Social Security won't be able to pay full benefits by 2034, a year earlier than expected due to the pandemic

[Clipper]

I think what we need is to get rid of passing your SS to your spouse upon death. Most couples today work and the wife has her own SS account. It's fine if your spouse doesn't work and has no SS savings, but for those that do, we should eliminate that benefit.

You obviously don't know shit about how the spousal benefit works.

It's really not rocket science, Ace.

 

[Clipper]

Is that what you think...... You do know that your employer matches your payroll contributions, don't you? That being said, SS sends out pamphlets ever couple of years or so posting what you paid into the system each and every working year, and an estimated payout when you retire. If you are an older person (let's say 60) next time they send it out, take that pamphlet to any reputable investment company, and ask them to calculate what you would be worth today if you didn't contribute to SS, and had all that money invested in a conservative growth plan instead. I think you'd shit yourself on what you'd be worth today.

George Bush realized this. So he wanted to allow us to take a very small portion (I believe it was like 2%) out of our SS contributions and put it into our own IRA. The program would be voluntary so it was your option if you wanted to participate in it or not. The Democrats had a shit fit. They fought against it tooth and nail as did a few Republicans.

There are already "voluntary" retirements plans that workers can invest in. They're called IRA's.

Ever hear of them, genius?

 

[Clipper]

So why am I a piece of shit for suggesting it? My father basically supported my mother; both are alive today. However my mother only worked part-time, and many times not at all. I have no problem with my fathers SS going to her. But what I have a problem with is a couple each making let's say 50K a year, both have their own account, and then when one dies, able to transfer their benefits to their spouse.

Yes, we need to make sacrifices to keep SS going.........well, everybody but me.

Clown, that's not how it works, Clown.

Try to keep up, Clown.

 

[Clipper]

They have no choice but to keep it going due to the fact most seniors vote. But it won't come without some pain somewhere. My retirement age was supposed to be 65. That's what I was promised for contributing to the system. In my middle-age they decided to change it to two more years of working.

You can thank your buddies in the Republican Party who keep raising the reirement age so workers can't collect or collect benefits for a shorter period of time. If it was up to some of the trust fund punks in that party people would be forced to work until they die.

 

[SweetTea]

Raise the cap and the problem is GONE

Yeah, because the "rich" don't already pay their fair share, right? As it stands now the average American won't get back what he/she put into SS. If the cap is removed, those making more than ~128k would be paying even more into a system in which they will never get back. I would be willing to be they will also start cutting SS benefits based on how net worth or how much a person has in their retirement plans. The answer to problems is not ALWAYS to penalize successful people and have them subsidize the porch sitters that vote overwhelmingly for Democrats.

 

[SweetTea]

You can thank your buddies in the Republican Party who keep raising the reirement age so workers can't collect or collect benefits for a shorter period of time. If it was up to some of the trust fund punks in that party people would be forced to work until they die.

So the solution is to rob those who make more to pay for those who make less by removing or raising the cap? Thievery seems to be a predominant theme among Democrats.

 

[kyzr]

You want to remove the cap?

Does that mean that a billionaire will get a five million dollar Social Security pension each year or do you want to steal their money and they get no pension?

How about to "fix" Social Security we fucking do away with it? How about you taking care of your retirement and I take care of mine and we leave the filthy ass government out of it? Then we both get to keep the 7.5% that the government takes out of our wages. Our employers also get to keep their 7.5%. Good deal all around.

1. Removing the cap will not put any of the 1%ers in the poor house. Their lifestyle will not be affected. They would pay the same PERCENT of their income as the rest of us pay instead of getting an undeserved tax break, i.e. close that loop-hole.

2. No one is stealing anyone's money, should Buffett pay a lower percentage of SS tax than his cleaning lady?

3. Run on eliminating SS, see how many votes you'd get, I double-dare you.

 

[kyzr]

Yeah, because the "rich" don't already pay their fair share, right? As it stands now the average American won't get back what he/she put into SS. If the cap is removed, those making more than ~128k would be paying even more into a system in which they will never get back. I would be willing to be they will also start cutting SS benefits based on how net worth or how much a person has in their retirement plans. The answer to problems is not ALWAYS to penalize successful people and have them subsidize the porch sitters that vote overwhelmingly for Democrats.

