Bernie Sanders' Social Security Answer

As always, Bernie Sanders seems to win the debate whether he's participating or not — in the case of the sixth Republican debate Thursday evening, his shining moment came on Twitter. After hearing the GOP candidates' talk of slashing social security benefits, a staple position for many of their platforms in which they label these benefits "entitlements," Sanders was quick to respond on social media. The 74-year-old Democratic candidate coolly dismissed Republican's statements that social security was going broke and that cuts were necessary. And his Social Security remarks, Sanders won the debate and showed he's the coolest candidate on Twitter once again.

Sanders brushed his shoulders off to the accusations Republicans made during the debate regarding social security after moderator Maria Bartiromo asked the following question: "One of the biggest fiscal challenges is our entitlement programs, particularly Social Security and Medicare. What policies will you put forward to make sure these programs are more financially secure?"

Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz both floated around the question, instead choosing to discuss their overall tax plans. Nevertheless, they both agreed that social security favored an "entitlement" problem. Only candidate Chris Christie answered the question directly in the primetime debate.

We have seniors out there who are scared to death because this Congress — this one that we have right now, just stole $150 billion from the Social Security retirement fund to give it to the Social Security disability fund. A Republican Congress did that.

And the fact is it was wrong. And they consorted with Barack Obama to steal from Social Security. We need to reform Social Security. Mine is the only plan that saves over $1 trillion...

Sanders had a problem with that.

This data, as Sanders points out in his tweets, relies on the misinformation that Social Security is "going broke." But according to the Social Security Administration, the surplus for the program's assets (currently at $2.8 trillion) has grown over an additional $2 trillion since 1987 alone. That certainly isn't going broke, by any means.

Social Security doesn't seem to be causing seniors to run scared, either. The SSA's verified report states that in 2013, 64 percent of aged beneficiaries received at least half of their yearly income from the service. Fifty-five percent of those people were women.

A Bernie Sanders presidency would look to expand those same benefits, not cut them. In his silly gesture on Twitter, Sanders shows that he's serious about making sure seniors receive the benefits they've worked so hard for. A Republican in the White House very well could do the opposite.