us-missile-inventory-multiyear-project">missiles</a>, and <a href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/the-u-s-wants-to-break-chinas-drone-dominance-heres-where-it-will-struggle-39e69e18">drones</a>. America faces a rapidly complicated geopolitical situation, yet is maintaining <a href="https://econofact.org/u-s-defense-spending-in-historical-and-international-context">historically</a> low defense spending.
Making this all more intractable is America’s demographic collapse. We have fewer and fewer younger Americans <a href="https://www.ssa.gov/history/ratios.html">supporting</a> more and more older Americans. And this will get worse, impacting America’s ability to fund its entitlement programs — the fertility rate is falling <a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/low-falling-fertility-means-social-securitys-funding-problems-are-worse-expected-0">faster</a> than the Social Security Trustees seem to think.
This will all come to a head, and soon. The U.S. must either significantly cut the growth trajectory of Social Security and Medicare spending or dramatically raise taxes. (Or some combination of benefit cuts and tax hikes).
There is no way to finesse our way out of this. It’s far too late to “privatize” Social Security, and any such plan would <a href="https://debtdispatch.substack.com/p/debt-digest-the-cassidy-kaine-social">dramatically</a> raise the national debt, making America’s fiscal problem worse, not better. And while AI promises to accelerate economic growth, excessive government regulation, grassroots backlash, and early demands for Universal Basic Income all cast doubt on the notion that AI will save us from the consequences of our own government spending.
By law, when the Social Security and Medicare trust funds run out, the programs’ spending will be cut significantly (by over 20% for Social Security and over 10% for Medicare Part A). But Congress is unlikely to allow these cuts to happen, given the political realities we have discussed.
American senior citizens know what they want: retirement benefits that keep going up forever, paid for by younger workers. Meanwhile, younger people don’t even know their own interests. Or what threatens them. Even among Americans under 30, 47% would protect current retirees’ benefits even if that means higher taxes on younger workers like them.
Expect more of the same. At least until America’s fundamental imbalance, between elderly power and youthful ignorance, changes.
America did not begin as a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Gerontocracy-America-Hoarding-Power-Wealth_and/dp/0374607648">gerontocracy</a>. Thomas Jefferson was just 33 years old when he drafted the Declaration of Independence. Alexander Hamilton was around 20 in July 1776, but he was up north <a href="https://armyhistory.org/major-general-alexander-hamilton/">serving</a> as a captain in a New York artillery company.
With respect to America’s founders, however, if taxation without genuine political representation was a <a href="https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/colonial-life-today/early-american-economics-facts">problem</a> back in 1776, it is a much larger problem now.
***
Russ Greene is Executive Director of the Prime Mover Institute and the <a href="https://americanmind.org/salvo/what-is-total-boomer-luxury-communism/">coiner</a> of the term “Total Boomer Luxury Communism.”

