In his weekly column, Freeland Dexter covered the small town news stories in the town of Spring Green, WI. We find out about his coverage, which documented a time period of radical technological transformation– from 1884 to 1912. We also get an update on social security before voters head to the polls, and we find out what role hate groups have played in mainstream politics after the KKK’s official newspaper embraced Donald Trump.
Featured in this Show
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Official KKK Newspaper Embraces Donald Trump
Donald Trump received unwelcome support from the official newspaper of the Ku Klux Klan, which the campaign quickly disavowed. We talk to an expert who studies hate groups about what the KKK’s embrace of Trump could mean for the Republican nominee’s campaign.
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The News From Lone Rock: A Collection of Small Town Reporting From the Turn of The Century
We hear about a small town Wisconsin news reporter and his collection of stories that ranged from his observations about The Spanish American War, to who in town grew the largest watermelon.
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Social Security And Election 2016
As election 2016 nears its close, we take a close look at what the candidates have to say about social security and how healthy social security is as it stands today.
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Trump, Clinton's Social Security Plans Fail At Reaching Long-Term Sustainability, Expert Says
Social Security has been called the third rail of American politics. In other words, it’s a warning to politicians: Don’t touch it.
Today, the social welfare and insurance program originally signed into law by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1935 has its problems. By many estimates, unless changes are made to the Social Security law, the program will only pay 75 percent of scheduled benefits by 2035.
That’s what most people agree on. What’s still up in the air is the best way to fix it. The two major party presidential candidates have different approaches, and a public policy expert is throwing a bit of cold water on the plans outlined by both Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump.
Social Security issues have been surprisingly absent in this election, said Brigitte Madrian, public policy and corporate management professor at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
“It doesn’t really seem to be high on the policy agenda,” Madrian said. “And the way policy is often done in Washington is it takes a crisis in order for something to happen. And it’s hard to motivate strong support for change today for a problem that many perceive as not being a problem until 2034.”
In the third and final presidential debate, moderator and Fox News anchor Chris Wallace managed to press each of the candidates about how they plan to reform Social Security.
“I’m cutting taxes,” Trump answered during the debate. “We’re going to grow the economy. It’s going to grow at a record rate. It’s going to totally help you. And one thing we have to do, repeal and replace the disaster known as Obamacare. It’s destroying our country. It’s destroying our businesses, our small businesses and big businesses.”
Madrian said many economists don’t find Trump’s plan persuasive. To begin with, she said the evidence that cutting taxes grows the economy is controversial. She added that the economy would have to grow at a significant annual rate for a historically long period of time to fulfill the GOP’s vision.
“And while growing the economy does lots of wonderful things, that in and of itself is not going to solve the Social Security problems,” Madrian said.” Because if wages go up, the benefits to which workers (are) entitled will go up as well. So there are more fundamental problems with the system that need to be addressed.”
Much like every other issue, Clinton has a vastly different plan to solve Social Security. During the same debate, she said she wants to expand benefits by taxing the wealthiest Americans, like herself, at a higher rate and putting more money in the Social Security coffers.
“My Social Security payroll contribution will go up, as will Donald’s, assuming he can’t figure out how to get out of it,” Clinton said during the debate, to which Trump famously quipped “What a nasty woman.”
Clinton continued, “But what we want to do is to replenish the Social Security trust fund by making sure that we have sufficient resources. And that will come from either raising the cap and or finding other ways to get money into it. I will not cut benefits. I want to enhance benefits for low-income workers and for women who have been disadvantaged by the current Social Security system.”
Madrian said if Clinton wants to expand benefits, she will definitely have to increase taxes to pay for it.
“If (Clinton) wants to not have to cut benefits in 2034, so increase both the promised benefits and then make sure that you can pay the benefits that have actually been promised, then you would have to have non-negligible increase in taxes,” Madrian said.
Madrian added, “I haven’t run the numbers for her plan, but you would have to both increase the Social Security payroll tax rate and you would have to increase the maximum earnings threshold at which earnings are subject to the Social Security tax.”
Either way, said Madrian, both plans as they are fail to reform Social Security in a way that will bring long-term sustainability. And with less than a week to go before Election Day, voters don’t have much information to rely on.
Episode Credits
- Rob Ferrett Host
- Veronica Rueckert Host
- Haleema Shah Producer
- Karl Christenson Producer
- Veronica Rueckert Producer
- Brian Levin Guest
- Deanna R. Haney Guest
- Brigitte Madrian Guest
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