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Hey Vance! Happy to hear that you and your family are doing well, especially the little 10 month old! That point you made re: housing policy is a great one that I'd love to discuss with you further. I think while we build enough in Texas, mainly of our cities are still not building nearly enough and there is still tons of overregulation at the local level in the forms of deed restrictions and parking minimums. I was surprised to see your take so negatively on the SOTU address. I thought, while almost every SOTU is very bad and mostly just a political circus, that this one was relatively good. Particularly the moment POTUS ended Rick Scott's plan to cut social security spending live on national TV. Hope you have a great time in Miami!

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Thanks, Brandon! Yeah, I didn’t hear much good in the President’s SOTU. And the insolvency of Social Security and Medicare must be addressed instead of playing political games if retirees are going to see them in full and if we want any chance of seeing them, I’m not expecting to see them around when I’m retired. What did you see good about the address? Thanks for the comment and for reading.

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Feb 9, 2023Liked by Vance Ginn, Ph.D.

I thought it was one of Biden's stronger speeches, maybe his strongest, in terms of clarity / lack of gaffes. Not from any fault of his own (in fact the IRA probably hindered it) but I think the economy is on the right track and he can take that to the bank. I definitely see your point re: social security & Medicare, I just don't see a path to reforming it that isn't political suicide unfortunately. Telling a bunch of older people (who vote in huge #s) that you're going to mess with their social security/Medicare is something that might only be possible if someone wins in a landslide, which doesn't seem probable at the moment! I, personally, think Romney's TRUST act is probably a good starting point for reevaluating these programs.

I really enjoy engaging with people on the other side of the aisle, it's how we find real solutions. Thank you for writing!

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