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Don't embarass yourself, further. Take the time to learn about Social Security. Current events. Economic activity. Then you'll understand better. Doing that will make whichever "rant" you choose more relevant. Really.
How about you learning us about Social Security since you seem to know so much about it. How long have you been paying on SS? How long has the Congress been spending what they considered surplus in the program each year? You must know quite a bit about it.
Don't embarass yourself, further. Take the time to learn about Social Security. Current events. Economic activity. Then you'll understand better. Doing that will make whichever "rant" you choose more relevant. Really.
Yes, just hit the bong and trust in government to fix it.... the Democlown solution
Ponzi schemes such as Social Security (that is, schemes were you get someone's vote by promising to pay him with Other People's Money), always break down when you start running out of Other People's Money.
And even when you "adjust" things so you can get more of Other People's Money... that doesn't make the Ponzi scheme any more sound. It merely delays the crash.
TRANSLATION: I can't refute what he said, but I hate it anyway, so I'll call names instead and hope someone believes HE is wrong instead of me.
Then please post something of substance and join in the discussion to show us what you know. How does higher gas prices drive wages down? If anything it increases the cost of living thus increase the demand to drive wages up.
Nice try at changing the question to a different subject and pretending it's the same. If I had been caught supporting a false premise (High energy prices DON'T worsen Social Security's finances), I might try the same dodge... if I had zero intellectual integrity.
I did, but that doesnt explain it. The fact that you buy less of something doesnt affect your income, it affects your expenses.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Little-Acorn
Nice try at changing the question to a different subject and pretending it's the same. If I had been caught supporting a false premise (High energy prices DON'T worsen Social Security's finances), I might try the same dodge... if I had zero intellectual integrity.
Actually I responded directly to the quotes in the OP
Social Security’s finances worsened in part because high energy prices suppressed wages, a trend the trustees see as continuing.
So its now intellectually dishonest to discuss statements made, or is it that you dont have an answer and thus you decided to ignore the question and go off onto attack land.
Don't embarass yourself, further. Take the time to learn about Social Security. Current events. Economic activity. Then you'll understand better. Doing that will make whichever "rant" you choose more relevant. Really.
Take time to use spell check and spell embarrass correctly. Really.
The Social Security Trust fund, and other such funds "held" by the government, are supposed to have the money "contributed" by taxpayers, being held for when they retire.
But in fact, they are empty - nothing but a lot of government IOUs. The government has "borrowed" that money, and spent it on other, unrelated things.
In order for these Trust Funds to "run dry" in 2033, as the OP describes, first all that money has to be paid back into them, so it can then be paid out to the actual Social Security recipients and recipients to the other trust funds. If that happens, then the funds will get zeroed out in 2033, as the OP says.
How much has been borrowed out of the Social Security Trust fund (and other funds)?
Answer: 31% of the entire National Debt is owed to these Trust Funds today.
Have you heard of any plans for the government to pay off 31% of the National Debt lately? Not increase it, as they have been doing for the last half century or more... PAY IT OFF.
Neither have I.
Yet the only way the Trust Funds can live long enough to "run dry" in 2033, is for the govt to pay off that much of the National Debt. Or to borrow enough ADDITIONAL MONEY from other sources, to restock the Trust Funds and make the scheduled payments to the Trust Fund recipients.
Have you heard any plans for the government to borrow an amount equivalent to 31% of the National Debt IN ADDITION to what they're borrowing already?
Those trust funds will now run dry in 2033, according to a report issued by the trustees that oversee the massive retirement and disability program.[/color][/i]
Then there is this...
Social Security’s finances worsened in part because high energy prices suppressed wages, a trend the trustees see as continuing.
Really?? I thought the economy was on the rebound.
And in case anyone thought that Social Security is fully funded by the taxpayers...
Social Security is financed[b] by a 6.2 percent tax on the [/B]first $110,100 in wages. It is paid by both employers and workers. Congress temporarily reduced the tax on workers to 4.2 percent for 2011 and 2012, though the program’s finances are being made whole through increased government borrowing.
Social Security is an impending train wreck that is easily averted.
1) Cancel SS payments to the wealthy, who will readily admit (I've heard them do it!) that they don't need their monthly check from the gummint.
2) Extend the SS tax beyond the first $110,000 in wages, DUH! They could even lower the 2nd increment a bit, to, say, 4%, to make the pill easier to swallow. Do you think Bill Gates is going to miss that extra 4% on his several billion/year? Hell, no, but the SS fund sure will be happy to rake in his share to keep itself propped up another few years!
These measures have been discussed in Congress, but they haven't made it into legislation, AFAIK, and haven't been passed. This is the simplest, most painless way of fixing SS. Please, folks, write to your representatives and senators. It's easy enough to do on the internet, they all take email. If you write a good letter, it will get noticed. I wrote one to one of my senators (on another matter), and his aid later told me it generated a lot of discussion in the office. It's easy enough to look up online who your Congressbods are, there's no excuse for not writing them these days, it's so easy, just a keystroke away. You want SS to be there for you, don't you? Well it won't, unless you take democracy into your own hands. Those of you who are AARP age may also want to write AARP about this.
P.S. LIttle-Acorn, what you post is pathetic and outrageous. It CAN be fixed, however. Thanks so much for the info.
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