Just a little background first. Due to the large numbers of Baby Boomers who are retiring and drawing their Social Security and Medicare benefits, Social Security will start running out of money in 2034 and Medicare in 2028.
Language is important. This statement is framed in the language of our oppressors and I can't let it go without correction, despite your good intentions.
The US dollar is "SELF-FUNDING" when it is created by Congress. All of the false econ surrounding federal spending and the need to "pay for" everything the federal government spends on is rooted in denying this unique property of a sovereign "CURRENCY ISSUER", conflating it with currency users, such as individuals, states, or any entity that isn't the federal government.
This means the federal government cannot go broke, even in the absence of "revenue" (an oxymoron meant to deceive regular morons). By extension, this also applies to any program the federal government implements and supports with legislation. Social Security cannot go broke.
FDR implemented a 1% tax dedicated to the program, but only to assure beneficiaries of a "legal" claim to their benefits. He knew the length that Republicans would go to in order to destroy the program, as they have proven over our history since. Like any other federal tax, the tax does nothing to "fund" anything and only reduces the spending power of those paying the tax in the present.
This makes the Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes the most regressive in history, applying only to wage earners below the threshhold established. Both should be abandoned and the funding of both programs set in concrete legislation that would be difficult for opponents to reduce without drawing the ire of voters. Programs are very popular with voters. Taxes, not so much, so why raise them when nothing is gained by it.
The Democrats can raise the debt ceiling and protect entitlement programs. They just don’t want to.
Democrats aren't immune to the attraction of dollars from donors. Only the interests of their donors separate them from Republicans in this. Anyone who understands federal finance, as our representatives should be required to, knows that the debt ceiling is not relevant and that it will always be increased as needed. It, like the taxes purported to "fund" dedicated programs, should be eliminated.
They are subterfuge meant to imply that any benefit of government to the people has a "cost" that must be paid by the taxpayer. Our (federal) government never "needs" our money. It does, however, need us to need the money only it can create on demand, which is the primary purpose of taxation. Controlling the money supply is secondary and this is also the function of bonds/Treasury debt. "Funding" is never a purpose of either as the money must be first created and spent into the private sector before it can be collected or borrowed.
