Cenk tells Alan Simpson his Social Security cuts are ‘terrible’

• Tweet
• 
• 

• Tweet

Former Sen. Alan Simpson (R-WY) continued his crusade against Social Security, getting into a fiery exchange with Cenk Uygur Friday evening over the program.

Despite Uygur stating the fact that Social Security has a huge surplus and contributes nothing to the U.S. debt, Simpson was sticking to his usual, negative script.

“You need to get the wax out of your ears for one thing, because we’re not cutting Social Security,” Simpson said. “We’re trying to make the damn thing solvent for 75 years. Now if you want to do that, that’s fine.”

But Simpson does indeed want cuts to the program by raising the retirement age, something Uygur found an unconscionable thing to do.

“The amount of money you take out of the pockets from people if you move the retirement age is enormous,” The Young Turks host said. “It ranges in the tens of thousands. If you move it from the age of 65 to the age of 70, for example, you take $60,000 from the pockets of the average America. They put that money in and it has a surplus.”

“That’s terrible if you’re a blue collar worker and your actual life expectancy hasn’t changed.”

WATCH: Video from Current TV, which was broadcast on December 9, 2011.