Senior woman’s hands counting cash us dollars at home

The Boomer Ponzi Scheme Robbing Americans Of Future Prosperity

Boomers

DW Opinion

Gen Z

Medicare

Young Americans aren’t just drifting toward socialism. They’re running toward it, convinced that the American dream skipped their generation. Candidates openly embracing socialist labels are winning elections in major cities, and rhetoric that was once confined to radicals is becoming mainstream. The irony is that the very policies they think will save them are the ones that pushed them to the edge in the first place.
At first glance, none of this makes sense. Socialism has produced disaster everywhere it has been tried. Capitalism has lifted more people out of poverty than any system in human history. So why are the children of its success so eager to abandon it?
The easy explanation blames TikTok, activist professors, and influencers who distrust Western civilization and condemn capitalism. There is some truth in that, but it misses a deeper and far more important cause. It confuses the spark with the fuel.
Beneath the slogans is a generation that feels economically cheated. Many young Americans no longer believe they will achieve the stability their parents took for granted. They face higher tuition, heavier debt, steeper housing costs, and a stagnant job market. Upward mobility feels elusive. The milestones of adulthood feel delayed or impossible.
A whole generation was raised to believe they deserved certain outcomes, and now those outcomes aren’t materializing. They look at the system around them and see barriers, not opportunities. And when people believe a system is rigged against them, they don’t try to fix it. They try to tear it down.
Capitalism becomes the obvious villain. If America runs on capitalism, and America feels broken, then capitalism must be the cause. And if capitalism is the cause, socialism must be the solution.
But what if their diagnosis is wrong? What if the system crushing young Americans isn’t capitalism at all, but the layers of socialist-style policies woven into the economy over the past century, policies that subtly push wealth upward and shift long-term obligations downward?
America has built an economy where one generation’s comfort is paid for by the next generation’s sacrifice. Over the last century, the United States has added an expanding array of redistribution programs to its market system. These programs were often passed in the name of compassion and fairness, but their structure consistently produces unintended consequences. Chief among them is a subtle, ongoing transfer of wealth and opportunity away from the young. That intergenerational transfer, not capitalism, is the real source of the resentment so many young people feel.
To be clear, we’re talking about generational systems and policies, not the moral character of individuals. No generation is monolithic. But the economic structures we’ve built have produced consistent patterns that burden the young generations far more than prior ones. 
Here are three examples.
<h3>1. Student Loans: A Program Intended to Help that Ended Up Doing the Opposite</h3>
Federal student loans were created to help lower-income students attend college. In practice, they allowed universities to raise tuition year after year with impunity. If students can always borrow more, colleges can always charge more. The result has been runaway tuition, bloated bureaucracies, and an entire ecosystem built on the assumption that young people will take on enormous debt to obtain a degree whose value steadily erodes as more people have one.
Universities prospered. Administrators prospered. Students did not. Many began adulthood burdened by debt so large that it delayed every milestone from homeownership to marriage to starting a family.
This isn’t capitalism. It’s a government-engineered system that transfers wealth upward and locks the young into financial servitude through a student-debt burden that is nearly impossible to escape.
<h3>2. Social Security: A Safety Net That Became a Generational Burden</h3>
Social Security began as a modest safety net. It has become a demographic time bomb. With declining birth rates and rising life expectancy, fewer workers now support a growing number of retirees. Younger Americans pay heavily into a system they know won’t give them the same benefits.
The trust fund they’re told exists is filled with IOUs, because previous generations already spent the money. Today’s young workers aren’t contributing to their own retirement. They’re funding someone else’s.
Again, this isn’t capitalism. It’s the socialization of what was once the personal responsibility to save for your own retirement, now transformed into a compulsory system whose costs fall increasingly on the younger generation.
<h3>3. Government Debt: One Generation Enjoys the Benefits, the Next Pays the Bill</h3>
Government debt isn’t like personal debt. Individuals repay their own loans. Governments create social debt that hands the bill to future taxpayers. Jefferson warned that one generation has no moral right to bind another with debt. Yet that is precisely what we’ve done.
When borrowing finances bridges or innovation, future generations share in the benefit. But when it finances entitlements or political consumption, future generations inherit only the cost, through higher taxes, inflation, and a rising cost of living.
Now put the pieces together.
Student loans transfer prosperity upward. 
Social Security transfers income upward. 
And government debt transfers obligations downward.
The younger generation isn’t imagining things. They’re up against a system that limits their progress while shielding older generations from the consequences of past decisions. It’s no surprise they’re angry. It’s no surprise they want dramatic change.
What is surprising is the conclusions they’re drawing and where they’ve aimed their anger. Socialism now looks appealing, and capitalism gets blamed for problems created by socialist-style policies. Young Americans aren’t wrong to feel betrayed. But they are wrong about who betrayed them.
Capitalism isn’t the culprit. Intergenerational redistribution is. Policies designed to protect the vulnerable have, in practice, stacked the deck against the young. Intentional or not, socialist-style programs have loaded a massive financial burden onto the rising generation.
Unless we acknowledge the real source of this injustice, we won’t have any chance of correcting it. And if we don&#8217;t correct it, the crisis simmering beneath the surface will eventually erupt.
We’re approaching a turning point. A society cannot survive if its young are convinced their future has been taken from them. While their frustration may be misdirected, it isn’t baseless. And until we confront this generational injustice, the revolt against capitalism won’t fade. It will intensify, fueled by a volatile mix of youthful anger and misguided ignorance.
There’s still time to chart a different course. If society can finally acknowledge the injustice, and the young can understand how socialist-style policies have undermined their economic future, we can avoid the tragic outcome of a generation that destroys the very system that remains its best chance for a prosperous future.
* * *
Rabbi Elie Feder, PhD, and Rabbi Aaron Zimmer host the “<a href="https://www.physicstogod.com/">Physics to God</a>” podcast.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Harvard Holds 374th Commencement

Young Americans Aren’t Wrong To Feel Betrayed But Capitalism Isn’t The Culprit

Affordable

Capitalism

Economy

National Debt

Socialism

Student Loans

wealth

It’s Friday, and we finally have inflation numbers.
The <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/cpi_10242025.htm">report</a> showed that inflation came in cooler than expected at 0.3% versus a forecast of 0.4%. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) completed the report nine days past the due date and five days before the Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) decision.
In a <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/10/inflation-remains-low-as-democrat-shutdown-threatens-progress/">statement</a> released today, Karoline Leavitt said, “Under President Trump, America is back &#8211; but inflation is not.” 
Normally, the BLS releases the Consumer Price Index (CPI) report around the middle of the month, typically in the middle of the week. But America’s not in a normal situation, as today is the 24th day of the government shutdown.
To get the inflation numbers from the <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/cpi_10242025.htm">Social Security Administration</a> (SSA), the Department of Labor brought back furloughed employees to complete September’s CPI report. The Social Security Administration uses CPI as a benchmark for cost-of-living adjustments when issuing benefit checks. The SSA needed September’s numbers.
The FOMC decision will be based on the analysis of September&#8217;s CPI report. However, the looming FOMC decision wasn’t enough on its own to bring back the furloughed employees. And the Social Security Administration’s need for the numbers most likely won’t be enough to get a report generated for October. 
Every month, the BLS dispatches staff to collect price data for everyday goods. Before the shutdown, they had already done their “field work” for September, allowing the Bureau of Labor Statistics to finalize the report. Since the lapse in appropriations, employees were not dispatched to gather data for October.    
Join us now during our exclusive Deal of the Decade. Get everything for $7 a month. Not as fans. As fighters. Go to <a href="http://dailywire.com/Subscribe" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DailyWire.com/Subscribe</a> to join now.
This month, the main driver of inflation was gasoline, which rose 4.1%. In times of high global tensions and uncertainty, this index typically increases. Wars and sanctions, or even the fear of them, can drive up gas demand, often raising prices. Sanctions and international conflict have the potential to cause shortages and supply shocks, sending the price of gasoline skyward. 
On Thursday, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0290">expanded sanctions</a> on Russia’s two largest oil companies. The effects of those sanctions will appear in the next report that the Bureau of Labor Statistics provides. 
Energy also rose 1.5%. In most years, energy typically falls as the cooler months approach. However, America is not in a normal year for energy. AI demands energy. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright stated in a letter to Congress this week that the “United States is experiencing an unprecedented surge in electricity demand.” AI Infrastructure and Data Centers require vast amounts of energy, and that demand is only expected to increase as the technology expands.
Based on information provided by the U.S. Inflation Calculator, since Trump took office, inflation has averaged 2.65% each month.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) stated, “The inflation report today is just the latest warning sign that Donald Trump continues to squeeze the life out of working people in our economy.” 
The Biden Administration had an inflation average of 4.9%. The Federal Reserve has a goal of keeping inflation at 2%.