SS is not a program for "porch sitters" its a retirement program for workers that worked well for 85-years. You get out of it proportional to what you put into it. No one would be penalized, we would all pay the same percentage of income, instead of Warren Buffett paying less than his cleaning ladies.

 

[kyzr]

So the solution is to rob those who make more to pay for those who make less by removing or raising the cap? Thievery seems to be a predominant theme among Democrats.

No one is "robbed" of anything, we would all pay the same percentage of income to SS.
Go ahead and run on cutting or eliminating SS, see how that plays out on election day. I double-dare you.

 

[22lcidw]

You can thank your buddies in the Republican Party who keep raising the reirement age so workers can't collect or collect benefits for a shorter period of time. If it was up to some of the trust fund punks in that party people would be forced to work until they die.

No one kept raising the age without reason. That was done in the 1980's. And the contributions from paychecks were risen also. We were told by politicians that this would last until the 2070's easily. Prog politicians were in a partying mood. Claude Pepper of Florida and Tip O'Neill played their roles. Promising real cuts to destructive socialism will be made. Did not happen.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

2. No one is stealing anyone's money, should Buffett pay a lower percentage of SS tax than his cleaning lady?

Yes she should, because Buffett isn't going to collect on that program but his cleaning lady will.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

You can thank your buddies in the Republican Party who keep raising the reirement age so workers can't collect or collect benefits for a shorter period of time. If it was up to some of the trust fund punks in that party people would be forced to work until they die.

Just Republicans? Are you sure about that? It became evident decades ago that these programs on their paths would never be sustainable. If they didn't raise the retirement age back then, the system may be completely broke today.

But again, this is nothing but kicking the can down the road and not coming up with a permanent solution.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

There are already "voluntary" retirements plans that workers can invest in. They're called IRA's.

Ever hear of them, genius?

I have an IRA troll. But you still have to contribute the same money to your SS account while working and it all goes to the government virtually interest free.

 

[jbander]

Social Security is a SOCIALIST PROGRAM that was always meant to buy votes and rob taxpayers.

It is only if you yourself defines what socialism is , this may be the most stupid non stop comment from the right that they have , the socialist comedy act. You simply have no clue what socialism is.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

1. You are not sending the bill to anyone, we are all still paying into SS. Its just that the cap would be removed so the uber wealthy pay the same percent as the rest of us, an equal percentage, as you prefer.
2. The plan worked well for 85 years, there is no better plan.

When you raise the ceiling what happens? Those that hit the ceiling pay more, so how can you say we are not sending the bill to anybody? When you pay more in taxes (no matter how it's done) you send the bill to somebody else. And unless those who pay above current ceiling contributions get more, than they are funding the program for the rest of us.

 

[jbander]

Social Security will never cut benefits. Shortfalls will just be funded from the general fund. That’s always been obvious since the early seventies.

Every dollar that has been contributed to SS has been put in the general fund from day 1. As is should have been. So every dollar now comes from the general fund. The right is made up of goofballs that have no idea whats going on.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

Go ahead and run on ending SS, see how many votes you'd get.
How would you fund paying SS checks to current retirees?
I agree college loans need to be paid back.
But I also support 2-years free community college for job training

Sure, we are only headed to 30 trillion in debt. Why not 4 years of free community college? After all, free means everybody that provides the education work for free, right?

 

[jbander]

We pay a social security tax that isn't given to those that pay in necessarily....children of gang bangers killed get it, those claiming a bad back early on scam the system often, illegals get it...

If the money paid in was used only for those that paid in----there would be an excess. Time to kick the dead beats off.

What a banana!

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

Ok, one last time. That was part of the 1935 plan.
Things changed over time, as most things do.

I fortunately have been blessed with the means to save and invest on my own.
I will still get a SS payment, in 2 years, and that will be used to supplement my planned retirement.
By collecting and spending my SS check, I will be able to save more of my planned retirement for my family.

I did the same but that doesn't address my point. Yes, you can (and should have) alternative support you create on your own for retirement, but since we will all collect from the program we supported all of our lives, it's still going to go broke, so something needs to be done because the current system is not working.

 

[HenryBHough]

In most cases when a 401K plan is on offer - especially one with a generous employer-match - you'd have to be a fool to not participate. Which is why participation is much higher among conservatives than among liberals. Conservatives save for retirement. Liberals whine to suckle at the public teat. Perhaps because they are not typically weaned from mommy's titty until age 25 (government defined as a sort of maturity under Obamacare rules).