First off while SS and Medicare taxes go to general revenue they do so with an "I.O.U." from the government. The taxes are collected separately from income taxes. Secondly because of profligate spending by our government the SS trust fund will be depleted by 2033 if not sooner. So when you ask just what would I cut, it doesn't matter. The government's mishandling will result in at least a 22% reduction in SS benefits because at that point benefits will only be paid by payroll taxes and company matches. Thirdly, in spite of the warnings of icebergs in the water it's full speed ahead for you. It's your type who are destroying us, not my type saying watch out for icebergs. Because the overspending you advocate enables the waste, fraud, and abuse that make it so easy for your type to skim off the top.
And the American people are tired of those with their "the sky is falling" sermons and demanding cuts in federal spending while failing to identify specific areas for which cuts are to be made but at the same time have their hands stuck out demanding every single public benefit dollar they can position themselves in the most benefit wise advantageous way to collect the most while at the same time will over the life of their benefit period draw out many times more in public benefit money than they ever paid in taxes.
And when you talk about the SS/Medicare trust fund there is and I've told you this before a plan called Social Security 2100 which will place the fund on more solid footing. Since raising the retirement age is out of the question the only answer is a combination of higher payroll taxes and reformulated and lower benefits.....but the GOP wants nothing to do with it because it would serve to strengthen a program they have fought ever since it's introduction.
And Ryan's plan failed because it would have exposed health insurers to obvious losses they rightfully refused to expose themselves to.
According to the Kiplinger Letter their sources in DC are telling them that the final result in all of this from the standpoint of federal spending will be higher taxes, a sizeable reduction in the number of publicly funded federal programs with lower monthly benefits that will be harder to qualify for and the states unwilling to offset the reductions.
And guess who are the people who will be hollering the loudest?.....Why it will be the people who hollered the loudest for spending cuts when they discover that their favorite benefit program is a casualty of their own demands.