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The problem is that stuff like this only happens after a crisis. Why not ENSURE that the FICA Tax keeps up? To have it neglected for more than an entire generation is crazy and makes each elected politician less likely to want to be the one and step in to make a drastic change...which guarantees it will be even more DRASTIC when finally done. Much better to have smaller incremental changes. If we KNOW it needs to be done, then MAKE IT SO. Politicians run from painful decisions and kick the can down the road - build this change into the system.
Not to mention FICA taxes are already at 7.65% which is matched by the employer. The 6.2% is just for SS and the 1.45% is for Medicare....the latter will be the piece that is completely underfunded.
About half the country is already without health insurance (ER costs), on medicare or medicaid, the combined total which is higher than the current workforce.
The sooner we have allow a realistic leader to set rates at a level that's still competitive and the pay out the benefit that makes sense based upon the means, the easier the haircut is going to be to swallow. Each year it doesn't get fixed, that drop off is going to get worse and worse.
This isn't new. It's just the can has been kicked down the road my entire lifetime. When the surplus ends, we'll have even fewer workers per retiree, we'll have higher government debt levels as a % of GDP and a trade deficit. What happens then? What can happen then? Print dollars, honor the obligations and inflate away the dollar's confidence...possibly starting a route in the dollars held around the world? Cut the benefit harshly and tell 85 year olds to get a job if they want to eat and smoke medicinal marijuana for the pain? Or is it that some very low level of care is formed for the masses, that doesn't really work but the tech keeps improving, and it fits the legal definition of what is required.
I just don't get the endgame people are possibly expecting. This promise is going to be broken at some point.
That's not a "odd market for the last 6 years or so"
That's a bull market since 2009.
So true so true. No review of a graph of the market for the last eighty years would show it stagnant. Hard to have any actual investments over that time period and not know it!
None. The world is gradually becoming enlightened. You do not go forth and multiply with a goal of punishing the less productive of those you create and consigning them to penury and indignity..
You do not go forth and multiply with a goal of punishing the less productive of those you create and consigning them to penury and indignity..
No one punishes the less productive. They punish themselves by adamantly refusing to take advantage of the plethora of opportunities available to them.
I have neither the time nor the inclination to hold the hands of the less productive and walk them through every second of their lives, explaining the pros and cons of each decision they'll make and showing them every door of opportunity.
That's OK., I have the time and inclination to take up the slack left by the privileged greedy, who have so many more important things to do with their acquisition of wealth and power, multiplying their own share of the limited cultural inheritance.
That's OK., I have the time and inclination to take up the slack left by the privileged greedy, who have so many more important things to do with their acquisition of wealth and power, multiplying their own share of the limited cultural inheritance.
So life is good for you and that is the goal of it all. That is what many of us seek in life so congrats.
None. The world is gradually becoming enlightened. You do not go forth and multiply with a goal of punishing the less productive of those you create and consigning them to penury and indignity..
No one punishes the less productive. They punish themselves by adamantly refusing to take advantage of the plethora of opportunities available to them.
I have neither the time nor the inclination to hold the hands of the less productive and walk them through every second of their lives, explaining the pros and cons of each decision they'll make and showing them every door of opportunity.
i have been trying to show those in that position the above for a decade here . not sure if it really helped make others think for themselves .
as we all know those who want something bad enough will find a way-the rest find an excuse
Political winds are not shifting against Social Security, and nothing will happen except that Congress will wait until the last possible minute to increase the FICA Payroll Tax to keep it solvent until the next crisis happens.
Congress will either enact legislation creating incentives for employers to offer 401(k) plans or mandate them in some way.
It's interesting with all the political turmoil presently going on, with numerous hot topic issues, SS reform seems to have fallen off the radar. The last big push was from 2005-2010, beginning with Bush's push for private accounts, and ended with no response to the findings of the Simpson-Bowles Commission.
If anyone had told me Paul Ryan, arguably the biggest SS reform hawk, would become Speaker of the House, I would have said reform was imminent. But his influence seems to have dwindled on the issue, rather than increased
I'm of the mindset that, regardless of the actuarial studies, future SS reform doesn't necessarily mean benefits will get worse. If someone like Elizabeth Warren becomes President, with a Democratic controlled Congress, anything can happen.
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