A.G. Gancarski
People may be dying earlier in recent years, but one ancillary benefit of that is it lessens the burden on entitlements for senior citizens.
That’s the take of presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, who told a crowd in New Hampshire that shorter lifespans will give Social Security a longer runway without raising eligibility ages.
“What I don’t think people are acknowledging the way they should is that life expectancy in this country is declining. And so, you know, we used to think it was just gonna keep going up. I mean, it’s been a pretty steep decline. So I don’t see how you raise it if life expectancy is declining,” DeSantis said in Windham.
DeSantis said that the decrease in lifespans isn’t “just from COVID,” but is “from a lot of other things,” including “deaths of despair, overdoses” and “other things, that have happened that I think the government hasn’t been willing to really be honest about.”
Domestic life expectancy is just over 76 years on average, which was where it was in the last decade of the 20th century.
The Governor’s remarks Friday continue a theme of recent vintage in which he has noted people are dying at younger ages than they did years back, so Social Security should remain untouched.
“It should reflect life expectancy and what we’ve had in this country is a pretty significant decline in life expectancy. And so given those circumstances to raise (qualifying ages), it would be cutting against where the demographics are going. So that’s not going to happen,” the Governor said in Iowa back in August.
28 comments
WhatNow
December 15, 2023 at 8:11 pm
I guess he really DOES want to lose the nomination. I was just guessing before this obviously deliberate “fiasco”.
Michael roberts
December 15, 2023 at 8:14 pm
life expectancy went down here in floriduh because of public policy during covid and ongoing lack of control on drugs and guns…Ron has created lower life expectancy in this state
MH/Duuuval
December 15, 2023 at 10:43 pm
Could get interesting again in Dee World if the trend in lower vaccinations continues in tandem with the upward trend in flu, RSV, and Covid.
Melissa Ferriell
December 17, 2023 at 12:46 pm
You’re 💯 correct.
Michael K
December 15, 2023 at 9:33 pm
Governor Death Sentence strikes again.
PeterH
December 15, 2023 at 11:01 pm
He’s such a positive guy! I think I’ll go hunting for some razor blades!
the truth
December 16, 2023 at 2:40 am
its true, covid was invented to cull the Hurd and its working, less people on social security , so glad I did not get the vaccine shot
S. Wabbit
December 16, 2023 at 9:45 am
You kwazy.
Rick Whitaker
December 16, 2023 at 9:59 am
the truth (lie), you need cut from the herd for not getting the vaccine. potentially spreading the disease is a deplorable act. you sound like a maga cultist that is sub-par intellectually. btw you spelled herd wrong.
Michael roberts
December 16, 2023 at 3:26 pm
who in your little world invented covid ?
Beth
December 18, 2023 at 5:50 pm
You are so correct I’ll be dying at an earlier age from the heart attack I had after the vaccine. If covid didn’t get you the vaccine will
Sonja Fitch
December 16, 2023 at 3:54 am
Good god almighty stop this pervert !
Dangerous Florida Chri$tians
December 16, 2023 at 4:02 am
“Now I’m DR RON DESTOOPID!”
My Take
December 16, 2023 at 9:55 am
Hitler had a very similar outlook on expenses for the no longer procuctive. He solved it with hypodermic needles in nursing homes.
Biscuit
December 16, 2023 at 10:08 am
NewsToot from the campaign trail: Ron DeSantis, living free in the “Live Free or Die” state of New Hampshire, delighted a crowd when he suddenly belted out the lyrics of Monty Python’s “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.”
While his staffers backed him with a spirited humming-along, DeSantis occasionally broke from the original lyrics to interject, “It’s death, you see!” and “That’s the bright side!”
At song’s end, his enthusiastic crowd deflated noticeably when he recapped, in his usual voice, by saying, “You see, the truth is, you live free, and then you die. It’s not like one or the other. It’s not like you really have a choice…”
By the time he finished explaining the positive impact of this logic on Social Security, they had all gone home.
Arf.
Dont Say FLA
December 16, 2023 at 10:26 am
NH presents motto “Live Free or Die.”
Rhonda, lacking sociability, says “I choose Die”
Flash Light
December 16, 2023 at 6:13 pm
“Bring out your dead”
My Take
December 16, 2023 at 7:10 pm
We could call the mass graves TRUMP TRENCHES, DESSANTIS DITÇHES.
Dont Say FLA
December 16, 2023 at 10:25 am
Finally! Finally somebody in the GOP admits to the goal of the GOP’s COVID-19 strategy
WGD
December 16, 2023 at 10:27 am
We have entered the phase where DeSantis is not even trying anymore. No serious candidate would say such blatantly stupid things.
Homer Simpson
December 16, 2023 at 12:34 pm
And it’s no coincidence that red states lead the nation in declining life expectancy. https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/interactive/2023/republican-politics-south-midwest-life-expectancy/
Cheryl
December 16, 2023 at 1:16 pm
Down here in Florida our Governor believes in Darwin’s theory. So only a select few reap prosperity, decent health care, and stress free lives. The rest of us are just trying to survive this Governor.
Kathryn A
December 16, 2023 at 3:09 pm
So sadly true!!
Andrea
December 16, 2023 at 5:56 pm
NAILED IT!
My Take
December 16, 2023 at 7:16 pm
Commoner life in DeSSanistan — “nasty, brutish, and short.” (Hobbes)
george
December 16, 2023 at 5:39 pm
Wow it takes a big man to admit that making old people die sooner than they might have is a good thing. At least he owns up to the fact that he belongs to the party that hates social security Medicaid and Medicare and has been doing everything it possibly can to make it disappear since it’s inception. Since the 1800s post civil war they finally got what they wanted with citizens united which is giving corporations the same rights as actual human beings. Just goes to show if you wait long enough and don’t pay attention and don’t hold reckless politicians accountable they can have bragging rights about paying as little in taxes and therefore social services as possible. Remember folks keep voting for The DeSantis and magna guys vote against your own self-interest because God knows we don’t want to be a bunch of them socialist call me anarchist SOB’s do we and don’t forget when you get that social security check or you get sick when you’re on Medicare or Medicaid make sure you don’t go to the hospital and don’t cash those checks because that’s that damn socialism again. Have a nice life in Stupidville.
Michael roberts
December 16, 2023 at 6:57 pm
this whole state….floriduh. is very Monte Python. A comedy writer heaven
Taint
December 16, 2023 at 7:05 pm
“entitlements”, why not decline your Florida pension after leaving office governor? And at retirement age, leave that “entitlement” for others…but we already know you disdain marginal folks.
What a clown..
Comments are closed.