Posted on Friday, November 8, 2024
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by Shane Harris
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Every group of Americans has been hard-hit by the soaring inflation and economic malaise of the Biden-Harris years – and thus has reason to celebrate Donald Trump’s re-election victory. But one segment of the population that can breathe a particularly heavy sigh of relief is American seniors.
The annual inflation rate during Biden’s term has averaged around 5.2 percent (compared to 1.9 percent during Trump’s first term), affecting the purchasing power of seniors on fixed incomes as Social Security cost of living adjustments (COLA) have consistently lagged inflation rates. In 2022, when inflation was at its worst, the Senior Citizens League estimates that COLA increases fell short of inflation by an average of 46 percent per month.
As prices have risen, many older Americans have found themselves cutting back on both discretionary and basic expenses, with retirement savings losing real value to inflation. Half of older Americans under Biden have said that they dipped into emergency savings to make ends meet. 25 percent of older Americans have also delayed retirement due to inflation.
In addition, Biden’s theft of Medicare funds to bankroll Green New Deal policies has left seniors paying higher premiums, forcing households to cut back elsewhere to afford essential medical care. Under Biden, seniors saw the largest ever Medicare Part B premium increase, while the average monthly Part D premium has increased 21 percent over the past year. Despite promising to never cut Medicare, Biden also cut base payments for Medicare Advantage plans, leading to more increased costs.
If Harris had won this year, American seniors could’ve been in for even more financial hardship. The vice president’s economic plan was estimated to have cost at least $1.7 trillion – leading to more spiraling inflation that would’ve once again hit seniors the hardest. Harris’s plans for tax increases, including on capital gains, would’ve likewise pushed retirement out of reach for countless older Americans.
Additionally, as AMAC CEO Rebecca Weber warned, Harris’s plan to grant mass amnesty to 10-20 million illegal aliens would have bankrupted Medicare and Social Security overnight, depriving seniors of the benefits they have earned.
Trump’s victory offers the hope of a much brighter future. Along with ensuring that illegal aliens do not drain Social Security and Medicare funds, the 45th and soon-to-be 47th president has promised to save those programs from looming insolvency by cutting spending elsewhere in the government and diverting those savings to entitlements.
“While we absolutely need to stop Biden’s out-of-control spending, the pain should be borne by Washington bureaucrats, not by hardworking American families and American seniors,” Trump said in a policy video last year. “The seniors have been absolutely destroyed over the last two years.”
Trump has proposed further boosting seniors’ benefits by eliminating taxes on Social Security income. In total this year, the 67 million households that receive Social Security checks will pay about $94 billion in taxes on them. Putting that money back in the pockets of seniors would be a huge and immediate relief.
Trump’s policy agenda also promises to lower inflation – specifically through, as he says, “unleashing American energy.” This will be a welcome development for seniors, along with the rest of the country. Energy prices have soared an astonishing 72 percent under Biden, and were expected to more than double in some parts of the country next year.
As Trump astutely recognizes, along with reigning in government spending, bringing down the cost of energy is the most effective and immediate way to lower prices. When the cost of fuel and electricity goes up or down, so does the cost of everything else.
To create an American energy boom, Trump has pledged to “rescind every one of Joe Biden’s industry-killing, jobs-killing, pro-China and anti-American electricity regulations” on day one of his presidency. He has also promised to speed up approvals of drilling permits and open up more federal lands for oil and gas exploration. The goal, Trump has repeatedly said, is for America to have “the number one lowest cost energy and electricity in the world.”
In addition, Trump has promised to reduce government spending, the other major driver of inflation. One of his most innovative proposals is the restoration of the executive branch impoundment authority, which allows the president to return unused funds to the general treasury. Congress severely limited the impoundment power in 1974, but Trump hopes to restore it, either through legislation or legal proceedings, in order to “squeeze the bloated federal bureaucracy for massive savings.”
Another important Trump agenda item for seniors will be the extension of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which sunsets in 2025. That bill reduced taxes for almost all Americans, but in particular lower- and middle-class households. While Harris planned to let those tax cuts expire, Trump has promised to not only extend but expand the law’s provisions.
The Trump economy prior to the COVID-19 pandemic was one of the strongest in American history, delivering record returns for seniors and younger Americans alike. If Trump’s 2024 agenda is any indication, seniors can expect more of the same over the next four years.
Shane Harris is a writer and political consultant from Southwest Ohio. You can follow him on X @shaneharris513.
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