Given his track record with the pensions in New Jersey, why anyone should trust this man any further than they can throw him when it comes to Americans' retirement security, or to weigh in on how Social Security should be handled is beyond me, but that's exactly what the viewers were treated to on ABC's This Week.
Host George Stephanopoulos asked potential GOP 2016 nominee, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie about his previous statement that we should "reform" Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and like his fellow Republican Jeb Bush, Christie explained why he didn't think raising the retirement age a few years should be a big deal, and claimed that most Americans would support it.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You're also laying down some policy markers already, particularly on Social Security. Uncalled for means-testing benefits, raising the retirement age.
Mike Huckabee, in his announcement, said those ideas are disastrous politics, disastrous for seniors.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE HUCKABEE (R-AK), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: As president, I promise you will get what you paid for. Because how can anyone ever trust government again if they steal from us and lie to us?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHANOPOULOS: What's your response?
CHRISTIE: The stealing and the lying already happen. And...
STEPHANOPOULOS: Where?
CHRISTIE: -- what -- well, all throughout the system. You know, this idea that Al Gore talked about 15 years ago of a lockbox. That's not true. And the fact is that 71 percent of federal expenditures now in the budget are on entitlement programs.
And so what I'd say to Governor Huckabee or anybody else that takes that position is, which of the other two alternatives are you for?
Insolvency or a massive tax increase on the American people?
We need to have reform of these programs. And the kind of reforms I'm talking about, George, are not going to stop the world from spinning on its axis. You know, raising the retirement age two years and phasing it in over the next 25? Or saying the folks...
STEPHANOPOULOS: For people who do blue collar work, that can be tough.
CHRISTIE: Over 25 years, George? You know, with the advances we've had both in the quality of life and the length of life, that's not a lot.
And secondly, we're talking about means testing for people who have over $200,000 in retirement income -- retirement income. For them to say you don't really need to take a Social Security check, to make sure that it's there to ensure that no elderly in our country grow old in poverty, I think that's the kind of thing the American people will support.
Yeah, good luck with that. The GOP's new campaign motto... work until you drop dead you lazy moochers. As Stephanopolous pointed out, a couple of years to someone doing physical labor is a big deal if you're going to cut their benefits because they need to retire before their full benefits kick in, and you keep raising that age.
You know what is popular with the American people Chris Christie? Expanding Social Security, not cutting it. We know who he's looking out for, and it's not American workers. It's his wealthy campaign contributors and Wall Street.
