Trump’s Branding Obsession, Social Security See Nothing Do Nothing

If you’ve ever wondered whether Washington has completely lost its sense of proportion, this episode is for you. 

While America faces real challenges, some of our leaders seem far more interested in building personal legacies than solving the problems millions of Americans are actually worried about. At some point, you have to ask whether anyone in charge remembers what they’re supposed to be doing.

Then I turn to Social Security, where decades of warnings have been met with decades of delay. The clock is ticking, the math isn’t getting any better, and doing nothing has somehow become the most expensive option of all. 

It’s a conversation about leadership, responsibility, and why kicking the can down the road always comes with a bigger bill.

Senator Dick Durban has some thoughts on how to make Social Security work again.

And just when you think the week couldn’t get any stranger, Donald Trump suddenly discovers the importance of AIR… because wildfire smoke from Canada drifted across the border. 

The irony is impossible to ignore, and the political finger-pointing that followed is almost too ridiculous to believe if we weren’t watching it happen in real time.

If Social Security affects your future, if political theater has you shaking your head, or if you’re simply wondering how we’ve reached the point where branding seems more important than governing, I think you’ll enjoy this one.

Welcome… once again… to A World Gone Mad.

You can send me your opinions and comments at: WolfPackTalks@gmail.com

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Transcript

Welcome To A World Gone Mad

SPEAKER_01 0:00

This is the world on that. This is the world on that.

SPEAKER_00 0:09

From Studio 19, I'm Jeff Allen Wolf, and this is definitely a world gone mad.

The Push To Rename Penn Station

SPEAKER_00 0:15

Okay, the Associated Press reported their thinking, the administration, the Republican administration, about renaming Penn Station. Now, the Republican administration this week urged leading U.S. Senators to rename Penn Station as it undertakes a projected $8 billion redesign of the Drury underground Manhattan Transit Hub that also happens to be the busiest in the Western Hemisphere. But the U.S. Transportation Secretary, Sean Duffy, in a Wednesday letter seeking congressional funding approval for the rehab and other major transportation priorities, stopped short of saying what the Penn Station's moniker should be changed to. I imagine you're asking, is this going to be Trump Station? Duffy said last summer as officials sought bids for the project's master developer. I think that has a nice ring to it, Duffy said. Seriously, as things stand, Donald Trump's name or face now graces a bridge in Tennessee, an airport in Florida, U.S. currency, a massive three-inch commemorative gold coin, the Institute of Peace, Trump branded passports, giant fascist banners currently covering the front of several federal buildings. Let's not forget Trump gold cards, Trump accounts, Trump RX, Trump IRA.gov, and National Park Service passes. When will this end? When is it enough for Donald the delusional one to have his name plastered everywhere? Hey, you know what? I think next there should be Trump cookies. Let's call them Trump Newtons. Or breakfast cereals. Sugar, frosted, Trumps. Donald, can we say ego and insecurity with a capital I?

Social Security Shortfall And Lost Time

SPEAKER_00 2:25

Are Democrats what they need to do to solve our looming social security crisis? You know, every few years Washington rediscovers Social Security like somebody finding an old box in the attic. Hey, remember this? 70 million Americans depend on it. Then everybody holds a press conference, blames the other party, and somehow we're all supposed to be impressed because they managed to identify a problem they've known about for decades. Senator Dick Durbin wrote something this week that made me stop and pay attention. He said, We do not have a shortage of ideas. We have a lack of will. I don't know about you, but that may be the most honest sentence I've heard come out of Capitol Hill in years. This isn't an imagination problem. Nobody needs another blue ribbon commission, another task force, or another binder thick enough to stop a bullet. The ideas have been sitting there collecting dust. The only thing missing has been the courage to actually vote. Now, Durbin points out that according to the Social Security trustees, the trust fund faces a shortfall in just six years. By 2032, listen everyone who's using Social Security or is going to be on Social Security, by 2032, the program would only be able to pay about 78% of promised benefits. That's an average cut of roughly $450 a month. $450. For a lot of politicians, that's the lunch tab at a fundraiser. For millions of seniors, however, that's groceries, prescriptions, utilities, or the difference between staying in their home and wondering what gets shuts off first. Now here's where this story stops being another political debate and starts becoming a failure of basic responsibility. Senator Durbin reminds us Congress had a chance to deal with this 16 years ago through the Simpson Bowls Commission. He served on it. Was it perfect? No. But he says it would have kept Social Security sovereign for another 75 years. Instead, Congress did what Congress does best. It looked at the smoke alarm, agreed the batteries were dying, and decided somebody else could deal with it later. Apparently, procrastination has become an official governing philosophy. And now the bill gets bigger. Senator Durbin notes that if Congress had acted back in 2009, a payroll tax increase of less than 2% could have closed the gap for 75 years. Today, nearly 4.5%. Isn't that amazing? Doing nothing somehow became the expensive option. Who could have seen that coming other than literally everyone who is paying attention? One point Senator Durbin makes really deserves attention. He writes that we shouldn't sit around waiting for the perfect political moment. That's Washington's favorite fantasy. Everybody keeps waiting until they control the White House, the House, the Senate, the weather, the moon, and apparently Mercury has to be out of retrograde before they'll touch anything difficult. Meanwhile, the calendar keeps moving, whether Congress feels emotionally prepared or not. Durbin has introduced what he calls the Promise Act. The proposal wouldn't dictate one solution. It would require Congress to actually debate the different proposals in public, hold hearings, allow amendments, and vote transparently instead of cooking up another late night backroom surprise. Imagine that. Legislatures. Legislating in public. I realize that sounds almost revolutionary these days. Durbin also writes, Americans sent us to Congress not to observe problems, but to solve them. Exactly. Somewhere along the way, too many politicians decided their job was to narrate the crisis instead of fix it. We don't need elected officials standing in front of a burning building giving us a detailed description of the flames. We'd kind of prefer they pick up the damn hose. Now, whether Durban's proposal is the right answer is a debate worth having. Raise taxes, uh, adjust benefits, change the retirement age? These are legitimate disagreements, but refusing to even debate solutions because the politics are uncomfortable? That's not leadership. That's running at the clock and hoping somebody else gets blamed when the buzzer sounds. Social Security isn't a democratic issue. It isn't a Republican issue. It's an American promise. If Congress wants our trust, maybe start by keeping one of the promises millions of Americans have spent a lifetime paying into. Because if Washington can't figure out how to protect something as fundamental as Social Security after decades of warnings, then once again, welcome to a World Gone Mad. Wolfpack, how do you feel about Social Security? Do you rely on it? If it changed dramatically or went away, how much would that damage you? Send me your thoughts, Wolfpacktalks at gmail.com.

