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It is interesting to see all the support for a $15 per hour wages for bottom level jobs. Meanwhile many of us worked hard and contributed to social security for many decades only to receive a full time equivalent of way less than $15 per hour. In fact many retirees are getting the equivalent of less than $7 per hour.
Social Security was never meant to cover all your needs. So it really has no relation to the minimum wage for working people. As for today's workers, even at $15 they won't be able to save for their retirement. They'll still be living paycheck to paycheck.
Not sure how you are funding your retirement. Personally mine in addition to SS is dependent on Mutual Funds, and pensions both of which reap profits from investing in the financial services industry. A decade or so ago I was actively holding select financial service mutual funds very sweet at times. Financial services often lead markets higher and for many of us rising markets are a good thing. I know this is horrible to some but others would agree that oil at $4.00 a gallon has been sweet also. Social Security as is often said is not meant to be your sole source of retirement income.
I know one thing, crony capitalism and monopolistic behavior is NOT good for markets nor the tax payers. Its DEFINITELY good for the Wall Street fat cats though. If people dont wake up, and continue to elect politicians that allow these predatory megabanks to steamroll over the competition and rely on tax payer implicit subsidies, we'll have another crisis which will dwarf anything we've ever seen.
Perry, I am kinda confused because I agree with you so often and fence (politely debate) TuborgP almost as often. But he does remain polite and makes me think.
EDIT - I think I have repped him a couple of times when I saw his point, so maybe a SNL church lady "never mind" is in order...
...that was from 'Rosan Rosanadanna', not church lady!
Because they already pay twice as much, enough is enough. You kill small businesses and there will be no jobs creation.
And the cap is too low but I bet you are not paying one cent more. Other people are paying. You are an armchair liberal. Sit in a chair, drink your beer, and spend other people money freely.
I responded to this earlier to note that some of us would be impacted by raising the cap and your assumption is off the mark for many of us. But there is something else about this line of thought I wanted to point out. Less than 1 in 5 people are over the cap (see How close are you to the top 1%? - CNNMoney). The top 20% of earners receive almost 60% of all income (see Who Rules America: Wealth, Income, and Power). This notion that we should discount the opinions of people who don't earn much when making decisions about taxes on high earners strikes me as nothing more than justification for a ruling elite. I am vehemently against that.
I responded to this earlier to note that some of us would be impacted by raising the cap and your assumption is off the mark for many of us. But there is something else about this line of thought I wanted to point out. Less than 1 in 5 people are over the cap (see How close are you to the top 1%? - CNNMoney). The top 20% of earners receive almost 60% of all income (see Who Rules America: Wealth, Income, and Power). This notion that we should discount the opinions of people who don't earn much when making decisions about taxes on high earners strikes me as nothing more than justification for a ruling elite. I am vehemently against that.
The actual number is 6% of all wage earners hit the $118,500 Social Security cap. That percentage has been consistent for decades. That's different from median household income where the vast majority in the top-20% are dual income.
Every year, roughly 6 percent of covered workers have earnings above the taxable maximum.
Almost 20 percent of current and future covered workers are projected to have earnings above the taxable maximum in at least one year.
I'd also add that the middle class pays almost no Federal income tax. There was a thread this week from someone asking about withholdings after getting divorced. $47K in income. 2 kids with one under 17. $2,600-ish in Federal income taxes. She probably pays more in her 6.2% half of payroll taxes than she pays in Federal income taxes. Mitt had it right when he said that half the country doesn't have a stake in the system since they pay almost no taxes. If you make $47K, you're going to take way more out of the Social Security and Medicare system than you and your employer pay in. That median household pretty much gets a free ride. I have no problem paying my fair share but why should my effective Federal income tax rate be 25% when someone earning $47K has a 6% effective tax rate? That's not how it works in Europe. That median household has a much higher tax burden there.
I'd also add that the middle class pays almost no Federal income tax. There was a thread this week from someone asking about withholdings after getting divorced. $47K in income. 2 kids with one under 17. $2,600-ish in Federal income taxes. She probably pays more in her 6.2% half of payroll taxes than she pays in Federal income taxes. Mitt had it right when he said that half the country doesn't have a stake in the system since they pay almost no taxes. If you make $47K, you're going to take way more out of the Social Security and Medicare system than you and your employer pay in. That median household pretty much gets a free ride. I have no problem paying my fair share but why should my effective Federal income tax rate be 25% when someone earning $47K has a 6% effective tax rate? That's not how it works in Europe. That median household has a much higher tax burden there.
But how much discretionary income does the median household have after taxes there compared with here? If we go head to head with EU, if you want to make it apples to apples remember that between insurance, copays and out of pocket expenses for medical services families here pay around $20k. You need to subtract that from the EU tax bill to figure out who it is that gets the better deal. Anyway, if you read the second article I linked to, it is pretty obvious that unless more wages are paid to the bottom 60% there isn't any extra money to take as taxes. They are getting thrown under the bus; the "free ride" is much further up the chain. We only appear to subsidize the middle class because they aren't being paid well enough. The lower pay allows greater profits; the large employers are who are really being subsidized.
LOL, I am chilled and have learned to learn from others and take what works and apply it. I am a very data driven person and retirement is about data and how to best develop the best set of data you can for you and yours' Same with solving SS there is the personal impact which is best served by solvency and fairness. I have long called for pension reform and just say do it and let people know in advance how they will be impacted down the road so they can plan.
Exactly - don't wait until the situation is so dire that even those very close to retirement get hurt. Take action early, preferably with new hires or at least those with only a few years in or still 20 years out from retirement. Too much chicken$hit behavior by decision makers not wanting to do what must be done for the benefit of the most.
Social security was based on the idea that our population was going to keep growing with the same rate as the Baby Boom. If that was the case, then it would have been relatively simple for each subsequent generation to keep funding the previous generation's needs.
However, that's simply a pyramid scheme, and it collapsed. As you can see, people are not having as many children as their parents. (Thank you, feminists.)
In fact, instead of having a pyramid of population growth, we have an inverse pyramid of population collapse.
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