Trump's and Biden's answers to Social Security were atrocious

Above: Social Security Administration workers in Baltimore, Maryland, 1960. Photo by Thomas O'Halloran, courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Our presidential candidates' atrocious responses to the Social Security question

During Thursday night's hideous presidential debate, the moderators noted & asked the following: 

"So every day millions of Americans struggle just to make ends meet.  For many older Americans, Social Security provides a critical lifeline.  President Biden, if nothing is done to Social Security, seniors will see their benefits cut in just over 10 years.  Will you name tonight one specific step that you're willing to take to keep Social Security solvent? 

Biden's answer started fine, but quickly became incoherent:

"Yes, make the very wealthy begin to pay their fair share.  Right now, everybody making under $170,000 pays 6 percent of their income, of their paycheck, every single time they get a paycheck, from the time of the first one they get when they're 18 years old.  The idea that they're going to – I'm not – I've been proposing that everybody, they pay – millionaires pay 1 percent – 1 percent. So no one after – I would not raise the cost of Social Security for anybody under $400,000.  After that, I begin to make the wealthy begin to pay their fair share, by increasing from 1 percent beyond, to be able to guarantee the program for life."

Since Biden's answer was so short, the moderators prompted him to speak more on what he would to do shore-up Social Security.  Biden had no more policy ideas, but instead started talking about how Trump would get rid of Social Security [possibly true if Republicans gain control of all three branches of government; they've signalled many times that they want to privatize Social Security], and then started talking about healthcare and Pell Grants.   

When it was Trump's turn, he began by calling Biden a liar, and then delved into the Great Replacement Theory.  He said Social Security is at risk "Because millions of people are pouring into our country, and they're putting them on to Social Security; they're putting them on to Medicare, Medicaid.  They're putting them in our hospitals.  They're taking the place of our citizens."

This is a claim Trump has made before, and Politifact has rated it "false."

But the more important point is that Trump had no solutions (other than, presumably, to cut off immigration, which would probably make Social Security's funding worse). 

At a time when half of America's seniors can't afford basic necessities, millions have no retirement savings, and more and more are finding themselves homeless--while the super-rich keep getting richer--it's amazing that our two presidential candidates had so little to say about Social Security.  Biden's answer was better, but still extremely anemic and partially incoherent (and it's worth remembering that Biden, in the past, helped cut Social Security benefits by voting to raise the retirement age from 65 to 67).

Americans are not demanding enough from their politicians and "leaders," and they're paying a terrible price for it.