Ned Barnett lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, meaning he resides in one of the seven swing states that Donald Trump swept in the 2024 presidential election. LIke a majority of voters on Election Day, Barnett is primarily concerned about economic issues like inflation. That is why he cast his ballot for Trump; he explained that he has simply suffered too much from the rising prices under President Joe Biden’s economy.

“When I heard [Vice President] Kamala [Harris] on the View saying she wouldn't change a thing, I knew I couldn't survive four more years of Bidenomics,” Barnett explained. In one sense, Barnett’s experience is consistent with the polls, which found American voters primarily concerned with economic issues like inflation. Yet Barnett also brings up an economic issue that was not widely discussed during the campaign: Social Security.

Barnett is fearful that Trump’s plans for Social Security will deprive him of the little money he has left to survive. According to experts who spoke with Salon — both about the agency’s long-term solvency and about why it is essential to public health — Barnett and the millions of other Social Security beneficiaries like him are correct to keep a close eye on the program.

Related

“My wife and I depend on Social Security — it is our lifeline to the future,” Barnett said. The couple was “wiped out” during the economic crash that began in 2008; Barnett’s wife lost her half-million dollar retirement fund in nine days in 2009, and the spouses later filed for bankruptcy in 2011-12. Like many hardworking Americans, Barnett gradually rebuilt his finances, thriving in the mid-to-late 2010s by ghostwriting and performing consulting work. Yet the two depended on Social Security to survive, as it bridged the gap between Barnett’s income and what they needed to survive.

Then came the high inflation of the post-COVID economy. Now the Barnetts cannot afford to fix their car or use Uber more than sparingly, leaving them effectively housebound. Barnett’s consulting and ghostwriting services “dried up with so much of the rest of the economy,” with the pair relying on charity and programs like Meals on Wheels, as well as plenty of oatmeal.

"We know very little for sure about what will happen to FICA and Social Security taxes."

“We are hopefully optimistic that the economy will turn around, but until it does, Social Security is all that's keeping us (barely) afloat,” Barnett said.

The Social Security program, as it exists in the United States, was created in 1935 under President Franklin D. Roosevelt as part of his liberal New Deal policy package. Over nearly nine decades it has been considerably amended, and today it guarantees that U.S. citizens who have worked and paid Social Security taxes for at least 10 years will receive financial support if they are disabled or become a senior citizen (defined in this context as 62 years old). The program is funded primarily through payroll taxes called the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) or Self Employed Contributions Act (SECA), and as of 2022 provided essential support for more than 70 million Americans.

Trump’s 2025 agenda has some people concerned that Social Security will be targeted. He plans to cut trillions from the federal budget, — a speculation bolstered by evidence in March when he told CNBC that “there is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements, in terms of cutting and in terms of also the theft and the bad management of entitlements. There's tremendous amounts of things and numbers of things you can do.”

While Trump later backpedaled by claiming he was only referring to “waste,” his subsequent tax cut proposals raise the specter of defunding the program, with there being no evidence to support Trump’s assertion that the difference could be made up through high tariffs. Such tariffs would in turn force Social Security recipients to make cost-of-living adjustments. Even the Trump campaign’s promises — such as pledging to cut all taxes levied on Social Security income — come with the risk that doing so would likely further deplete the Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI) fund. Finally, the Social........

© Salon