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Mint
6 hours ago
- Business
- Mint
Democrats Assail Bessent on ‘Privatizing' Social Security Remark
(Bloomberg) -- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is coming under fire for remarks about so-called 'Trump accounts' being a 'backdoor for privatizing Social Security,' with Democrats characterizing his comments as representing a secret plan to gut the program. 'In a way, it is a backdoor for privatizing Social Security,' Bessent said of the tax-advantaged investment accounts created by President Donald Trump's signature domestic policy initiative, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which was signed into law on July 4. 'Social Security is a defined benefit plan paid out,' Bessent said at a Breitbart News event Wednesday in Washington. 'To the extent that if all of a sudden these accounts grow, and you have in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for your retirement, then that's a game-changer.' The accounts can help young people feel like they are part of the system rather than being disillusioned with it, he added. 'Why are we on the verge of Caracas on the Hudson in New York?' Bessent said, referring to the campaign of Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic candidate for mayor of New York. 'Why is this guy getting traction? Because people, young people, are disillusioned with the system.' Hours later, Bessent sought to clarify his remarks. 'Trump Baby Accounts are an additive benefit for future generations, which will supplement the sanctity of Social Security's guaranteed payments,' the secretary said in a post on X. 'This is not an either-or question: our Administration is committed to protecting Social Security and to making sure seniors have more money.' Earlier: Social Security Warns of 23% Benefit Cut by 2034 Without a Fix Democrats seized on Bessent's comments at the Breitbart event, calling them a scheme to cut benefits. Bessent 'just said the quiet part out loud,' said Tim Hogan, an adviser for the Democratic National Committee. 'Trump is now coming after American seniors with a 'backdoor' scam to take away the benefits they earned. Democrats won't stand by as Trump screws over working families in order to give more handouts to billionaires.' Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, warned that 'Republicans would follow up privatization with brutal cuts that would drive vulnerable people into destitution.' A Treasury spokesperson said Bessent's remarks had been taken out of context and that the accounts are meant to 'work in conjunction with Social Security to broaden and increase the savings and wealth of Americans.' 'Social Security is a critical safety net for Americans and always will be,' the spokesperson said. The savings program allows parents to contribute as much as $5,000 a year to an investment account for newborns that can be drawn upon when the child turns 18. The Treasury Department will contribute $1,000 to each account for children born between January of this year through 2028. 'When you do this, you make everyone a shareholder,' Bessent said. 'People who are part of the system do not want to bring down the system.' More stories like this are available on
Winnipeg Free Press
10 hours ago
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
Bessent says child savings accounts in Trump law are ‘a back door for privatizing Social Security'
WASHINGTON (AP) — The children's savings program included in President Donald Trump's tax break-and-spending cut law 'is a back door for privatizing Social Security,' Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday. Bessent's remark, which he made at a forum hosted by Breitbart News, was striking after Trump's repeated promises that he would not cut Social Security. Democrats quickly seized on the comment as a sign the GOP wants to revive a dormant but unpopular push to privatize the long-running retirement program. 'Donald Trump's Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent just said the quiet part out loud: The administration is scheming to privatize Social Security,' Tim Hogan, a spokesperson for the Democratic National Committee, said in a statement. The White House did not immediately respond to a message about Bessent's remarks. The GOP's 'big, beautiful bill,' as the law is called, created a new children's savings program, Trump Accounts, which can be created for babies born in the U.S. and come with a potential $1,000 deposit from the Treasury. The accounts can grow over time, much the way college savings plans or other accounts do, and the accumulated funds can eventually be tapped in adulthood. But Bessent on Wednesday allowed for another option for the accounts. 'In a way, it is a back door for privatizing Social Security,' Bessent said while speaking about the program. Bessent's comments were striking for his casual revival of a polarizing issue. Monday Mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week. Ever since the George W. Bush administration considered proposals to privatize Social Security more than 20 years ago, Republicans have publicly moved away from talking about the issue that proved politically unpopular and was swiftly abandoned. Democrats at the time used GOP plans to privatize Social Security in the run-up to the 2006 midterm elections and won back control of both House and Senate in Congress. The Democrats warned Wednesday that Republicans are again trying to dismantle the long-running retirement program. 'It wasn't enough to kick millions of people off their health care and take food away from hungry kids. Trump is now coming after American seniors with a 'backdoor' scam to take away the benefits they earned,' Hogan at the DNC said in the statement. ___
CNBC
12 hours ago
- Business
- CNBC
Bessent says 'not to panic' over tariff rate surges on Aug. 1
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday urged corporate America, investors and U.S. trade partners "not to panic" if tariff rates surge on Aug. 1 because deals have not been reached yet, saying that countries "can still do a deal" after President Donald Trump's deadline expires. "You're just going to go back to your April 2 reciprocal tariff level," Bessent said at a policy event with hardline conservative site Breitbart News, adding that a higher tariff rate may apply to any given country "for three days, it may be on for three weeks, it may be on for three months." "You can continue negotiating," Bessent said, addressing America's trade partners and suggesting that Trump's Aug. 1 tariff deadline was yet another negotiating tool for a White House seeking to pressure countries to accept higher tariff rates while granting U.S. products more access to their domestic markets. Bessent said that if a country's tariff rate lands on the level that was initially announced on Trump's "Liberation Day" in April, it is "going to get a lot of attention." Many of the April 2 rates are significantly higher than the 10% blanket baseline tariff rate currently in place. "I would expect that it's going to be a busy August," Bessent said, foreshadowing what could be an onslaught of trade negotiations after the Friday deadline expires. The Trump administration maintains that the Aug. 1 trade deadline is firm, even as scores of countries, including some top trading partners, have not yet inked any kind of trade deal. "THE AUGUST FIRST DEADLINE IS THE AUGUST FIRST DEADLINE – IT STANDS STRONG, AND WILL NOT BE EXTENDED," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Wednesday. Bessent's remarks echo comments he made Tuesday, when he said that it was "not the end of the world if these snapback tariffs are on for anywhere from a few days to a few week," again underscoring that the reciprocal tariff rates could be temporary for countries negotiating in "good faith." Yet Bessent's remarks are unlikely to reassure investors and businesses bracing for Trump's tariffs to take effect, especially as companies are already struggling to keep pace with the evolving trade environment.