Safeway Aisles

The Nation Finally Gets Its Inflation Report — And It’s Better Than The Experts Told Us It Would Be

Nine days past the due date, America gets CPI Report 

cost of living

Donald Trump

groceries

Inflation

Daily Wire Editor Emeritus and bestselling author Ben Shapiro ripped into leftist talking points during viral exchanges on multiple shows over the past week. 
Shapiro was interviewed on shows that are known for criticizing the conservative viewpoint, such as CNN’s “News Night With Abby Phillip,” “The Stephen A. Smith Show,” and “The Breakfast Club,” hosted by Charlamagne tha God. While Shapiro spent some time talking about his new book, “<a href="https://store.dailywire.com/pages/lions-scavengers-by-ben-shapiro-available-september-2-2025?srsltid=AfmBOopBsREVpdysJqEC0X-XIA7sZncCOwG9LjkcX4PpVqrJXnVl1TVH">Lions &amp; Scavengers</a>,” most of his discussions on the shows focused on pushing back against leftism. 
<h3>Pro-Life Masterclass</h3>
Shapiro joined the “Breakfast Club” to talk about a range of issues, but one topic gained a lot of attention: abortion. The Daily Wire editor emeritus defended an unborn baby’s right to life against pro-abortion arguments from co-hosts, Jess Hilarious and DJ Envy. 
“I don’t think that the subjective definition of life is how we define life,” Shapiro said. “We all agree, for example, that a one-month-old baby should not be drowned. Right, we all agree on that. And that’s not up to the personal … and the question is, well, why? Because we now understand that the one-month-old baby, everyone agrees with this, right, that — except for Peter Singer at Princeton — that a one-month-old baby has an independent interest in life.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
&#8220;You&#8217;re talking about what a woman should be allowed to do. I&#8217;m talking about the definition of personhood of the separate person inside the woman.<a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@benshapiro</a>&#8216;s argument against abortion on <a href="https://twitter.com/breakfastclubam?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@breakfastclubam</a> is a must watch ⬇️ <a href="https://t.co/3imJE2K9hI">pic.twitter.com/3imJE2K9hI</a>
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/1965046952141435332?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 8, 2025</a></blockquote>
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“The argument I don’t like is that it’s up to every single person to define when life begins,” he added.
Charlamagne then weighed in then, saying he would argue that life began when there was a heartbeat.
“If life begins at the heartbeat … you’re talking about abortion restrictions very early on,” Shapiro said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@benshapiro</a>: The argument I don&#8217;t like is that it&#8217;s up to every single person to define when life begins.<a href="https://twitter.com/cthagod?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@cthagod</a>: I think it begins when there&#8217;s a heartbeat.<a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@benshapiro</a>: If life begins at the heartbeat &#8230; you&#8217;re talking about abortion restrictions very early on. <a href="https://t.co/nM4IYeQGeO">pic.twitter.com/nM4IYeQGeO</a>
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/1965050577844625723?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 8, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Shapiro also shot down the argument that rape and incest are a reason to keep abortion legal. 
“People choose that argument because it&#8217;s the hardest one to make emotionally from the pro-life side … but the vast majority of abortions have nothing to do with rape or incest,” he said. 
<h3>Major Mamdani Burn</h3>
Shapiro ripped NYC socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s record and his rapping ability during his appearance on “The Breakfast Club.” 
“The guy has not held a job and he&#8217;s going to be the mayor of New York&#8230; after being a failed rapper&#8230; I&#8217;m a more successful rapper for God&#8217;s sake than Zohran Mamdani,” Shapiro said, referring to his <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ben-shapiros-facts-tops-billboard-charts-as-best-selling-rap-single">chart-topping single</a> with Tom MacDonald. 
“You had one record, dude,” Charlamagne said. 
“And let me tell you, it was a banger,” Shapiro replied. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@benshapiro</a>: &#8220;The guy has not held a job and he&#8217;s going to be the mayor of New York&#8230; after being a failed rapper&#8230; I&#8217;m a more successful rapper for God&#8217;s sake than Zohran Mamdani.&#8221;<a href="https://twitter.com/cthagod?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@cthagod</a>: &#8220;You had one record, dude.&#8221;<a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@benshapiro</a>: &#8220;And let me tell you, it was a banger.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/gTgEoSsEQQ">pic.twitter.com/gTgEoSsEQQ</a>
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/1965054387761668497?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 8, 2025</a></blockquote>
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<h3>Social Security Smackdown</h3>
During a debate on Social Security on CNN, Shapiro explained to the panelists how the entitlement program works and how it’s on a path to bankruptcy. 
First, Shapiro shot down the idea pushed by Phillip that Social Security is just a system in which Americans “pay into” to receive that money back at retirement.
“Well no,” Shapiro shot back, adding, “I promise you the amount that people are taking out is not the amount that is going in, which is why we are going bankrupt.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@benshapiro</a> teaching <a href="https://twitter.com/CNN?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CNN</a> panelists how Social Security works is the video you didn&#8217;t know you needed😂 <a href="https://t.co/W54BsyPYKp">pic.twitter.com/W54BsyPYKp</a>
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/1963081890799264170?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 3, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Later in the panel discussion, Ana Kasparian, host of the leftist show, “The Young Turks,” argued that spending on defense and foreign aid was a bigger problem pushing the country toward bankruptcy than Social Security. 
“You don’t think the trillions of dollars we’ve spent on wars in the Middle East might have something to do with that?” she asked. 
“That is not even remotely a percentage of what we spend on Social Security,” Shapiro replied. And, of course, he was correct. In 2024, Social Security accounted for 21% of the federal budget, totaling $1.5 trillion. Defense spending, meanwhile, made up 13% of the budget, or $872 billion.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/AnaKasparian?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AnaKasparian</a> suggests military spending drives debt more than Social Security:<a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@benshapiro</a>: That&#8217;s not even REMOTELY a percentage of what we spend on Social Security.<a href="https://twitter.com/ScottJenningsKY?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ScottJenningsKY</a>: You think Israel is a bigger portion of our budget than Social Security? <a href="https://t.co/FbD18tnGnP">pic.twitter.com/FbD18tnGnP</a>
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/1963087926188740635?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 3, 2025</a></blockquote>
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<h3>Western Civilization History Lesson</h3>
During his interview with sports and radio host Stephen A. Smith, Shapiro said that Western Civilization must be “upheld,” pushing back against the scavenger mindset that wants to tear down the traditions and values that came before us. 
Shapiro argued that Western Civilization is built upon biblical values combined with reason, which have given the world the renaissance, the enlightenment, balanced powers in government, free speech, private property, and free markets. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/stephenasmith?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@stephenasmith</a>: Does Western Civilization need to be torn down? Define Western Civilization. <a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@benshapiro</a>: &#8220;Western Civilization needs to be upheld&#8230;Biblical living combined with the application of reason&#8230;leads to the great prosperity and freedom we have today.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/qwVvQa9Px3">pic.twitter.com/qwVvQa9Px3</a>
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/1963775080158409045?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 5, 2025</a></blockquote>
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***
Shapiro’s defense of conservative values make for great viral clips, but it’s even better to read from his new book, “<a href="https://store.dailywire.com/pages/lions-scavengers-by-ben-shapiro-available-september-2-2025?srsltid=AfmBOopBsREVpdysJqEC0X-XIA7sZncCOwG9LjkcX4PpVqrJXnVl1TVH">Lions &amp; Scavengers</a>.” The book is a gripping exploration of the ongoing war between those who cherish our nation and those who seek to undermine it.

