In his first public remarks since leaving office, former President Biden slammed Commerce Sec. Howard Lutnick over his comments about Social Security checks.
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00:00In the 90 years since Franklin Roosevelt created the Social Security system, people have always gotten their Social Security checks.
00:10They've gotten them during wartime, during recessions, during a pandemic, no matter what, they got them.
00:19But now, for the first time ever, that might change.
00:24It would be calamity for millions of families, millions of people.
00:32The current Secretary of Commerce doesn't seem to get it.
00:36Or based on his comments, he doesn't seem to even care.
00:40Many of you saw what he said the other day.
00:43By the way, he's a billionaire. God love him, as my mother would say.
00:48Paying 8.5% in taxes. Anyway.
00:52Billionaires don't want to, he's paying.
00:55But when he talked about the possibility that Social Security checks not going out this month, he shrugged it off.
01:03Here's what he said.
01:05He said his 94-year-old mother-in-law wouldn't complain, wouldn't bother her.
01:12She's probably a lovely woman.
01:14No kidding.
01:16Her son-in-law is a billionaire.
01:17What about that 94-year-old mother, living all by herself, doesn't have a billionaire in the family?
01:28Are all the retirees who depend on that monthly check to feed themselves?
01:32All those people with disabilities have no other source.
01:40What about all those people?
01:42That's who you fight for.
01:47So they should desperately need you.
01:50Folks, it's not just the Secretary of Commerce.
01:52We heard how others, empowered and emboldened by this administration, talk about Social Security.
02:01One of them called it a Ponzi scheme.
02:04A Ponzi scheme?
02:05What the hell are they talking about?
02:09People earn these benefits.
02:12They paid into that benefit.
02:14They rely on that benefit.
02:16And no one, no one, no one should take it away.
02:21You know, Franklin Roosevelt had a different view.
02:28He was president coming out of the Great Depression.
02:31He and all his colleagues saw great suffering.
02:34So much poverty.
02:36He also took steps to raise standard of living for ordinary Americans, including creating Social Security.
02:44He himself was from a very wealthy family.
02:46He didn't need Social Security, but understood how much it would mean to millions of Americans.
02:55He knew it would make America stronger in the process.
02:59And it has.
03:01Makes our economy stronger.
03:04Makes the community stronger.
03:06Makes family stronger.
03:08Gives peace of mind.
03:10And so the vast majority of Americans, including many wealthy Americans, still support, thank God, Social Security.
03:20And very wealthy billionaires still support Social Security.
03:24They may not rely on themselves, but they know.
03:27They know.
03:30Social Security deserves to be protected for the good of the nation as a whole.
03:34You've got to ask yourself, why is this happening?
03:47Why are these guys taking aim in Social Security now?
03:52Well, they're following that old line from tech startups.
03:56The quote is, move fast, break things.
04:00Well, they're certainly breaking things.
04:05They're shooting first and aiming later.
04:08And as a result, the result is a lot of needless pain and sleepless nights.
04:15My friend Governor O'Malley knows what they're really up to.
04:18He says, and I love his quote,
04:20they want to wreck it so they can rob it.
04:24They want to wreck it so they can rob it.
04:26And why do they want to rob it?
04:31In order to deliver huge tax cuts to billionaires and big corporations and keep it going.
04:36They want to make permanent the 2017 tax cuts,
04:39which overwhelmingly benefited the wealthiest Americans and the biggest corporations.
04:46That's going to cost $5 trillion.
04:49Where are they going to get $5 trillion to pay for it other than continue to run the deficit up?
04:57Well, what will they always do?
04:58By winning, by running up the national debt, number one,
05:03and then by taking the money from some...
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