Notice that your FICA taxes went back up this year, to where they should be.Now if only the 1% would pay FICA on ALL their income, not just the first $120,000 or so, it would help.
Congress raided Social Security decades ago and now they want to punish the elderly who paid into SS for decades rather than making responsible decisions to refund it. A temporary tax on stock transactions would not only help with such matters, but it could cause people to invest for the long term instead of “hyper trading” for that 2cents on the dollar profit gambling on currency value or oil futures. There was a time investors put money into a stock they believed in and kept an eye on it and even voted when companies made decisions effecting the value of that stock. Now, hyper trading, the practice of using intricate formulas to do thousands of trades a minute, add to the volatility of international markets and make money for people who produce nothing but paper. You can’t build a nation on paper, it takes people, roads, electricity, food, water, and so much more. And those people have a right to believe that the nation they help build is going to do right by them when they are too old to work. The congress took stole social security, they now need to find a way to give it back without doing further harm to the people who built this nation and voted the legislators into office.Respectfully,C.
Ima_Idiot: You can’t make Glen Beck comments without facts. “Disability for a hangnail” doesn’t happen, but the statement riles the trailer trash. Next thing you’ll be stating is that Sarah Palin was a Rhodes scholar…
I can’t wait for the howling when the US Mint stamps a $1 trillion platinum coin and deposits it in the Treasury to fix the debt ceiling. Then make another one for Social Security.
Social Security is not “sound.” The only way O will be able to keep the illusion going is to increase the Social Security Wage tax, continue to raise the retirement age, eliminate cost of living increases and reduce the benefits being paid.The original program has grown far beyond what is was originally intended to do, as do most government programs. Politicians only look at the short term goal, " . . .there are excess funds available, let’s tack on another group to extend benefits too . . .", without consideration of the long term impact and normal fluctuations in systems. So now we have a government entitlement program whose original intent has been perverted to encompass more then originally intended by short sighted politicians.Oh, and the “trust fund” is no longer a reality, it hasn’t been for some time now. Any “surplus” funds from the past were used to buy US government bonds which as now coming due because Social Security Taxes are not covering what Social Security has to pay out now. Social Security is now cashing those bonds in order to make the required payments, but the government doesn’t have the money to pay the debt, so it borrows again to make the payments, it’s like using a credit card to make the payment on a different credit card, just stupid..Of course our dear politicians will “tweak” the program once again to give the illusion of soundness, but they aren’t addressing the fundamental issues and kicking the can down the road for someone else to deal with.To fix Social Security will require a fundamental restructuring of the program. It won’t be minor. And, thanks to demagoguery and denial of fiscal reality it will be difficult to accomplish. Maybe even impossible.Status Of The Social Security And Medicare Programs
The Reeps torched the programs with the help of the Dims. This has all been orchestrated, like Norquist envisioned, to drown the government in red ink to facilitate the cutting of social programs that go to help the middle class and the poor.
My Heavens, either you are grossly misinformed, or just being a troll once again (or should I say still)!
Social Security is NOT a ponzi scheme. That IS one of the biggest lies told to both the elderly (receiving current benefits, and the young who are to receive future benefits!!!!!!
Any and all funds that are not going out to pay current benefit recipients must be invested in treasury bills, you should know that such bills are what comprises the National Debt. And Social Security is the largest single holder of those securities. Almost $3 trillion of those securities are held by the Social Security Administration. And the current interest on those securities plus the current FICA taxes makes Social Security solvent at least until 2035, even if the economy does not improve.
If it improves nearly as much as most economists think it is going to, Social Security is solvent until 2042 to possibly 2050. During that time frame, if the top taxable amount is raised at no more than it has been raised during the last same amount of time, social security becomes solvent until after 2075 when the baby boomers are leaving the system. This then makes social security solvent until after the year 2100, when even my 10 year old grand son would be in his upper nineties!
Please, at least try to put your brain in gear before placing your fingers upon your keyboard, at least once in a while!!
The really, really, terrible part about Social Security is that it helps people. Republicans hate that.-It’s not enough for me to succeed. Others must fail.