Lions & Scavengers

WATCH: Ben Shapiro Destroys Leftist Narratives During ‘Lions & Scavengers’ Media Blitz

Abortion

Ben Shapiro

Charlamagne Tha God

Lions and Scavengers

Stephen A. Smith

Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro debated retirement and Social Security on CNN on Tuesday night, explaining to his fellow panelists how Social Security is on a path to bankruptcy.
During a roundtable discussion on CNN&#8217;s &#8220;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWUNpmUU7a8&amp;list=PL6XRrncXkMaWWFyjMtzWWSeOocFr-N_3s&amp;index=1">News Night with Abby Phillip</a>,&#8221; Shapiro defended his stance that the government should not hand out Social Security checks for people to retire at 65 years old. The Daily Wire host warned that if the government does not raise the retirement age, &#8220;We will go bankrupt.&#8221;
&#8220;Women are living to 85 if they make it to 65, men are living to 83 if they make it to 65 — that&#8217;s 20 years on the public dime,&#8221; Shapiro added.
Phillip argued that Social Security is a system in which Americans &#8220;pay into&#8221; to receive that money back at retirement.
&#8220;Well no,&#8221; Shapiro replied, adding, &#8220;I promise you the amount that people are taking out is not the amount that is going in, which is why we are going bankrupt.&#8221;
&#8220;Okay, but it&#8217;s not the government just handing out a blank check,&#8221; Phillip said. &#8220;People pay into the Social Security system.&#8221;
&#8220;No, it&#8217;s the government borrowing money &#8230; you pay in X dollars and then you get multiple times X dollars when you retire,&#8221; Shapiro replied. &#8220;That is how the system works. It is not a <a href="https://www.cato.org/commentary/al-gores-social-security-confusion">lockbox</a>. This is what Al Gore was arguing about in 2000.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@benshapiro</a> teaching <a href="https://twitter.com/CNN?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CNN</a> panelists how Social Security works is the video you didn&#8217;t know you needed😂 <a href="https://t.co/W54BsyPYKp">pic.twitter.com/W54BsyPYKp</a>
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/1963081890799264170?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 3, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Ana Kasparian, host of the leftist show, &#8220;The Young Turks,&#8221; shot back at Shapiro, saying, &#8220;I completely reject what you just said about how we&#8217;re going bankrupt through Social Security. Really? You don&#8217;t think the trillions of dollars we&#8217;ve spent on wars in the Middle East might have something to do with that?&#8221;
&#8220;That is not even remotely a percentage of what we spend on Social Security,&#8221; Shapiro replied.
&#8220;We&#8217;re spending hundreds of billions of dollars on Israel, on Ukraine. I mean, honestly, these foreign conflicts have a lot more to do with our national debt as opposed to us paying into [Social Security],&#8221; Kasparian added.
&#8220;That is just untrue,&#8221; Shapiro fired back.
In 2024, Social Security <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-budget/where-do-our-federal-tax-dollars-go#:~:text=Social%20Security:%20In%202024%2C%2021,workers%20and%20their%20eligible%20dependents." target="_blank" rel="noopener">accounted for 21%</a> of the federal budget, totaling $1.5 trillion. Defense spending, meanwhile, made up 13% of the budget, or $872 billion. Less than 1% of the budget was allocated to international programs, including humanitarian aid. By far, the most significant portion of the federal budget in 2024 was allocated to health insurance (24%) and Social Security.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/AnaKasparian?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AnaKasparian</a> suggests military spending drives debt more than Social Security:<a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@benshapiro</a>: That&#8217;s not even REMOTELY a percentage of what we spend on Social Security.<a href="https://twitter.com/ScottJenningsKY?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ScottJenningsKY</a>: You think Israel is a bigger portion of our budget than Social Security? <a href="https://t.co/FbD18tnGnP">pic.twitter.com/FbD18tnGnP</a>
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/1963087926188740635?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 3, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Ben Shapiro/Abby Phillip

Ben Shapiro Educates CNN Panelists On Social Security: ‘We Will Go Bankrupt’

