And please try not to depress us too much going into the weekend, okay?

Oh, I won't depress you too much.

Thank you for having me, Mary.

I mean, I wouldn't say that Social Security isn't going to be there for us.

I'm going to say that Social Security isn't going to be able to pay you what they promised you.

And that's really what's going on here.

The... trust fund will no longer be able to pay full benefits, but social security is the government works on a cashflow basis, right? It's money in it's money out.

So what's the incentive then when people know that to work hard, right? Aren't you, you're telling people don't work hard?

And please try not to depress us too much going into the weekend, okay?

Oh, I won't depress you too much.

Thank you for having me, Mary.

I mean, I wouldn't say that Social Security isn't going to be there for us.

I'm going to say that Social Security isn't going to be able to pay you what they promised you.

And that's really what's going on here.

The... trust fund will no longer be able to pay full benefits, but social security is the government works on a cashflow basis, right? It's money in it's money out.

So what's the incentive then when people know that to work hard, right? Aren't you, you're telling people don't work hard?

What do you have to say about that?

Yeah, I think the first place we need to look for there is in SNAP, the food stamps program.

Essentially, in food stamps, if you say this is your income, They got to believe you.

They can't hold your benefit until they check.

And states are not required to actually run you against a database of people who are working and who have jobs and what their income is.

They don't have to do that.

So they don't.

What do you have to say there?

What do you have to say about that?

Yeah, I think the first place we need to look for there is in SNAP, the food stamps program.

Essentially, in food stamps, if you say this is your income, They got to believe you.

They can't hold your benefit until they check.

And states are not required to actually run you against a database of people who are working and who have jobs and what their income is.

They don't have to do that.

So they don't.

What do you have to say there?

So can you talk about some of the spending reforms that would make the cost of living more affordable, or at least that be the goal?

Yeah.

Well, I would say some of the most immediate changes you would see would come from our healthcare transparency provisions.

Uh, currently, if you shop and you find a provider who will give you, like, an MRI for a different price or a lower price than what you may be able to get it through your insurance company, the insurer takes the money, and you don't get any reward for actually doing anything to reduce the costs of your care.

Well, we're proposing that you be able to get that difference tax-free, and that it, if you want, you can put it into your health savings account so that you have money for later.

Similarly, employers right now don't see what they're paying for their employees' individual, uh, services.

So they should be able to negotiate better prices for their, their employees, and those things should bring down the cost of, of health insurance.

Mm-hmm.