There is another reason for the focus on Social Security (in addition to than the fact that at today’s rates, it will go broke in 2035). This other reason is that Reagan and Congress dramatially ramped up borrowing from the Social Security Trust Fund in 1987 and every administration and Congress since then ramped it up even further. The amount of money borrowed from the fund is now over $2.6 trillion.*Now that boomers are beginning to retire, and the amount of money going into and out of SS is leveling off, the Federal Government can’t borrow more from SS. So they have to either get all the money somewhere else or cut spending.*Imagine telling your mortgage lender that “I just bought a new car and took a cut in pay, and it is your fault that I can’t pay my mortgage. So you (the lender) better get your act together.” That is what the “gut SS” crowd is essentially saying today.*Sure, Social Security needs to be fixed, but it doesn’t need to be gutted. If we start now, it can be done through constant and gradual adjustments. And the Federal Government that spent that money should pay ALL OF IT back and look for funds and/or spending cuts somewhere else.*The problem is that our elected officials won’t admit that in addition to all of our other financial problems, they owe the American public another $2.6 trillion. This is not a Demcrat vs Republican issue. They are both guilty of raiding the fund, and both guilty of not wanting to talk about it. The difference between the parties is what they WANT TO DO about it.
Please observe (that is if you are even capable of reading)!
“When program revenues exceed payments (i.e., the program is in surplus) the extra funds are borrowed and used by the government for other purposes, but a legal obligation to program recipients is created to the extent this occurs. These surpluses add to the Trust Fund. At the end of 2011, the Trust Fund contained (or alternatively, was owed) $2.7 trillion, up $69 billion from 2010.1 The fund is required by law to be invested in non-marketable securities issued and guaranteed by the “full faith and credit” of the federal government."
I am a lier??
Besides, simple logic (which you seem to totally lack) would tell you that if social security holds almost $3 trillion dollars of the National Debt in its own Trust Fund, then what I stated about social security must be true.
The next time you call me a lier, I will make it a crusade to flag every rotten post you make on these boards!!!!!!!!
And if they then ban me, that is also fine, as a retired and patriotic ex aerospace worker, I have plenty to do to keep my mind occupied withut coming here and seeing the kind of hateful drivel that you post here!!!!!
Well, 30 years may be enough time to last the rest of your life, but for my generation, we’ll be retiring in thirty years. Enjoy the money we’re paying you, because according to you, we won’t be seeing any of it.
Nebulous Premium Member over 11 years ago
Notice that your FICA taxes went back up this year, to where they should be.Now if only the 1% would pay FICA on ALL their income, not just the first $120,000 or so, it would help.
Ketira over 11 years ago
I’m glad someone saw through that propaganda. I’m trying to get disability. Now if only it didn’t take a lawyer to go through all the paperwork….. : /
chazandru over 11 years ago
Congress raided Social Security decades ago and now they want to punish the elderly who paid into SS for decades rather than making responsible decisions to refund it. A temporary tax on stock transactions would not only help with such matters, but it could cause people to invest for the long term instead of “hyper trading” for that 2cents on the dollar profit gambling on currency value or oil futures. There was a time investors put money into a stock they believed in and kept an eye on it and even voted when companies made decisions effecting the value of that stock. Now, hyper trading, the practice of using intricate formulas to do thousands of trades a minute, add to the volatility of international markets and make money for people who produce nothing but paper. You can’t build a nation on paper, it takes people, roads, electricity, food, water, and so much more. And those people have a right to believe that the nation they help build is going to do right by them when they are too old to work. The congress took stole social security, they now need to find a way to give it back without doing further harm to the people who built this nation and voted the legislators into office.Respectfully,C.
Mneedle over 11 years ago
The Social Security system may be good for thirty years, but that is only because it is funded by general funds. There is no trust fund.
ennui_rudy over 11 years ago
Ima_Idiot: You can’t make Glen Beck comments without facts. “Disability for a hangnail” doesn’t happen, but the statement riles the trailer trash. Next thing you’ll be stating is that Sarah Palin was a Rhodes scholar…
rockngolfer over 11 years ago
I can’t wait for the howling when the US Mint stamps a $1 trillion platinum coin and deposits it in the Treasury to fix the debt ceiling. Then make another one for Social Security.
dpbriley over 11 years ago
Social Security is not “sound.” The only way O will be able to keep the illusion going is to increase the Social Security Wage tax, continue to raise the retirement age, eliminate cost of living increases and reduce the benefits being paid.The original program has grown far beyond what is was originally intended to do, as do most government programs. Politicians only look at the short term goal, " . . .there are excess funds available, let’s tack on another group to extend benefits too . . .", without consideration of the long term impact and normal fluctuations in systems. So now we have a government entitlement program whose original intent has been perverted to encompass more then originally intended by short sighted politicians.Oh, and the “trust fund” is no longer a reality, it hasn’t been for some time now. Any “surplus” funds from the past were used to buy US government bonds which as now coming due because Social Security Taxes are not covering what Social Security has to pay out now. Social Security is now cashing those bonds in order to make the required payments, but the government doesn’t have the money to pay the debt, so it borrows again to make the payments, it’s like using a credit card to make the payment on a different credit card, just stupid..Of course our dear politicians will “tweak” the program once again to give the illusion of soundness, but they aren’t addressing the fundamental issues and kicking the can down the road for someone else to deal with.To fix Social Security will require a fundamental restructuring of the program. It won’t be minor. And, thanks to demagoguery and denial of fiscal reality it will be difficult to accomplish. Maybe even impossible.Status Of The Social Security And Medicare Programs
joe vignone over 11 years ago
The Reeps torched the programs with the help of the Dims. This has all been orchestrated, like Norquist envisioned, to drown the government in red ink to facilitate the cutting of social programs that go to help the middle class and the poor.