Budget

Media

Politics

Retirement

The Daily Wire

WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum aimed at blocking illegal immigrants from receiving Social Security benefits, arguing that only legal American citizens should be eligible for benefits.
The move aims to remove monetary incentives for illegal aliens to come to the United States, the White House explained in a fact sheet released Tuesday, noting that Trump has repeatedly promised to take illegal immigrants off Social Security, and that the president signed an executive order in February ordering taxpayer resources not be used to incentivize or support illegal immigration.
Under President Joe Biden&#8217;s administration, more than 2 million illegal immigrants were assigned Social Security numbers in just the 2024 fiscal year, the White House said. The White House argues that the Biden administration&#8217;s actions continue to steal money and important services from American citizens.
The president&#8217;s <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/04/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-prevents-illegal-aliens-from-obtaining-social-security-act-benefits/">memorandum</a> directs his administration to make sure that illegal aliens are not receiving funds from any Social Security programs, prioritizing enforcement actions against any grantees or sub-grantees that fail to verify eligibility or stop payments to deceased or ineligible people who are receiving these benefits.
<div id="attachment_908685" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-blocks-illegals-from-receiving-social-security-after-biden-let-2-million-enroll/trump-white-house-8" rel="attachment wp-att-908685"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-908685" class="wp-image-908685 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2208995288-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2208995288-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2208995288-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2208995288-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2208995288-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2208995288-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2208995288-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2208995288-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>(Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)</div>
The Social Security Administration’s Inspector General must investigate the earnings reports for individuals who are 100 or older and have mismatched records, in order to combat identity theft, the memorandum says. Additionally, Trump&#8217;s action expands the Social Security Administration’s fraud prosecutor program to 50 or more U.S. Attorney&#8217;s offices across the United States, and establishes a Medicaid fraud-prosecution program in 15 U.S. Attorney&#8217;s offices.
The administration has already stopped over 1,000 immigrants with ties to terrorist activity or criminal records from receiving Social Security benefits, the White House said. As part of its efforts to remove illegal immigrants from the country, the Trump administration has also launched the CBP Home app, which offers illegals an opportunity to &#8220;self-deport.&#8221;
According to estimates from the Congressional Budget Office, the Biden border agenda cost federal and state taxpayers over $16.2 billion. The Federation for American Immigration Reform has calculated that American taxpayers spent at least $182 billion annually covering the costs of 20 million immigrants and their children who entered the country illegally, the White House said. That figure includes $66.4 billion in federal expenses, and $115.6 billion in state and local expenses.

US-President-Donald-Trump-Presents-Commander-in-Chief-Trophy

Trump Blocks Illegals From Receiving Social Security After Biden Let 2 Million Enroll

Border Crisis

Former President Joe Biden broke his three-month silence Tuesday evening, addressing Social Security in his first public speech since President Trump took office.
Biden <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jcqOgFBM7Q">addressed</a> a gathering of advocates for disabled people in Chicago, accusing Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency of trying to “dismantle” Social Security.
Biden, already 30 minutes late, was off to a rough start as the former president appeared to begin <a href="https://x.com/theblaze/status/1912269480887017978">reading</a> off the teleprompter while the walkout music was still playing, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he was inaudible to the audience.
The former president began the speech with a bizarre boast about his bona fides as a pro-civil rights senator, rambling, “I remember pulling in, pulling into the parking lot. And I had never seen, I had never seen hardly any black people in Scranton at the time. And I was only going in fourth grade. And I remember seeing the kids going by at the time, colored kids on a bus going by.”
“They never turned right to go to Claremont High School. I wondered why. I asked my mom, ‘Why?’ ‘So in Delaware, I&#8217;m not allowed to go to school, public school with white kids, honey.’ That sparked my sense of outrage as a kid, just like it does [sic].”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
President Biden randomly starts screaming in his first speech since leaving office. He tells a story about seeing black kids on buses:
&quot;I remember watching a bus go by. It was full of colored kids…I had never seen those.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/LdcpiLKSXV">pic.twitter.com/LdcpiLKSXV</a>
&mdash; The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) <a href="https://twitter.com/TPostMillennial/status/1912279115111247946?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 15, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Transitioning back to the teleprompter, Biden launched into an assault on Trump’s pullback of the bureaucracy, listing off a number of “achievements” under his administration that the current president is supposedly destroying.
“In fewer than 100 days, this new administration has [caused] so much damage and so much destruction. It&#8217;s kind of breathtaking it could happen that soon. They’ve taken a hatchet to the Social Security Administration.”
In a bizarre claim, Biden said, “We strengthened the anti-fraud measures to protect people&#8217;s identities and to make sure benefits are going to people who actually they belong to. By the way, those 300-year-old folks getting that Social Security, I want to meet them because I like to figure out how to live that.”
This is despite Elon Musk’s DOGE uncovering countless cases of fraud and abuse since Biden’s departure.
Throughout the speech, Biden frequently shifted from either a barely audible whisper or practically shouting at the audience, mirroring many speeches from the end of his presidency.
Fox News had to briefly cut Biden’s speech short to fact-check a multitude of false statements, with Brett Baier cutting the president during his remarks.
“President Biden in Chicago talking about Social Security there, saying the administration has ‘dismantled’ Social Security. They have fired and gotten rid of a number of employees, but in that interview with ElonMusk and his DOGE team, they said they&#8217;re going after waste, fraud, and abuse in Social Security.”
“And also President Trump has said that he will not touch benefits. In fact, Elon Musk is pledging that benefits will be protected more by what they&#8217;re doing.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
WATCH: Fox News cuts away from Joe Biden’s speech for a fact check on his Social Security claims from <a href="https://twitter.com/BretBaier?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BretBaier</a>:
“President Biden in Chicago talking about Social Security there, saying the administration has ‘dismantled’ Social Security. They have fired and gotten rid of a… <a href="https://t.co/SWcbksxEwC">pic.twitter.com/SWcbksxEwC</a>
&mdash; TV News Now (@TVNewsNow) <a href="https://twitter.com/TVNewsNow/status/1912277205607923767?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 15, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Musk did raise eyebrows several weeks ago during an appearance on the &#8220;Joe Rogan Experience&#8221; podcast when he called Social Security &#8220;the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time,&#8221; arguing that the amount being paid into the system is dwarfed by future obligations.
Trump addressed the program during his March speech to Congress, citing &#8220;shocking levels of incompetence and probable fraud in the Social Security program for our seniors and that our seniors and people that we love rely on.&#8221;
The Social Security Administration has <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/04/15/biden-social-security-speech-trump/">lost</a> 7,000 employees under the streamlining efforts of Trump and Musk, with thousands more cuts planned.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt <a href="https://x.com/VigilantFox/status/1912251020648018017">joked</a> about Biden’s appearance at a Monday conference. “My first reaction when seeing former President Biden was speaking tonight was — I’m shocked he is speaking at nighttime,” she said. “I thought his bedtime was much earlier than his speech tonight.”

