Chris Christie got into an epic shouting match with a radio host who compared him to Bernie Madoff
Indeed, Carr repeatedly tore into the likely 2016 presidential candidate in an interview on his Thursday radio show. At times, Carr and Christie attempted to shout over each other as they debated whether Social Security benefits should be cut.
"You're proposing what amounts to a bait-and-switch, aren't you? I mean, what's the difference between this and Bernie Madoff?" Carr asked at one point, comparing Christie's plan to Madoff's infamous Ponzi scheme.
Last month, Christie proposed a number of specific reforms to entitlements like Social Security and Medicare. Among other things, he called for raising the retirement age, cutting back benefits for seniors who earn more than $80,000, and completely ending benefits for those who make more than $200,000.
But Carr, who's nearing retirement age, said the proposal amounted to "raising taxes on the American people."
"I'm older than you are. I'm 63. I started paying into this program when Lyndon Johnson was president, right? Nobody said anything about means-testing," he said. "I'm going to get a union pension. A union pension, governor. And you say I'm going to be making too much in retirement? I have to give up my Social Security?"
Christie didn't back down, however, and challenged Carr to propose his own plan to prevent the US entitlements system from going bankrupt.
"What's your solution, Howie? What's your solution? It's going to go broke, what's your solution?" Christie asked. "I'm dealing responsibly with the problem. You're complaining and putting forward no solution. That's your right, you're radio talk show host, you don't have to come forward with solutions. But your questions have to have some - some - degree of realism to them."
Christie further said he was simply giving Carr some "hard truths."
"These are hard truths, Howie. I'm sorry to have to bring hard truths onto your air. But the fact is that the Social Security system will broke if we don't make changes, or have massive tax increases. You keep talking about the cuts, we should talk about the massive tax increases that we'll pay to make sure everybody gets every nickel that they were ever promised," he said.
Click here to listen to the full interview.