Alright, this is going through my mind and I don't know the answers. Maybe some of you will have studied this issue more and have some practical answers. Now that our country is well under way to immigration enforcement, there are some other big issues looming.

Prospective Health and Human Services Secretary, Tom Price, seems to think some changes will be needed in Social Security. The most common estimates I have read project a shortfall by 2034, of about 20 percent. However, does this account for the accelerating PERCENTAGE of Americans who would be on it, by then, due to people living much longer but the retirement age not increasing by the same ratio? In other words there could be a bigger shortfall in the SS program, other than the projected 21 percent.

Sen. Ron Wyden grilled Price on his investment acumen---something which I think would not be relevant in this case. Nonetheless who would really want to cut Social Security? Talk about a self defeating policy.

OTOH, there is Medicaid, something which no one figured would become such a huge dependency. In the 1970's virtually anyone could find a job in America, except the severely disabled.

Mick Mulvaney, testifying as OMB nominee, also worried that both Social Security and Medicare would face budget challenges.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics...curity/514298/

Questions I would ask:
1. What about going after fraud and waste? I have read that there is around $50 billion annual Medicare fraud. What would it cost to stop that?
2. What about raising the Social Security contribution ceiling? If the US economy is revived under Trump won't there be a larger percentage of higher incomes, also?
3. And if there is economic recovery can Medicaid assistance be replaced with something else? It seems like less people should be on it (Note: I have, or have had, some severely disabled family members. One was an SSI recipient, due to muscular dystrophy. $35/mo, back in the day)
4. What about the IRS tax gap? There is lots of talk about the US deficit (although not so much correlating it and the entitlements deficit). The federal uncollected income tax deficit is now $500 billion per year. I know this would pay for something.