Former President Biden Speaks at ACRD Conference in Chicago

Late, Rambling, And Off-Key: Biden Stumbles Through First Post-Trump Speech

Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)

Elon Musk

Joe Biden

Trump Administration

Former President Joe Biden is set to deliver his first public speech since leaving the White House on Tuesday, focusing on Social Security, a topic Democrats have zeroed in on as the Trump administration takes a sledgehammer to federal agencies and programs.
Biden will address attendees of the Advocates, Counselors, and Representatives for the Disabled (ACRD) conference in Chicago, where he will join other political figures, such as former Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), former Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO), and former Maryland Democratic Governor and Social Security Administration Commissioner Martin O&#8217;Malley, NBC 5 Chicago <a href="https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/chicago-politics/biden-to-give-first-speech-since-leaving-office-with-chicago-address-tuesday/3722572/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
Whether Biden mentions President Donald Trump by name during his speech will be a main point of interest as the focus on Social Security makes it likely that the former president will take some jabs at his predecessor and successor. Biden will deliver the speech as Democrats search for new leaders who can revive a party suffering from a &#8220;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/16/politics/cnn-poll-democrats/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">record low</a>&#8221; approval rating.
&#8220;We are deeply honored President Biden is making his first public appearance at ACRD’s sold-out conference. As bipartisan leaders have long agreed, Americans who retire after paying into Social Security their whole lives deserve the vital support and caring services they receive,&#8221; ACRD Executive Director Rachel Buck said. &#8220;As a result, we are thrilled the President will be joining us to discuss how we can work together for a stable and successful future for Social Security.&#8221;
O&#8217;Malley added, “Social Security is a sacred promise between generations. We are deeply grateful to the President for joining us at ACRD to discuss how we can keep that promise for all Americans.”
While vowing to protect Social Security, the Trump administration is looking to cut back on the Social Security Administration staff. The SSA <a href="https://blog.ssa.gov/social-security-announces-workforce-and-organization-plans/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in February that it has &#8220;set a staffing target of 50,000, down from the current level of approximately 57,000 employees.&#8221; The staff reduction comes as Trump&#8217;s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) project identifies where the federal government can cut spending. The SSA is also planning on closing six regional offices that provide support and services for SSA employees, The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/28/business/social-security-administration-job-cuts.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
Democrats have slammed the SSA cuts, arguing that the move threatens Social Security beneficiaries who rely on their monthly payments. Some Social Security beneficiaries have also complained about longer wait times on the phone and multiple outages on the “My Social Security” benefits portal since Trump made the cuts.
Trump&#8217;s senior adviser, Elon Musk, has been a primary target of Democrats&#8217; criticisms over Social Security. Musk has focused on finding fraud and waste within government programs, including entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. The White House <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/03/fact-check-president-trump-will-always-protect-social-security-medicare/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defended</a> Musk last month amid controversy over comments he made about eliminating &#8220;waste and fraud&#8221; in entitlement spending.
&#8220;The Social Security Administration made an estimated $72 billion in improper payments between 2015 and 2022,&#8221; the White House said in a statement, citing a 2024 Inspector General report.

As Dems Look For New Leaders, Biden Reemerges To Deliver First Speech Since Leaving White House

Chicago

Democrats

General

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) stated on Sunday that protecting Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid is a &#8220;top priority&#8221; for the White House and congressional Republicans.
In an interview on Fox News&#8217; &#8220;Sunday Morning Futures&#8221; with host Maria Bartiromo, Johnson discussed the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hold-trump-scores-big-beautiful-victory-house-budget-vote" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recently-passed</a> budget reconciliation framework, which sets the stage for President Donald Trump&#8217;s proposed comprehensive bill to advance his domestic priorities.
&#8220;Well, here&#8217;s the key to all of it. The president has made absolutely clear many times, as we have as well, that we&#8217;re going to protect Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid for people who are legally beneficiaries of those programs,&#8221; Johnson replied. &#8220;There are a lot of Americans who rely upon those programs, and we have got to ensure that they&#8217;re safeguarded. That&#8217;s a big priority of the White House and the Republicans in Congress.&#8221;
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Today, exclusively on <a href="https://twitter.com/SundayFutures?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SundayFutures</a> with <a href="https://twitter.com/MariaBartiromo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MariaBartiromo</a>, House Speaker Mike Johnson <a href="https://twitter.com/SpeakerJohnson?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SpeakerJohnson</a> spoke about Congress advancing a blueprint of President Trump&#39;s agenda.<a href="https://twitter.com/FoxNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FoxNews</a> <a href="https://t.co/WbvVwgZwnz">pic.twitter.com/WbvVwgZwnz</a>
&mdash; SundayMorningFutures (@SundayFutures) <a href="https://twitter.com/SundayFutures/status/1911442736827297914?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 13, 2025</a></blockquote>
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He continued: &#8220;At the same time, we have to root out fraud, waste, and abuse. We have to eliminate people on — for example, on Medicaid, who are not actually eligible to be there, able-bodied workers, for example, young men who are — who should never be on the program at all.&#8221;
Johnson was responding to Bartiromo asking the question: &#8220;So knowing that 76% of the spending goes toward mandatory spending, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, where are the offsets?&#8221;
Democrats have <a href="https://www.democrats.senate.gov/news/press-releases/leader-schumer-floor-remarks-on-republican-attacks-on-social-security-and-elon-musks-call-to-eliminate-entitlement-programs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">warned</a> that Republicans, led by Trump and influenced by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) effort overseen by Elon Musk, are working to dismantle the various programs in a move that would harm millions of seniors, people with disabilities, and other Americans who are reliant on the benefits they offer.
Johnson argued that preserving resources for those who truly need them — such as young single mothers, people with disabilities, and the elderly on Medicaid — requires preventing others from &#8220;draining&#8221; these programs.
&#8220;We have got to protect and preserve that program,&#8221; Johnson said. &#8220;So we&#8217;re going to preserve the integrity of it in this process. We have lots of categories of areas where the government is too large, it does too many things. And the DOGE efforts and others have highlighted that for the American people.&#8221;

