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So I was never young? Gee... that's nice to know. Now... tell me again.. why is it unfair for you to pay but it was always "fair" when I paid (or in this case.. am still paying.)
You were young.
And when you were young, you weren't paying very much in FICA taxes. You paid enough for your parents SS/Medicare costs, and that's it.*
And when you got a little bit older, the politicians of your generation made you a TON of promises that were new, never accounted for by any taxes you'd ever paid.
And now when you get really old, someone else has to come along and pay for that care.
* - Technically you had a FICA increase, that generated a surplus, but that ended up going towards lowering your FIT.
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See I'm one of the old geezer boomer's. I'm still paying in. Will be for another 17 years. So why is it okay for me to pay in another 17 (plus the 36 I've paid in previously since my first job at age 14) and you need a pass? We're waiting.....
I didn't say I needed a pass. In fact I didn't make any suggestion at all on how to fix it.
Since you ask, this is what I think.
Wage taxes aren't enough to fund SS/Medicare, which is basically a welfare system for every American. You need to include taxes on capital.
Therefore we should eliminate FICA, fund SS and Medicare from the general fund.
Then the question becomes, how do you generate more revenue into the general fund? Besides the obvious (deficits), I think the general fund's revenues should come heavily from capital gains -- as well as wage taxes, corporate income taxes, inheritance taxes, and financial transaction taxes.
And after all that's over we will have a social welfare system that's shouldered by a wider group of people (mainly shifting the burden from wage-earners toward other types of taxes on rentier or passive income) This would also shift the burden towards anyone who holds dollars as a store of value, which includes a lot of foreigners.
well i don't know about you, but my time horizon is measured in decades, which is why i think public finances are gen y's biggest problem.
if you're asking about right now , then gen y's proximate issue is (1) the high cost of rent, and to a much smaller degree, (2) the labor market.
And I argue that expectations in life are irrelevant --
what's relevant is what you expect from the government. And boomers are rapidly nearing that age where that's a relevant topic.
And when you look at transfers from the government, in the near future it points towards a massive shift toward boomers at time of high deficits and low tax rates that caused them.
You COULD tax the rich of your own generation (whose wealth is tied up in stocks and housing) so the poor of your generation won't die needlessly of neglect. But this seems unpopular among those people who still pretend they paid their share.
Being in my early 50s, yet considered a baby boomer, doesn't make my time horizon any less about decades. I have adult kids whom I also have to protect future-wise. Most of us want government to be less intrusive, get out of the welfare business, stop their misguided social engineering, and let private entities and the FREE MARKET do the heavy lifting. It worked just fine for 180 years.
All I'm reading are expectations (from younger people) that the older generations should give up everything they worked for. It reminds me more of spoiled children wanting every toy on the shelves, then productive solutions.
Me, I'm planning to lease out my current home (no mortgage), take advantage of buying another home (at insanely low interest rates), AND PREPARE FOR THE BIGGEST INFLATIONARY STORM IN HISTORY.
If they manage to delay the inflation for a few years... I'll just do it again, while quietly hedging inflation through rental income and equity building.
I'm sure Gen-Y frown on my abuse of income production and a horrible person for this.
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Originally Posted by steven_h Once the money printing stops, we all will fall prey to inflation.
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Originally Posted by le roi
How do you figure?
Do you think they can continue to print money without domestic production to back it up? Do you believe money can be printed endlessly?
One of two things will happen. Inflation or recession. It's inevitable. I have no desire to go for pages discussing the reasons why as they have been noted over and over.
There were indeed those unemployed 30 years ago that were not counted also. All the same my reply was concerning inflation.
Add to that the fact that the maximum duration of unemployment benefits generally was 26 weeks, not 36, 48, or 99. In 1982 (or thereabouts) the feds extended benefits for another 26 weeks if your county's unemployment rate was over 11 or 13 percent (I'm not remembering the exact percentage; all I remember is that I qualified for that extra 26 weeks).
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Originally Posted by belmont22
1974-1978 was not a debt bubble, followed by a bailout, followed by adeflationary liquidity trap.
It was when the bill for the Vietnam War came due.
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Originally Posted by gordo
I think that they have forgotten what it's like to be young and want to change the world which clearly needs changing
No one has forgotten; we have simply grown up and learned that change for the sake of change is not always the right thing to do.
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Originally Posted by le roi
You were young.
And when you were young, you weren't paying very much in FICA taxes.
Because when you're young, you don't earn that much, so you don't pay much in taxes. Simple math.
One of two things will happen. Inflation or recession. It's inevitable. I have no desire to go for pages discussing the reasons why as they have been noted over and over.
Actually, I was just entering the work force during the Carter years. We had inflation and a recession at the same time.
Being in my early 50s, yet considered a baby boomer, doesn't make my time horizon any less about decades. I have adult kids whom I also have to protect future-wise. Most of us want government to be less intrusive, get out of the welfare business, stop their misguided social engineering, and let private entities and the FREE MARKET do the heavy lifting. It worked just fine for 180 years.
Do you want government to get out of the welfare system?
I don't think you understand what that would entail. You'd get to keep social security as-is, more or less, while Medicare would cease to exist.
I don't see an apetite among your generation for eliminating Medicare for yourselves.
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All I'm reading are expectations (from younger people) that the older generations should give up everything they worked for.
Just because you worked for it doesn't mean you earned it.
You actually have to pay for it, to say you've earned it. Simply showing up at work every day is irrelevant if your tax rate isn't high enough to support the benefits you'll be getting at retirement.
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It reminds me more of spoiled children wanting every toy on the shelves, then productive solutions.
I assume you're talking about boomers.
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Do you think they can continue to print money without domestic production to back it up? Do you believe money can be printed endlessly?
What is this garbage? I asked you a question. You respond with a question.
You said when money printing stops we'll have deflation. I want to know how you figure. You obviously don't know.
Because when you're young, you don't earn that much, so you don't pay much in taxes. Simple math.
The "simple math" is that not enough was taken in during prime earning years of boomers to justify tomorrow's lavish medicare spending.
How many geezers in this thread have addressed my question about Medicare Part D, and whether it was paid for? Exactly zero. They dodge the question because they don't want to think about it.
You just get these idiots showing up to declare that "We earned these benefits" ... while dodging any of the uncomfortable questions.
The thread started off with the OP (gen-xer) blaming the boomers. Oh I get it, you gen x-ers can point and blame and whine but don't dare tell the truth and point back.
even if you do find success and happiness there is a really good chance that some bitter loser will drop a cement block though your windshield from an overpass one day.
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Now... tell me again.. why is it unfair for you to pay but it was always "fair" when I paid (or in this case.. am still paying.)