berg80
Diamond Member
- Oct 28, 2017
- 35,186
- 28,642
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I don't mean difficult in the way of national achievements like the moon landing. I mean something more substantive than that. If we unite behind a common purpose I still believe, despite some evidence to the contrary, we are capable of great things. More than just technological advancements. Things in need of being done to strengthen the country.
The capability isn't the obstacle, it's the uniting part. For example, we've known for some time the Social Security Fund needs to be bolstered. A number of solutions have been floated including this one.
AI Overview
Fixing the Social Security "donut hole"—the gap where earnings above a certain cap (\(\$184,500\) in 2026) are not taxed, while lower incomes are—is primarily proposed by reintroducing taxes on high earners. The most popular proposal involves applying the 6.2% payroll tax to earnings above \(\$400,000\), which could eliminate roughly 61%–66% of the long-range funding shortfall. [1, 2, 3]
Yet nothing gets done. It's only on the periphery of the national conversations we are having. The SS Fund being an aspect of a larger issue, the national debt. A daunting problem in need of shared sacrifice, cooperation, compromise, all the things that have become victims of partisan politics.
It was a striking imbalance, according to early estimates, one that the country has experienced only in rare circumstances — briefly during the pandemic, and in the aftermath of World War II. But the development barely seemed to register in the nation’s capital, where few policymakers bothered to acknowledge the latest warning sign about the government’s poor fiscal health.
The root of the problem is well-documented and widely known. U.S. debt has soared in recent years because of a mismatch between federal spending and tax revenue, one complicated by a rapidly aging population, which has driven up costs across government.
One thing is clear. The DC tradition of finger pointing, accusing the other side of being the problem, isn't going to solve anything. So do Americans have the capacity to insist their elected representatives work together on the problem. Or has political division doomed us to the inevitability of further decline?
The capability isn't the obstacle, it's the uniting part. For example, we've known for some time the Social Security Fund needs to be bolstered. A number of solutions have been floated including this one.
AI Overview
Fixing the Social Security "donut hole"—the gap where earnings above a certain cap (\(\$184,500\) in 2026) are not taxed, while lower incomes are—is primarily proposed by reintroducing taxes on high earners. The most popular proposal involves applying the 6.2% payroll tax to earnings above \(\$400,000\), which could eliminate roughly 61%–66% of the long-range funding shortfall. [1, 2, 3]
Yet nothing gets done. It's only on the periphery of the national conversations we are having. The SS Fund being an aspect of a larger issue, the national debt. A daunting problem in need of shared sacrifice, cooperation, compromise, all the things that have become victims of partisan politics.
As U.S. Debt Hits a Worrying Milestone, Washington Barely Notices
The U.S. government learned last week that it may have reached an unfortunate milestone: The size of its debt surpassed the nation’s total economic output.It was a striking imbalance, according to early estimates, one that the country has experienced only in rare circumstances — briefly during the pandemic, and in the aftermath of World War II. But the development barely seemed to register in the nation’s capital, where few policymakers bothered to acknowledge the latest warning sign about the government’s poor fiscal health.
The root of the problem is well-documented and widely known. U.S. debt has soared in recent years because of a mismatch between federal spending and tax revenue, one complicated by a rapidly aging population, which has driven up costs across government.
One thing is clear. The DC tradition of finger pointing, accusing the other side of being the problem, isn't going to solve anything. So do Americans have the capacity to insist their elected representatives work together on the problem. Or has political division doomed us to the inevitability of further decline?
