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it is what it was designed to be , an insurance system where those who die pay for those who live .
you are wasting your time dwelling on what it should be , could be or is . this is what we have.
your time is better spent working on playing the cards your dealt instead of complaining about the dealer . if people spent as much time learning all the ins and outs of good retirement planning and integrating things with ss they would be a lot better off then complaining about things they can't change .
Here play with this and see what actual changes would do. This isn't perfect by any means but its a hell of a lot closer than most of the garbage in this thread like "congress stole our money" and gems like "those leaching widows".
Some of you folks are demented and or ignorant.
Social Security is hardly a lost cause and can be adjusted to be quite solvent. People are going to have to pay a little more to secure their checks and some benefit changes. The earlier we do that, the better.
By all means though, lets spend an extra trillion a year on needles tax cuts elsewhere, the war pig just farted, it is also due. Our priorities as a nation are completely ****ed up. There is probably more support to run off and kill some brown people in the desert than there is to solidify one of the most important government programs.
But yeah, lets cut window benefits from Social Security. Lets just get rid of the program and go back to the 20's. That worked out really well for everyone when there were no safety nets.
you were making sense until you said we're giving out 1T tax cuts per YEAR. After that, you dropped straight to the bottom of partisan witch-hunting.
Moderator cut: report posts that violate TOS - don’t quote or respond
it is what it was designed to be , an insurance system where those who die pay for those who live .
you are wasting your time dwelling on what it should be , could be or is . this is what we have.
your time is better spent working on playing the cards your dealt instead of complaining about the dealer . if people spent as much time learning all the ins and outs of good retirement planning and integrating things with ss they would be a lot better off then complaining about things they can't change .
put your time in to what you can control .
Basically, you are saying that despite its major shortcomings, just get used to it continuing to degrade and cost future generations more than the previous. While I might be wasting my time, I would rather push for a better solution than kick the current one down the road.
anything I've ever read that wasn't "it's a retirement vehicle" has said it was intended to protect people (primarily widows) who got to old age and had no source of income.
There's no dispute that when it started the eligibility age was > average life expectancy. So, it was a true "safety net".
When it started you could opt out. And when it started it was 1% of your income.
Which of these points have I been misled on?
SS is a forced program that cost the contributor 12.4% of their income. This is not chicken feed. A better plan would be a mandatory private system that builds personal wealth for the contributor to pass to whom he pleases. 12.4% is way too costly for an insurance. It reflects just how poor the program is.
With all the security of private pensions.
SS is not to create personal wealth for the wily, but to create public wealth for all to share as needed.
Basically, you are saying that despite its major shortcomings, just get used to it continuing to degrade and cost future generations more than the previous. While I might be wasting my time, I would rather push for a better solution than kick the current one down the road.
well keep pushing . let us know how that worked out for you.
there will likely be no other system , you can take that to the bank .
Last edited by mathjak107; 12-03-2018 at 01:54 AM..
Potato, potatoes. SS was initiated by paying out to those who had little or nothing contributed into it. The very first full recipient(Ida Mae Miller) paid in around 24.00 dollars and collected over 22k. The first payees paid in far less % than current payees. If it looks like a duck and quacks like as duck.
You claimed SS funds never went into the general fund, yet, the way it is accounted for is essentially the same as if it did.
no it is not the same . fixed income is the only investment ss can make . it does not matter who's bonds they buy . in fact they get a higher interest rate on those special treasuries than the regular ones pay .
the gov't can not buy stocks . they can not own private companies . what a borrower does with the money they borrow is irrelevant to the situation . the fact is no ss money is just moved to general funds.
if you or your funds in a 401k buy treasuries ,are they stealing your money ? nonsense , of course not!
no it is not the same . fixed income is the only investment ss can make . it does not matter who's bonds they buy . in fact they get a higher interest rate on those special treasuries than the regular ones pay .
the gov't can not buy stocks . they can not own private companies . what a borrower does with the money they borrow is irrelevant to the situation . the fact is no ss money is just moved to general funds.
if you or your funds in a 401k buy treasuries ,are they stealing your money ? nonsense , of course not!
This is all a charade. The money has already been spent. Social Security needs to be cash flow neutral or it eats the Federal budget alive. Right now, the program is just barely cash flow negative if you ignore the “interest on the Trust Fund” charade. It doesn’t need to be fixed now. It can limp along on borrowed money for a decade. Eventually, taxes have to go up to get the program back to cash flow neutral. Politically, there is no way any Congressman is going to vote to cut benefits for anyone over the age of 25. Raise the employer and employee rate from 6.2% to 8% and eliminate the income cap. Fixed. It doesn’t need to be done today. It needs to start phasing in 8 to 10 years from now.
no , it is no different then annuities , insurance or pensions where current money tries to pay for existing claims so i disagree . there is almost nothing that is fully funded today in anything nor is it likely there ever will be . ss will end up resolved at the 11th hour .
it is like worrying about our debt which you can't control . it is what it is and despite what you think it ain't going to change .
it is like if someone is so worried the debt will be crushing and the world will no longer finance us , then that person should play the cards they are dealt --buy gold .
but complaining about it over and over or trying to say what should be done is wasted thoughts because these kinds of things have no resolution that you personally are going to solve . the brightest minds on the subject have already looked at these options . so the best we can do is learn to work with what we have and can control and that is the best way to spend time .
Last edited by mathjak107; 12-03-2018 at 04:31 AM..
The deficits have risen significantly under Trump and will continue to rise.
Funny how Republicans don't care anymore.
that is an excerpt from a now-deleted post. It provides an example of what is and isn’t ok here at Economics.
The first sentence mentioning Trump in this context is perfectly fine. It doesn’t mean the comment is a fact. It doesn’t mean others can’t contest the assertion. But it’s ok as per Econ posting standard.
The second sentence is partisan politics and off topic. It doesn’t matter if it’s trolls under bridges, people who like soup, or people on the honor roll who “don’t care anymore”. It’s irrelevant in this forum - and saying it’s Republicans or Democrats who don’t care is just partisan and has no place at Economics forums.
Posters who continue to fail to grasp that distinction should be reported and ignored. Those posters will be earning infractions.
As noted before - if you have a comment about this note, DM me instead of posting it here.
Carry on and please stay on topic.
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