Malay Mail
22-07-2025
- Politics
- Malay Mail
How Trump turned his Truth Social app into a megaphone
PARIS, July 22 — Donald Trump has turned his obscure Truth Social platform into a megaphone in his second presidential term—constantly posting everything from major policy announcements to personal threats and unashamed self-promotion. To mark his first six months back in power, Trump unloaded around 40 posts Sunday on the app he owns and can use unfettered by moderators, censors or fact-checkers. The deluge was characteristic of the way he has transformed Truth Social, despite being a minnow in the social media world, into the White House's primary means of communication. AFP analysed over 2,800 Truth Social posts by @realDonaldTrump from his inauguration on January 20, 2025 up to July 20 to get a better idea of how the Republican communicates. Sidelining the White House press office, the president speaks straight to his hardcore base, posting an average of 16 messages a day, many in all-caps rants peppered with exclamation marks and the odd expletive. Although Truth Social is tiny compared to X, Trump can post to 10.5 million followers knowing that he is being followed by the media and political establishment, with much of what he says quickly being reposted to rival platforms. Trump repays the favour, helping to create a right-wing media ecosystem that invariably circles back to him. Since January 20, he has shared Fox News articles 101 times, and the New York Post and Breitbart News 51 times each. 'The minute he puts something on Truth Social, others pick it up and echo it,' said Darren Linvill, a social media and disinformation specialist at Clemson University in South Carolina. Alternative to Twitter In his first term, Trump relied in a similar way on what was then known as Twitter—renamed X on being purchased by Elon Musk. But after Trump's attempt to overthrow his loss in the 2020 election, he was banned by Twitter and Facebook and briefly persona non grata in Washington. Although once more present on the bigger alternatives, Trump continues to prefer Truth Social. The posts vary wildly in content, all part of Trump's brand of mixing politics with entertainment. And the style deliberately mimics Trump's verbal ticks—the bombast, salesmanship and exaggeration. 'Vladimir, STOP,' he posted on April 24, after Russia launched an especially heavy bombing of Kyiv. Russian President Vladimir Putin did not stop, but Trump's two-word plea earned heavy media coverage. Half of his posts used at least one exclamation point and 155 were written in all-caps. One post on March 23, promoting his cryptocurrency $Trump, read: 'I LOVE $TRUMP—SO COOL!!! The Greatest of them all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!' Controlling the narrative Trump's posts are a way for him to keep the public on its toes and to change the narrative by giving journalists a new 'rabbit hole' to follow when needed, said presidential historian Alvin Felzenberg. The leader of the world's biggest economy knows investors are paying equally close attention. As markets plunged following Trump's tariffs announcements, he used Truth Social on March 10 to pump out articles predicting optimistic economic outcomes. On April 9, just as stock prices were tanking, he posted: 'THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!' And hours later, he announced a 90-day suspension of additional tariffs against dozens of countries, triggering the best day for the S&P 500 index since the recovery from the 2008 financial crisis. The timing led to accusations from Democrats of an insider trader scheme. 'Truth Social doesn't quite have the firepower that I think Twitter had..., but it's still impactful enough that it can at times move the market,' says Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management. — AFP
Hindustan Times
02-06-2025
- Business
- Hindustan Times
Iran demands US 'guarantee' it will lift sanctions in nuclear talks
Iran pressed the United States on Monday for guarantees that it will drop sanctions as a condition for a nuclear deal, after the White House reportedly sent a proposal it deemed "acceptable". With Iran and the United States engaged in talks over Tehran's nuclear programme since April, Washington's proposal for a deal came after a leaked UN report said Iran had stepped up production of highly enriched uranium. Iran's top diplomat and lead nuclear negotiator was due to meet the head of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency in Cairo on Monday, a day after the report was leaked. Iran has rejected the report, warning it would retaliate if European powers that have threatened to reimpose nuclear sanctions "exploit" the report. The United States and Western countries have accused Iran of seeking nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran has repeatedly denied, insisting it needs uranium for civilian power production. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Saturday that he had received "elements" of a US proposal for a nuclear deal following five rounds of talks mediated by Oman. On Monday, foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told a news conference in Tehran: "We want to guarantee that the sanctions are effectively lifted... "So far, the American side has not wanted to clarify this issue," he added. His remarks come a day after a report by the UN agency showed Iran has stepped up production of uranium enriched up to 60 percent close to the roughly 90 percent level needed for atomic weapons. The US envoy in the nuclear talks said last month that the administration of President Donald Trump would oppose any enrichment. "An enrichment programme can never exist in the state of Iran ever again. That's our red line. No enrichment," Steve Witkoff told Breitbart News. Iran has vowed to keep enriching uranium "with or without a deal" on its nuclear programme. The United States has sent Iran a proposal for a nuclear deal that the White House called "acceptable" and in its "best interest" to accept, US media reported on Saturday. The New York Times, citing officials familiar with the diplomatic exchanges, said the proposal calls on Iran to stop all enrichment and suggests creating a regional grouping to produce nuclear power. Iran has held five rounds of talks with the United States in search of a new agreement to replace the deal with major powers that Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018. ap/sbr/ser/dv THE NEW YORK TIMES COMPANY
