Bill Maher used his closing monologue on Friday’s episode of HBO’s “Real Time” to argue that the United States has tilted too much of its social spending toward older Americans, leaving younger generations feeling shortchanged despite having many of the programs they say they want.
“Now that socialism is having a moment, we have to get real about how much of it we have and how much of it we can afford, because, when you don’t, [France] is what you get,” Maher said, pointing to unrest in France tied to spending on retirees.
Maher said the U.S. spends heavily on elderly citizens as well, and argued that dynamic helps explain why younger Americans are drawn to socialist politics. “This is why socialism is so popular with the young. They see the government paying older folks to sit around all day, and they say, hey, where’s my monthly check for doing dick?” he said.
He acknowledged that older Americans worked earlier in life and generally need more services than younger people do. But he argued the country’s existing programs already deliver much of what socialists call for.
“But make no mistake, the young want socialism, because they’re jealous that the older people have it and they don’t. Everything socialists want, we already have. Government-paid universal healthcare? We have it. It’s called Medicare. Universal basic income? We have it. It’s called Social Security. Medicaid is adult daycare. If you’re a senior citizen, you’re already living like Mamdani is president.”
Maher called those programs “historic, necessary” but said the balance has shifted too far. “The redistribution of wealth has gotten out of whack, same as in France,” he said. “But rather than fix it at the source, and putting more money in the hands of the young, we keep giving it to the old, who then have to turn around and give it to their broke kids anyway.”
