Introduction:
Solvency Is Strength
America’s greatness is built on strength — not just military might or economic power, but the strength to honor promises, sustain stability, and shape a free and prosperous world. That strength is under siege, not from without, but from within: by the ticking clock of unsustainable federal debt.
Politicians have been convincing us for decades that we can have our cake and eat it too because it gets them elected and they think we are that gullible. Pay less taxes, spend more for social programs, get more benefits from the government… and no one has to pay for it. We keep hearing slogans like “healthcare is our right”. Well every right to one of us comes with an obligation on another, unless we kick the can to another election cycle and pretend all is well. The day of reckoning will come, and it will be ugly. We will not know what hit us and our media and pundits will waste our time pretending they are trying to figure out what went wrong. Well it’s obvious, you can’t keep spending what you don’t have. A Ponzi scheme is destined to crash, and it’s the guys on the bottom like us who will be crushed.
If we do not act, the cost will be devastating:
The world will lose trust in the dollar. Our military deterrence and global influence will erode. Inflation will return — slowly or suddenly. And the programs our elderly depend on — Social Security and Medicare — will collapse under the weight of unmet promises. We will end up with 70% taxes and insane measures to try and fix the damage, but it will be too late.
But if we act with courage, wisdom, and discipline, we can restore fiscal balance, preserve the safety net, and pass on a nation stronger than the one we inherited.
This is not austerity.
This is clarity.
This is a Grand Deal — not built on giveaways and delusions of invincibility, but on truth, trust, and trade-offs.
The Moral and Strategic Foundation
1. The Federal Government Must Remain Solvent to Survive
The federal government has a constitutional purpose:
– National defense.
– Foreign diplomacy.
– Upholding individual rights.
– Protecting commerce and borders.
It provides the framework for us to operate freely, innovate, produce and pursue our happiness.
Everything else — including many welfare programs — is optional. The dollar’s value, our military dominance, and global leadership depend on one thing: a stable, solvent government. Without solvency, nothing else survives.
2. We Must Honor Promises to Those Who Paid Their Dues
Social Security and Medicare are not handouts. They are contracts. Millions of Americans paid into these programs for decades, trusting their government to honor its end of the bargain.
Defaulting on those promises — whether by inflation, collapse, or stealth cuts — would be a national betrayal.
We must keep our commitments — fully and with dignity — to every person who earned their benefits under the law.
The Blueprint: Reform Rooted in Truth
We must prioritize, not abandon. We must preserve, not expand.
Here’s what that looks like — step by step, each measure grounded in reason and moral clarity.
I. Raise the Retirement Age to 73 — Fast
The hard truth: Social Security and Medicare were designed in a different world.
When these programs were launched:
– Social Security (1935): Full retirement at age 65… Life expectancy at age 65? 77 years That’s 12 years of expected benefits.
– Today (2025): Life expectancy at 65 is 84.5 years That’s 20 years of expected benefits — nearly double the original cost.
We are paying for a 12-year promise with 20 years of spending.
No math can sustain that.
And here’s the better news: 65 is no longer old.
Medical advances mean people in their 60s and early 70s are often at their healthiest, sharpest, most productive stage of life. They have earned valuable experience and still healthy and powerful enough to use it.
Raising the retirement age to 73, immediately and fully, reflects:
Longer life, Better health and Stronger economic participation.
This is not a burden. This is liberation from outdated assumptions.
II. Increase Payroll Taxes by 4% (2% Employer + 2% Employee)
This is simple math: if we want to preserve Social Security and Medicare, everyone must contribute a little more.
Today’s payroll tax is 12.4% (split evenly).
Raising it to 16.4%:
– Aligns us with other developed countries.
– Closes up to 80% of the Social Security funding gap.
– Does so without touching promised benefits.
It’s not punitive. It’s honest. And it’s better than robbing our children with invisible debt.
III. Enforce an Estate Tax on Large Fortunes — No Loopholes
The estate tax was created to prevent dynastic wealth from escaping all taxation. But today, it’s a shadow of itself:
Only 0.1% of estates pay it! Trusts, GRATs, and shell structures let billionaires escape billions in tax.
Whenever money changes hands in our society, it is taxed, and everyone seems to be fine with that… except when inherited from billionaires everyone complains. Our country was built on individual merit, not family lineages of lords and kings.
I propose:
40% tax on estates > $5 million Close all loopholes (trusts, GRATs, valuation gimmicks)
Estimated revenue: $75–100 billion/year
This isn’t about punishing wealth — it’s about keeping the tax code honest.
IV. Cap Medicare Spending After Age 85
The most heartbreaking and unsustainable spending in America happens in hospitals, in the final months of life:
One-third of all Medicare spending is in the last year of life Often to extend agony, not life.
I propose:
A generous annual cap of $35,000/person after age 85 still allows excellent care, but stops heroic, painful, and ineffective spending.
We aren’t choosing death. We’re choosing dignity — and using those resources to save thousands more lives where medicine can truly help.
V. Return Medicaid to the States
Medicaid was not part of the original social contract. It was created in 1965, and expanded far beyond its purpose:
Over $600 billion/year in federal spending to fund free healthcare for able-bodied adults, non-working recipients, and addiction cycles with no accountability.
I propose two pathways:
Option A: Reform Medicaid
– Enforce work requirements for all able-bodied adults under 73.
– Require drug testing and compliance after 1 year of addiction treatment.
– Add a copayment structure like ALL other insurance: paying ZERO out of pocket encourages extremely unnecessary utilization. If covered individuals had to come up with some money to get care (no matter now much it is), it would stop them from seeking expensive unnecessary care.
Estimated savings: $85–100 billion/year
Option B: Return Medicaid to States
Let communities decide how to care for the vulnerable. Remove all federal funding obligations. Local communities and states know best how to care for their vulnerable, and they have to do it with fiscal discipline as they cannot print and borrow unlimited money like the federal government.
Estimated long-term savings: $15 trillion.
The federal government should prioritize its constitutional duties — and leave social support decisions to the states and their voters.
The Result: Deficit Elimination, National Renewal
Below is the federal deficit trajectory under each reform scenario — individually and in full combination.
Conclusion: A New American Contract
We are not proposing austerity.
We are not cutting benefits for the elderly.
We are not abandoning the vulnerable.
We are:
– Keeping promises to those who paid their dues.
– Asking the able to contribute.
– Choosing dignity at the end of life.
– Returning community care to communities.
– Preserving American solvency for our children.
This is how we restore trust, prosperity, and unity.
This is how we become worthy of our past — and ready for the future.
Share this. Debate it. Advance it.
Let the next chapter of the American story be one of renewed courage, moral clarity, and fiscal strength.
Free Thinking 