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson

Speaker Johnson Outlines Plan To Secure Benefits, ‘Root Out’ Fraud And Waste

Congress

Medicaid

Mike Johnson

U.S.

U.S. House of Representatives

Here&#8217;s a headline that, if you&#8217;ve been making car insurance payments over the last few years, might seem pretty hard to believe. It turns out that average auto insurance premiums actually declined in March, month-over-month. Yes, for many people, premiums have gotten cheaper, even as car prices have remained high. Inflation has seemingly been defeated, at least in this particular industry. The declines were particularly steep in Florida, where insurers like Geico, Progressive and State Farm are cutting rates by as much as 10%. But there&#8217;s no question that this is a nationwide phenomenon. Insurance rates are down by roughly 1% across the board — which might not sound like a lot, but it&#8217;s a big difference from the typical double-digit increases that we&#8217;ve been seeing lately. When you go from 15-point average increases to a 1% decrease, you&#8217;re saving a lot of money, relatively speaking.
So why is this happening, exactly? Ask ten different people and you&#8217;ll probably get ten different answers. And all of them might be right, at least partially. But here&#8217;s one theory. It could be that insurance rates are going down because our roads are getting safer. And maybe our roads are getting safer because two grand Left-wing experiments — the BLM &#8220;de-policing&#8221; movement and the open borders agenda — have both finally come to an end.
Each of these movements clearly made driving significantly more dangerous, in their own way. Beginning in 2020, of course, BLM convinced police departments to stop enforcing laws — including traffic laws. And the effect was immediate. By one estimate, 35% more black people died in motor vehicle accidents in 2021, as compared with 2019. In other words, a lot of black motorists suddenly realized that they could drive however they wanted. They&#8217;d no longer be pulled over for supposedly &#8220;driving while black,&#8221; which was something they imagined was happening all the time. And they took full advantage of the situation. Insurance companies had to deal with the carnage that followed.
Along the same lines, as we&#8217;ve <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezo_P2uRNWY" target="_blank" rel="noopener">discussed</a> before, the flood of illegal aliens into this country under the Biden administration has led to a lot of drunk-driving collisions, which have wiped out entire families in some cases. Many of these illegal aliens don&#8217;t have driver&#8217;s licenses, and they refuse to obey the rules of the road. In the tiny town of Springfield, for example, one resident recently <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/09/12/us-news/influx-of-wild-driving-haitian-migrants-turning-streets-of-springfield-ohio-into-combat-zone/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">estimated</a> that she sees 8 to 10 traffic accidents per day. Haitian migrants, which now make up around one-third of the population, routinely drive into buildings and onto sidewalks. They&#8217;ve mowed down children and elderly women, with total impunity. One of these Haitian migrants <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/09/12/us-news/influx-of-wild-driving-haitian-migrants-turning-streets-of-springfield-ohio-into-combat-zone/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ran over</a> Kathy Heaton, a 71-year-old grandmother, while she was collecting her garbage cans. She died in the street, after an impact that was so severe that her socks were literally removed from her feet. The driver wasn&#8217;t even prosecuted.
This era of impunity is now over. Police departments are no longer being overrun with BLM mobs. Border security is being enforced again. The result is that the prices that American citizens have to pay — both in terms of dollar amounts, and lives that are lost — are coming down. It turns out that, when you have a society that enforces laws, everyone benefits.
The White House seems to understand this. That&#8217;s why, every other day, we&#8217;re hearing about a new plan to reduce the cost of these kinds of externalities for Americans.
Here&#8217;s the latest example. The New York Times is now <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/10/us/politics/migrants-deport-social-security-doge.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&amp;referringSource=articleShare" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reporting</a> that the Trump administration is canceling the Social Security numbers of foreign nationals who, for one reason or another, were allowed into this country during Joe Biden&#8217;s presidency:
<blockquote>The Trump administration has moved aggressively to revoke the temporary legal status of hundreds of thousands of immigrants who were allowed into the country under President Biden. &#8230; Now, the administration is taking drastic steps to pressure some of those immigrants and others who had legal status to “self-deport” by effectively canceling the Social Security numbers they had lawfully obtained. &#8230; The goal is to cut those people off from using crucial financial services like bank accounts and credit cards, along with their access to government benefits.</blockquote>
According to the Times, thousands of &#8220;convicted criminals and suspected terrorists&#8221; are among the foreign nationals who just had their Social Security numbers revoked. Yes, apparently the Biden administration provided &#8220;convicted criminals and suspected terrorists&#8221; with Social Security numbers, so that they could obtain government benefits. The Biden administration determined that this course of action was preferable to just deporting these people, or throwing them in prison. Now the Trump administration is changing that policy.
Again, this will have the effect of reducing payments by taxpayers to people who shouldn&#8217;t even be here. It will also make our roads and our communities a lot safer, in all likelihood. More than anything else, this is what Americans voted for in the last election. If Republicans are going to remain in power in Washington, and avoid a Democrat takeover of Congress in the midterms next year, then this kind of thing has to continue. And more importantly, Congress has to start supporting it. That&#8217;s how we can ensure that the cost of living will continue dropping.
