Casino exec. Gary Loveman calls for Social Security cuts (I'll never step foot into Caesars again)

Gary Loveman, CEO of Caesars Entertainment Corporation, said Wednesday that Congress should cut programs like Social Security rather than raise taxes.

He said on Fox News that he couldn’t understand why some advocated for higher taxes on the wealthy rather than cuts to safety net programs for the elderly.

“We as Americans put these programs in place many years ago to support Americans in the later stages of our lives,” Loveman explained. “The good news is the later stages of our lives now come later because we are living longer and healthy lives. So why would we ever thing these programs should be left untouched when the very circumstances that gave rise to them in the first place have changed for the better? We ought to see this as an opportunity, and not dwell on it as if this is some unfortunate thing we find ourselves talking about.”

Loveman is on the executive committee of the Business Roundtable, a group that represents corporate CEOs. The Business Roundtable on Wednesday called for the Social Security and Medicare eligibility age to gradually raise to 70. The group also advocated a measure of inflation for Social Security that would lead to smaller cost-of-living increases for beneficiaries, and means-testing for Medicare.

“The problem is fundamentally demographic, so we a proposing fundamentally demographic responses to it,” Loveman added. “The economy is very weak. We need to do whatever we can to support job creation and economic vitality. Raising taxes more than what was just accomplished in the last go-around on any category of Americans is not a good solution to a problem that is fundamentally a demographic problem.”

Watch video, courtesy of Fox News, below:

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