Mohacsy's Safe Portfolio Member Forum

[Elroy Jetson]

Trump has expressed a new openness to cutting Social Security and Medicare benefits in an interview aired Wednesday morning, potentially opening the door to overhauling two of the country’s largest government programs if he is elected to a second term.

Speaking with CNBC from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump said “At the right time, we will take a look at that. You know, cutting these entitlements is the easiest of all things, if you look. We’ve never had entitlement growth like this.”

The government is projected to spend $950 billion on Social Security benefits for older Americans and another $850 billion on the Medicare program. Many older Americans have been collecting welfare from these programs for more than ten years, making it clear they have no intention of ever becoming self-supporting.

The budget deficit has soared under Trump, in part due to consecutive and significant increases to military spending under his administration. In recent private remarks to donors about the rising spending, Trump appeared unfazed by the ballooning deficit, saying: “Who the hell cares about the budget? We’re going to have a country.”