Click here to subscribe FREE to Ray Hanania's Columns
Seniors being abandoned by extremist politics on both sides
By Ray Hanania
Buried in a lot of the news over the past few weeks was the announcement that Social Security recipients will see a 20 percent cut in monthly payments by 2034, predicting the Social Security Trust Fund will “run out” by 2035.
That’s only 12 years away. What is being done? Nothing.
For those still working, government takes Social Security payments of 6.2 percent from every paycheck.
What’s happening to that money? Government is absorbing it through expenses, shortfalls and sifting of funds to cover other things like: massive salaries for members of Congress, increases pushed by politicians with large low income populations to give away money.
Our national politicians only care about one thing, to get re-elected. They depend on Senior Citizen voters, and yet they do the least for Senior Citizens. They need seniors so they can stay in office and enjoy huge salaries, massive benefits, and opportunities to profit from their clout in business and investments.
How does Nancy Pelosi go from modest income family with a degree in Political Science in 1962 candidate in 1987 when she was first elected to Congress. Her family had some money but today she is worth more than $117 million, most of that revenue coming since becoming Speaker of the House.
She’s not the only politicians who has turned your vote support into massive profits for themselves. Look at all of them. The Trumps, Clintons, Bushes and Obamas. They hate each other in public over political ideology, but they share one thing: putting themselves above everyone else.
Politicians who need your vote especially the vote of the Seniors who have a higher vote rate than most other groups in the country, are not wasting their time trying to protect your lifetime investments in Social Security.
There is no reason why the Social Security Pension fund should evaporate in 2035 when government and union pensions approved by government and politicians will continue to grow and increase as burdens on the American people.
I don’t want to see these union members or pensioners lose their money. What I want to see is the politicians pay as much or more attention on this impending crisis facing America’s Senior citizens.
There is only one way to force the national politicians to take the Social Security problem seriously. You have to vote against them. You need to make them feel the pain. You need to vote in a way that throws the political “gameboard” into the air to disrupt this faulty political system that exploits you, over taxes you, profits from your suffering and focuses only on rewarding their cronies and allies.
A lot of seniors will find themselves on the streets, eating dog food if Social Security shuts down.
The answer isn’t to come up with a new system. The answer is to recommit this country to a system that has worked for nearly 90 years.
They increase taxes on everything, except benefits for Senior Citizens. They will increase sales taxes, property taxes, income taxes and impose all kinds of fees on public services. Look at the symbolism of the massive increases that have hit the costs of annual license plate renewals, increasing nearly 50 percent in the past few years.
Government pension payments continue to increase because government always takes care of its own.
You are bombarded by tax increases and money being taken out of your income and wages. But, for some reason, you won’t see money increase to prevent the collapse of Social Security. Why? Because very few politicians retire on Social Security. They don’t need it, profiting in so many other ways.
There is a way to prevent the collapse of Social Security, but Senior Citizens need to stand up and fight. They need to push back against politicians, and stop giving their vote to people who say they support them but don’t. They have to end their “party loyalty” and instead support candidates who make Social Security their “Number One” priority.
Someone needs to start caring for Senior Citizens, instead of viewing them as a constituency with a short lifespan. We need to change the system.
Seniors should get completely free medical care.
The government should allocate more money to fully fund the Social Security Trust Fund.
The Federal Government should end the taxation of all Social Security benefits for Seniors who continue to work and earn, combined wages and social security, under $150,000 a year.
Government needs to put an affordable ceiling on prescription drugs for individuals 65 years of age or older.
You, Seniors, have the power to make this happen. But you have to stop giving away your vote.
(Ray Hanania is an award winning former Chicago City Hall reporter. A political analyst and CEO of Urban Strategies Group, Hanania’s opinion columns on mainstream issues are published in the Southwest News Newspaper Group in the Des Plaines Valley News, Southwest News-Herald, The Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers. His Middle East columns are published in the Arab News. For more information on Ray Hanania visit www.Hanania.com or email him at [email protected].)
Subscribe to Ray’s Columns
I have three eNewsletters that each focus on different topics and issues.
- The first is on Mainstream American politics, local, national and international.
- My second eNewsletter focuses on issues facing Arab Americans in Chicagoland, the Midwest and the country.
- My third eNewsletter focuses exclusively on Orland Park, a suburban community located just Southwest of Chicago, the largest city between Chicago and Joliet.
You can subscribe to one or all by using the links below:
Mainstream American Politics Columns
CLICK HERE
Arab American focused columns
CLICK HERE
All Orland Park topics
CLICK HERE
Read my Archived eNewsletters
View Mainstream eNewsletter Archive
View Arab American eNewsletter Archive
View Orland Park eNewsletter Archive
======== ===========
A Message from Ray Hanania
Subscribe to my free email eNewsletters and get my columns early before they are published.
I will also include links to my audio podcast “Ray Hanania on Politics” which expands the column topics on Chicagoland and Suburban politics.
You will also get details on where I am scheduled to speak publicly. (Always free to attend and no charge.)
Use the form below and enter your full name (or just your initials, or the community where you live), and add your email address. You will still receive an email requesting confirmation.
If for some reason the form doesn’t work for you, send me your name and email and I will add it … [email protected]
A Big Thank You for supporting my writings. Your subscription means a lot to me.
RAY HANANIA
Click here to subscribe FREE to Ray Hanania's Columns
His award winning columns can be found at www.HANANIA.COM Subscribe FREE today
Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.
Email Ray Hanania at [email protected].
Follow RayHanania at Twitter
- Ryan Statement on Budget Preparation for More Affordable Illinois Following Budget Address - February 20, 2026
- Hastings reacts to FY 27 budget proposal - February 20, 2026
- Senator Cory Booker Endorses Robin Kelly for U.S. Senate - February 20, 2026
