>> I will stop short of saying he'll bankrupt American if he doesn't - but what I will say is that not pushing this back will have a significant negative impact on the U.S. economy and adversely affect what is already a flawed system.
Meanwhile the elephant in the room (unfunded $47T Medicare deficit) is staunchly ignored. People are arguing furiously over where the deck chairs should go on the Titanic. You say that science involves specifics: give the big 47 number a try.
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1