Conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro unloaded on President Joe Biden and his “depraved” economic policies while also calling out the “insane” age for retirement.
“It’s insane that we haven’t raised the retirement age in the United States. It’s totally crazy!” the Daily Wire editor and host of “The Ben Shapiro Show” said in a scathing monologue on Monday.
Joe Biden wants to spend $7.3 trillion, more spending than any time in human history – while effectively cutting our military. This is depraved economic policy designed to buy votes.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) March 12, 2024
“Joe Biden, if that were the case, Joe Biden should not be running for president. OK? Joe Biden is 81 years old. The retirement age in the United States, at which you start to receive Social Security and you are eligible for Medicare, is 65. Joe Biden has technically been eligible for Social Security and Medicare for 16 years, and he wants to continue in office until he is 86, which is 19 years past when he would be eligible for retirement,” Shapiro continued.
“No one in the United States should be retiring at 65 years old. Frankly, I think retirement itself is a stupid idea unless you have some sort of health problem,” said the 40-year-old.
Ben Shapiro: “No one in the United States should be retiring at 65 years old. Frankly, I think retirement itself is a stupid idea unless you have some sort of health problem.” pic.twitter.com/ckShBXjauq
— Jason S. Campbell (@JasonSCampbell) March 12, 2024
“But put all of that aside, just on a fiscal level and on a logical level, when Franklin Delano Roosevelt established 65 as the retirement age, the average life expectancy in the United States was 63 years old. Today, the average life expectancy in the United States is close to 80,” he explained.
“It’s totally insane that you believe that you should be able to work from the time that you are essentially 20 to the time that you are 65, which is a 45 year period, you pay in, and then you’ll receive Social Security benefits sufficient to support you and your family, you and your wife or whatever, for, like, another 20 years,” Shapiro went on.
“That’s crazy talk. That is not fiscally sustainable,” he declared.
“The notion that if you have to raise the retirement age to 67 or 68, that everyone is gonna fall apart — my parents are that age. My parents are not retired, and they shouldn’t retire. It would be very bad for them to retire,” he said.
Shapiro defended his take after social media users added context to his remarks.
Yes. If you are mentally and physically healthy, taxpayers should not pay you to retire at 65. When Social Security was created, life expectancy was 64. Today, it’s 78.
Also, people require purpose. If you can retire and find purpose, go for it. For many, that’s a bad idea. https://t.co/MrgtO0dEGT
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) March 12, 2024
Notably, Shapiro’s take on retirement came on the heels of former President Donald Trump’s comments on Social Security and Medicare.
“Have you changed your your outlook on how to handle entitlements, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid? Mr. President, it seems like something has to be done or else we’re going to be stuck at 120% of debt to GDP forever,” CNBC’s Joe Kernan asked the 2024 GOP contender.
“So first of all, 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, tremendous bad management of entitlements. There’s tremendous amounts of things, numbers of things you can do. So I don’t, you know, necessarily agree with the statement,” Trump responded, prompting a response from the Biden campaign.
Not on my watch. https://t.co/RAHjjUlGDa
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) March 11, 2024
“President Trump delivered on his promise to protect Social Security and Medicare in his first term, and President Trump will continue to strongly protect Social Security and Medicare in his second term,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to clarify.
“The only candidate who poses a threat to Social Security and Medicare is Joe Biden — whose mass invasion of countless millions of illegal aliens will, if they are allowed to stay, cause Social Security and Medicare to buckle and collapse,” she added.
