A.G. Gancarski
Time was when Gov. Ron DeSantis was framed as someone who wanted to reform Social Security and raise the age of eligibility, but the Governor has evolved as a presidential candidate.
On Thursday in Clive, Iowa, he offered the latest evidence of that policy shift, again disclaiming interest in restricting the senior entitlement program because working class men increasingly die before deriving much benefit.
“The problem if you actually follow what’s happening in this country, is that life expectancy is declining in America, and it’s declining pretty significantly, and it has a significant impact on men who do blue collar work,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis suggested Nikki Haley would raise the age of eligibility before making the case for the status quo.
“I just feel like if people are breaking their back, working hard labor throughout their life, to provide for their family getting taxed and then put them in a position given the demographic trends where they would not really receive very much benefit at all. You know, I don’t think that’s fair.”
DeSantis has made similar comments, such as in December in New Hampshire.
“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 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.”
“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.
Domestic life expectancy is just over 76 years on average, which was where it was in the last decade of the 20th century.
4 comments
MH/Duuuval
January 11, 2024 at 10:35 pm
Implicit here is affirmative action for white men by lowering the age for receiving Social Security and Medicare.
1
January 12, 2024 at 2:41 am
Yes Ronald, you just keep on bending with the wind as you do – as long as it’s blowing a nice cool breeze in *your* direction, right? And BTW – “the *federal* government administration HAS been honest with its pronouncements regarding public health statistics – very much *unlike* YOUR government administration. Between your constantly changing self- serving falsehoods, your refusal to speak articulately in spite of your elitist education that taught you HOW to speak articulately simply because you believe that speaking the way you do (talking down to people rather than up) will magically get you more votes, and your being unable to actually look people in the eye when speaking to them, it’s no wonder your campaign is seriously in the toilet. The *only* circumstance under which you have even the *slightest* chance of winning the Republican nomination is if Trump either drops dead or winds up in prison, and even then if she makes no more mistakes between now and then Haley would have a greater chance of winning it than you would. My advice: show some respect for both the public and yourself by dropping out of the race, serving out the remainder of your term as Governor the best you can with genuine grace and humility, then saying bye-bye to politics and work out a new, legitimate career for yourself.
Fully Florida Fully Wrong
January 12, 2024 at 12:09 pm
Thank you Charles Darwin for the C19 and the vaccine.
Dont Say FLA
January 12, 2024 at 6:33 pm
Who ever said Capitalism was fair?
It’s full of winners and losers.
Why is Rhonda now trying to make winners out of people who spent their lives losing?
Is this a blatant attempt at getting MAGA votes? YEP!
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