A large part of that equation is reducing government spending, which Congress controls. As we all know, when the government spends trillions of dollars every year, that money is either coming from taxpayers, or it&#8217;s being printed and borrowed (which reduces the value of the money we&#8217;re all holding). Either way, we&#8217;re losing a lot of money in the process. At the moment, it appears that a small contingent of Republican lawmakers in Congress recognizes that this arrangement needs to change, at least to some degree. They just held out for assurances that the next spending bill will slash one-point-five trillion dollars from the budget. And after a lot of hand-wringing, they apparently received those assurances. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="001 budget framework resolution" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fnwMlNZgVZ8?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
So there were two plans here, for a spending bill to fund the government. The Senate plan, which passed over the weekend, would only reduce the deficit by around four billion dollars. That&#8217;s basically nothing compared to the new House framework, which demands a minimum of one-point-five trillion dollars in deficit reduction.
But here&#8217;s the problem: Even this new framework isn&#8217;t binding. It just sets a broad outline for future negotiations between the House and Senate, which still need to finalize a budget. And several members of Congress — most notably Thomas Massie of Kentucky — believe that this deal is worth about as much as the paper it&#8217;s printed on. Thomas Massie has been in office for more than a decade, and he understands how Congress works. He knows that it&#8217;s one thing for lawmakers to promise spending cuts. But it&#8217;s a completely different matter for them to agree on a bill that actually cuts spending. Here&#8217;s what Massie told a reporter after the framework was announced:
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What&#8217;s surprising here isn&#8217;t anything Thomas Massie is saying. What&#8217;s surprising is that so few Republicans in Congress are agreeing with him. The reason voters elected Republicans to control both chambers of Congress, along with the White House, is that they want government spending and the cost of living to come down. That&#8217;s one of the top issues in every exit poll. And now that Donald Trump is doing that — or attempting to do it — Congress is refusing to codify any of his cuts into law. If a Democrat becomes president, he could override all these DOGE cuts in a day-one executive order.
And by the way, no matter what you think of Trump&#8217;s tariffs, Massie makes a good point. Why hasn&#8217;t Congress held a vote on them? Tariffs are a form of taxation. They have the potential to significantly raise the cost of goods in the United States, among other effects. Under the Constitution, Congress has the power to tax. Even if you approve of the tariffs, you should still want Congress to vote on them, for the simple reason that they&#8217;ll be harder to overturn in a future administration. On the other hand, if you&#8217;re skeptical of tariffs, a congressional vote would allow for a full debate on the issue. Instead of unilateral announcements from the White House, we&#8217;d be able to hear the arguments on each side.
But the GOP leadership in Congress hasn&#8217;t displayed any interest in holding a vote on tariffs. In fact they&#8217;ve blocked a vote on the topic. And they haven&#8217;t held votes on the DOGE cuts or any other significant spending cuts. In fact, they still haven&#8217;t reined in any of the trillion dollars&#8217; worth of spending in the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, which was full of giveaways to environmentalist groups and NGOs. Why exactly hasn&#8217;t any of that waste been rolled back? Why is no one bothered to even talk about it? Really congress has not codified any of Trump’s executive orders at all, which means they’re all susceptible to being overturned with the stroke of a pen by the next administration. Where is congress?
When it comes to spending, if you ask Missouri Congressman Eric Burlison, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, he&#8217;ll say that Republicans aren&#8217;t actually serious about cutting spending. Like Massie, he thinks the spending cuts will never actually happen. Here&#8217;s what he said:
<blockquote>I think that this town has got a lot of snakes in the grass who don&#8217;t want to accomplish it, and anyway that they can they&#8217;re going to stop it from happening. And I want to ensure we don&#8217;t end up in a place where we let the president down in that regard.</blockquote>
Whatever Donald Trump makes of the deal, at the moment, it looks like Republican voters might be let down. We&#8217;re talking about raising the debt ceiling by a historic amount, and potentially spending more than the Biden administration ever did. And we&#8217;re doing it at a time when we&#8217;re initiating a broader trade war, which means that we&#8217;ll have less access to money to borrow. This is not a recipe for a stable economic situation going forward. In separate interviews, Thomas Massie and Congressman Jodey Arrington of Texas outlined what&#8217;s at stake here. Watch:
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Even if you listen to that rhetoric and conclude that it&#8217;s overblown, or that there&#8217;s really no cause for concern, the fundamental point remains: Republicans ran on a platform that involved lowering the cost of living, which includes lowering taxes and government spending. If Republicans cannot deliver on that very simple promise, they will not be in power for very long. And they will be replaced by a party that&#8217;s even more committed to more taxes and government spending. 
This particular spending bill won&#8217;t be finalized for several weeks, in all likelihood. Between now and the moment this legislation is finalized, it&#8217;s hard to imagine that anything in Congress is more important than holding GOP leadership to their promise on these spending cuts — and pushing them further, for as many cuts as possible. If Republicans (and their voters) stay focused on that goal, they will have achieved something that the party has promised for decades, but failed to deliver. They will have permanently reduced the size of the American government, for the benefit of everyone living in this country. The White House is clearly committed to this goal. Now it&#8217;s time for every Republican in Congress — not just Thomas Massie and a few others — to follow suit.

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