Robert Reich

Many conservatives have hated Social Security and Medicare since their founding.

Some called FDR a "socialist" for passing Social Security. Same for LBJ after passing Medicare.

Not original, but consistent.

So when they say cuts are β€œoff the table” now, do you believe them?

Feb 15, 2023 at 12:42amWeb
Show threadLeanneFeb 15, 2023
@rbreich
No, I don't believe them.
Show threadMike Meadway πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ πŸ‡©πŸ‡° πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§Feb 15, 2023
@rbreich
"Socialism is a scare word they have hurled at every advance the people have made in the last 20 years. Socialism is what they called public power. Socialism is what they called Social Security. Socialism is what they called farm price supports. Socialism is what they called bank deposit insurance. Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations. Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people." -- Harry Truman
Show threadChristopher FailleFeb 15, 2023
Really? You are joining with Truman and Reich is supporting "farm price supports" as an example of a good idea wrongly stigmatized as socialist? Nowadays (though admittedly not in Truman's day) this has meant requiring that ethanol be mixed in gasoline, supporting corn farmers. Is there nothing to be said against a policy where we literally BURN FOODSTUFF in our cars? If we dare speak against such things, aren't we speaking (rightly) against socialism without quotation marks?
Show threadπŸ’‘πš‚π—†π–Ίπ—‹π—π—†π–Ίπ—‡ π™°π—‰π—‰π—ŒπŸ“±Feb 15, 2023
@mmeadway @rbreich
Show thread***Dave Hill πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡ΈπŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦πŸ‡¨πŸ‡¦πŸ‡¬πŸ‡±πŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆπŸ³οΈβ€βš§οΈFeb 15, 2023

@mmeadway @rbreich

Speech, Syracuse, New York (10 Oct 1952). https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/public-papers/289/rear-platform-and-other-informal-remarks-new-york https://wist.info/truman-harry-s/39540/

Show threadSteven MolnarFeb 15, 2023
@rbreich As I recall, Eisenhower realized that the train had already left the station, and it was political suicide to oppose Social Security. I never thought I would live to see the day when Eisenhower could be called a progressive.
Show threadSteven MolnarFeb 15, 2023
@rbreich Adding, it's still political suicide to oppose Social Security, so the modern Republican strategy is to destroy it while claiming to be saving it. Maybe they learned that trick from Lyndon Johnson.
Show threadπŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ haxadecimal πŸš«πŸ‘‘Feb 15, 2023
@rbreich The same ones who sad Roe v. Wade was "settled law." Yeah, the conservatives are perfectly credible.
Show threadDopeGhotiFeb 15, 2023
@rbreich
Do I believe them? Absolutely. They'll just go back to trying to sneak the cuts through under the table rather than on it.
Show threadPatty Bluebird 🦩Feb 15, 2023
@rbreich Nope.
Show threadClara ListensprechenFeb 15, 2023
@rbreich Of course Eisenhower fits today's definition of "progressive" because that's when the GOP was still the party of Lincoln, well before the Dixiecrats did the White Flight thing as the result of LBJ signing Civil Rights laws into law...as in, well before 1964/1965. Dixiecrats have no business comandeering either major party.
Show threadFishMom2022Feb 15, 2023
@rbreich oh hell no I think they lie like we breathe. Unconsciously.
Show threadAlchemistFeb 15, 2023
@rbreich Absolutely NOT!
Show threadNumbCat9 πŸ’œs trans folx πŸ³οΈβ€βš§οΈFeb 15, 2023
@rbreich they’re social democracy which is in fact a form of socialism. it’s just that socialism of that flavor - social democracy - isn’t a bad way to run a government, unless you’re an American and can’t admit that two of our most beloved social programs are in fact socialist and they do in fact work. because the fascists had a big win back in the 1940s to present via making it impossible to publicly discuss socialism.
Show threadYurkshireLadFeb 15, 2023
@rbreich yet so many of their supporters spend on social security... #ironic
Show threadBadger AF (he/him) DEMOCRACYFeb 15, 2023

@rbreich 62 years ago, Ronald Reagan dropped this track...

https://the-rotation.com/a-record-from-ronnie-how-an-anti-medicare-vinyl-gave-a-future-president-his-political-start-and-changed-american-health-care-forever/

Twenty Years Before Sweeping Health Funding Cuts, An Anti-Medicare Vinyl Gave President Reagan His Political Start

Twenty years after recording his anti-socialized medicine vinyl, Ronald Reagan would transform American health care.

