Yes, yes, a Caturday felid post is coming. . .
In this week’s “Real Time” segment, Bill Maher, pointing to the unrest in France, dons his curmudgeon’s mantle to discuss socialism—or rather, the socialism of the aged, and that includes both French and Americans. He explains why socialism is so popular with the young: “They see the government paying older folks to sit around all day and they say, ‘Hey! Where’s my monthly check for doing dick?’.” In other words, American young are socialists because older people have it (Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid) but the youngsters don’t. As Maher says, “If you’re a senior citizen, you’re already living like Mamdani is President.” Where are my subsidized groceries and free public transportation?
But Maher adds that both France and America are overpaying the elderly, redistributing income to a group of senior citizens that was much smaller in 1940 than now. On the other hand, far more young people are now living with their parents, claiming a portion of that redistributed income.
The solution is curmudgeonly: we need to put more money back into circulation by stopping paying “moochers” who get money by, says Maher, claiming disabilities. This kind of mooching is, he says, rife in the U.K. and making its way to the U.S. Of course not all of that is “mooching”, as there are lots of people who can’t work or can’t find jobs, but Maher argues that many of those who claim mental disabilities are just defeated by “what we call ‘Life’.”
The panelists you see are: Steve Hilton (author and Republican candidate for California’s Governor) and Andy Beshear, Democratic Governor of Kentucky. Not shown is the panelist, former White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, and I can’t find the discussion with her. However, both Variety and The Daily Beast have attacked Maher for cozying up to and “fawning” over Leavitt, though in an earlier show he “brutally humiliated” her.
This is a bit more ranty than most of Maher’s bits, and his solution to the problem seems poorly formulated, though we’re gonna have to do something when Social Security runs out of dough in six years.
I think the real problem is that people like Maher don’t seem to be able to explain how our government works. Medicare is not universal healthcare, Social Security is not universal basic income (I say that as I try to decide if I can retire at 67 or have to wait until I am 70, in order to get back a fraction of the money I’ve paid in for the last fifty three years).