Wildfire Smoke And Selective Outrage

SPEAKER_00 8:17

Alright, finally, apparently Donald Trump has discovered air. Not just air, Canadian air. Specifically Canadian wildfire smoke. Because last week smoke from those fires drifted across parts of the Northeast and Midwest, and suddenly President Trump and Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno were absolutely furious. Now forgive me if I'm struggling to keep up here. Is this the same Donald Trump who spent years treating environmental concerns like they were a punchline? The same guy who couldn't roll back enough environmental regulations fast enough? Because now I'm supposed to believe Trump's become Captain Planet just with a red tie. Trump wants Canada to show more concern about American air quality. That's rich. It's like watching the guy who spent years taking batteries out of the smoke detector suddenly storm into the neighbor's house complaining about their barbecue grill. Look, nobody likes breathing wildfire smoke. It's miserable. But the selective outrage is what gets me. When scientists spent years warning about hotter, drier conditions, making wildfires more frequent and more intense, they were dismissed as alarmists. Now the smoke crosses the border, and suddenly it's an international emergency. That's like standing there making fun of your neighbor's house being on fire, right up until the wind carries the smoke into your own living room. And then there's the solution. What exactly is Canada supposed to do? Walk outside with six million garden hoses? Put a giant box fan on the border and point it back north into Canada? Maybe politely ask the wind to stop being so Canadian. You know what fascinates me about Washington? Everything becomes someone else's fault. Gas prices, somebody else's. Inflation, somebody else. Wildfires? Somebody else. Smoke? Definitely somebody else. Pretty soon they're going to blame Canada because the mosquitoes crossed the border without filling out customs paperwork. Senator Bernie Moreno piled on, expressing outrage over the wildfire smoke from Canada. Fine, be frustrated. Everybody was frustrated. But let's not pretend this is the first time nature has ignored political boundaries. Smoke doesn't stop at customs. Hurricanes don't check voter registration. Viruses don't ask whether you're a Republican or a Democrat. Nature has this annoying habit of refusing to watch cable news before making decisions. Here's the part I can't stop laughing about. Trump is demanding another country care more about American air quality than he has for years. That's like the guy who spent a decade telling everybody seatbelts are overrated, suddenly screaming because the Uber driver is going three miles over the speed limit. If this were satire, an editor would reject it for being too ridiculous. Come on, they'd say. Nobody would believe that plot twist. And yet, here we are. Maybe Canada should respond with a press release. We're sorry about the smoke. While we're at it, would you mind doing something about the political pollution blowing north? Fair's fair. Because if we're going to start holding countries responsible for everything that crosses the border, I suspect Canada has a few complaints of its own. Welcome once again to a world gone mad.

Support The Show And Final Words

SPEAKER_00 12:26

If you've enjoyed the podcast, found it informative, maybe got a laugh or two, then please contribute to keeping this podcast around. The link is in the episode description below if you care to help. I'm Jeff Allen Wolf. I'll be back Monday. Until then, I urge you to wolf back, remain skeptical, question everything. Please, don't lose hope. And most of all, stay alert.

SPEAKER_01 12:51

There is chaos in the world. Can't you see? And we need to stand up the bad freezer. I can love to see. This is a man.