The Rotation
Show threadk cavaliereFeb 15, 2023
@rbreich Believe a "conservative"? Nope.
Show thread πŸ‡¨πŸ‡¦ Mandy Roy Feb 15, 2023
@rbreich Not for a moment. They are playing the long game like they did with Roe v. Wade.
Show threadRevJeberFeb 15, 2023
@rbreich
I don’t believe much of anything from the right.
Show threadAllen FinchumFeb 15, 2023
@rbreich NO
Show threadπŸ’‰πŸ˜·πŸŒΏπŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡³πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ΊOiselarius (he/him)Feb 15, 2023
@rbreich @PeterAperlo nope.
Show threadJohn MaxwellFeb 15, 2023
@rbreich No, but then I never do.
Show threadAlexa Fleckenstein M.D.Feb 15, 2023
@rbreich ... NOBODY ... should believe them ...
Show threadHenryFeb 15, 2023
@rbreich not at all!
Show threadDekinblusFeb 15, 2023
@rbreich
Roe v. Wade was settled law too. How many times are we going to let Lucy move the ball?
Show threadWillFeb 15, 2023
@rbreich my grandma would say FDR was the worst president of her lifetime (she was a devout Orange County Republican), but she happily accepted Medicare and social security for 1/3rd of her life. She passed at 91 having collected for way more years than she contributed.
Show threadPhil KFeb 15, 2023
@rbreich short answer: No
Show threadPablo MartiniFeb 15, 2023
@rbreich the same in the " disunited" UK! The NHS! It only happend after WW2 when several million tough battle trained killers came back and asked churchill "ARE WE GOING BACK ON THE "DOLE LINE" for hand outs?
Show threadsteve9936Feb 15, 2023
@rbreich
We all know the right has a record of deception and backstabbing. They will try to dump Social Security and Medicare at the first chance they get. I'm very concerned about the fact that every program they want to cut, they don't seem to be able to show anything to replace it with. For example, Trump's perpetual "it will be ready in two weeks" healthcare fiasco. MAGA Republicans are destroyers who have no concern for the common people.
Show threadQueen of AnxietyFeb 15, 2023
@rbreich Nope. If they were off the table, they’d up the debt ceiling. All they have left besides cuts are culture war BS, and they can’t articulate it enough to make a bill for it.
Show threadGumbyFeb 15, 2023
@rbreich I keep hearing that to β€œsave” them we have to put everything on the table. β€œEverything” doesn’t seem to include things like removing the income cap for contributions, raising the employer contribution or cracking down on 1099 abuse by employers.
Show threadstoicmikeFeb 15, 2023
@rbreich didn't they also oppose unemployment insurance?
Show threadSuFeb 15, 2023
@rbreich No. I never believe anything a rethuglican says. If their mouth is moving, they are lying.
Show threadmdhh_usa πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡ΈFeb 15, 2023

@rbreich

Not one itty bitty iota of a bit.

Show threadCyndiFeb 15, 2023
@rbreich hell no!
Show threadHanover FisteFeb 15, 2023
@rbreich nope .... Republicans lie.... I base any encounters with people on if they are a trumpie Republican and end any and all relationships if possible as I have zero trust in those people and businesses
Show threadStephen BradleyFeb 15, 2023
@rbreich at this point if one of them told me that water was wet, I’d feel compelled to verify. So no.
Show threadRustyRosFeb 15, 2023
@rbreich Not when more than half of American adults can only read at 6th grade level or lower.
Show threadChristopher FailleFeb 15, 2023

@rbreich Truman's well-known comment to this effect includes the following example: "Socialism is what they called farm price supports." I cannot join you or Truman in supporting "farm price supports" as an example of a good idea wrongly stigmatized. Nowadays this has meant requiring that ethanol be mixed in gasoline, supporting corn farmers. A policy that we BURN FOOD in our cars? If we dare speak against such things, aren't we speaking (rightly) against socialism w/o quotation marks?

0

Show threadMiLiberalFeb 16, 2023
@rbreich hell no. They lie about everything and are lying about this!
Show threadMwereyl183bFeb 16, 2023
@rbreich NO
Show threadKenFeb 18, 2023
@rbreich giving Exxon the most profitable company in history not only tax breaks but subsidies is the true definition of Socialism, spreading the wealth from the bottom to the top.