re: Would you vote for a candidate who ran on a “major cutbacks to lower deficit” platform?

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had the federal government kept their dick beaters off of the money in Social Security, it wouldn't be expected to be insolvent in 2030.

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It's amazing how wrong you are on so many different topics.

Social security is still taking in more money every year in their share of FICA and self-employment taxes, then they are paying out in benefits. Every year, the excess just piles up in an account.

At various times over the years, rather than going out in the market and issuing bonds for general fund spending, the government has instead used the money in the trust funds, replacing it with a special purpose bond. Those bonds earn interest. In the future, when social security benefit payments exceed current share of dedicated revenue, the trust fund will redeem those bonds. Likely, the government will essentially pay off the bonds by selling new bonds in the market.

That money wasn't taken or stolen or anything. The value is still there, just instead of sitting in cash, it's sitting in bonds which are earning interest.

At some point in the future, social security and medicare will be insolvent because those accounts will pay out, in total, more money than they have taken in.

Some people will never receive the value in benefits that equals what they and their employers have paid in, but other people will receive much, much more.