frodo1008 over 11 years ago
My Heavens, either you are grossly misinformed, or just being a troll once again (or should I say still)!
Social Security is NOT a ponzi scheme. That IS one of the biggest lies told to both the elderly (receiving current benefits, and the young who are to receive future benefits!!!!!!
Any and all funds that are not going out to pay current benefit recipients must be invested in treasury bills, you should know that such bills are what comprises the National Debt. And Social Security is the largest single holder of those securities. Almost $3 trillion of those securities are held by the Social Security Administration. And the current interest on those securities plus the current FICA taxes makes Social Security solvent at least until 2035, even if the economy does not improve.If it improves nearly as much as most economists think it is going to, Social Security is solvent until 2042 to possibly 2050. During that time frame, if the top taxable amount is raised at no more than it has been raised during the last same amount of time, social security becomes solvent until after 2075 when the baby boomers are leaving the system. This then makes social security solvent until after the year 2100, when even my 10 year old grand son would be in his upper nineties!
Please, at least try to put your brain in gear before placing your fingers upon your keyboard, at least once in a while!!
braindead Premium Member over 11 years ago
The really, really, terrible part about Social Security is that it helps people. Republicans hate that.-It’s not enough for me to succeed. Others must fail.
Marty Z over 11 years ago
There is another reason for the focus on Social Security (in addition to than the fact that at today’s rates, it will go broke in 2035). This other reason is that Reagan and Congress dramatially ramped up borrowing from the Social Security Trust Fund in 1987 and every administration and Congress since then ramped it up even further. The amount of money borrowed from the fund is now over $2.6 trillion.*Now that boomers are beginning to retire, and the amount of money going into and out of SS is leveling off, the Federal Government can’t borrow more from SS. So they have to either get all the money somewhere else or cut spending.*Imagine telling your mortgage lender that “I just bought a new car and took a cut in pay, and it is your fault that I can’t pay my mortgage. So you (the lender) better get your act together.” That is what the “gut SS” crowd is essentially saying today.*Sure, Social Security needs to be fixed, but it doesn’t need to be gutted. If we start now, it can be done through constant and gradual adjustments. And the Federal Government that spent that money should pay ALL OF IT back and look for funds and/or spending cuts somewhere else.*The problem is that our elected officials won’t admit that in addition to all of our other financial problems, they owe the American public another $2.6 trillion. This is not a Demcrat vs Republican issue. They are both guilty of raiding the fund, and both guilty of not wanting to talk about it. The difference between the parties is what they WANT TO DO about it.
frodo1008 over 11 years ago
Please observe (that is if you are even capable of reading)!
“When program revenues exceed payments (i.e., the program is in surplus) the extra funds are borrowed and used by the government for other purposes, but a legal obligation to program recipients is created to the extent this occurs. These surpluses add to the Trust Fund. At the end of 2011, the Trust Fund contained (or alternatively, was owed) $2.7 trillion, up $69 billion from 2010.1 The fund is required by law to be invested in non-marketable securities issued and guaranteed by the “full faith and credit” of the federal government."
I am a lier??
Besides, simple logic (which you seem to totally lack) would tell you that if social security holds almost $3 trillion dollars of the National Debt in its own Trust Fund, then what I stated about social security must be true.
The next time you call me a lier, I will make it a crusade to flag every rotten post you make on these boards!!!!!!!!
And if they then ban me, that is also fine, as a retired and patriotic ex aerospace worker, I have plenty to do to keep my mind occupied withut coming here and seeing the kind of hateful drivel that you post here!!!!!
Reagan!!!!!!!!!!!!!
TKogon over 11 years ago
Well, 30 years may be enough time to last the rest of your life, but for my generation, we’ll be retiring in thirty years. Enjoy the money we’re paying you, because according to you, we won’t be seeing any of it.