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just pass a bill and let congress have it funded .
funny how social security , a fund that is supported by folks who worked all their lives runs out of money , while welfare which is used by folks who don't work never runs out of money .
Yeah, you really want to leave SS funding to the various whims of either party that happens to control the government or at least the House.
Welfare funding comes out of general revenue, SS via payroll taxes of the workers themselves. The latter means you are entitled to get something once you've met the qualifications. Former leaves the government plenty of leeway to make trouble.
Remember one of the reasons SS has been left largely untouched is because it does not receive funding via general revenue. Mess with that formula and you open up a huge can of worms.
Not really. The program is 30% underfunded. It's just turned cash-flow negative over the last couple of years. The general budget is now paying "interest" to the Social Security trust fund. In another 8 years or so, the "Trust Fund" will start hitting the principal. The "trust fund" money has already been spent. Write it off. Social Security taxes need to go up 30% and/or the retirement ages need to be adjusted upwards a bit to account for the fact that people now live longer.
In the grand scheme of things, 30% isn't insurmountable. There will be all kinds of political squabbling about it but there's really no choice but to fund the program properly. 2/3 of Millennial retirees would live in abject poverty without it since defined benefit pensions have vanished. Rich people and corporations don't want their taxes to go up. That's totally understandable. Nobody wants the retirement ages to slide up. Also totally understandable. In the end, taxes are going up on everybody in some way.
The trust fund is in the form of treasury notes. SS can cash them in and the treasury can sell new notes, just like it does with any other debt obligation. The only way the trust fund has already been spent is if the treasury plans to welsh on its debt obligations.
Well, that is certainly innovative. We sort of do that already via the income tax - based on your income, your SS payments will be taxed. So, if you are withdrawing enough from an IRA in combination with other income sources, the your SS payments are taxed away.
I think I prefer a combination of
(a) raising more revenue via an increase in premiums (the payroll tax),
(b) increasing the retirement age, and
(c) taxing defined benefit pension disbursements to government workers.
Defined benefit pension disbursements are taxed like any other income. So are interest payments and tax deferred savings disbursements. Do you mean levy a payroll tax on pensions? I think a surcharge on capital gains like the current Medicare surcharge would be a better solution.
Remember all this the next time the war drums start beating.
Yes - there's never any discussion or doubt about whether we can afford a war (or any kind of skirmish) but somehow our politicians can't figure out a way to fund something FOR OUR OWN PEOPLE...that has been PROMISED for decades...and that people do PAY INTO.
If the U.S. never participated in another war effort I sincerely think there would be no negative impact on us OR the rest of the world. Let's try it for a couple decades and see!
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