Social Security

[lordsummerisle]

If Trump wins reelection he says he will sign an executive order to permanently stop the payroll tax. This of course will unravel social security as we know it within several years. Is anyone else as alarmed as I am about this? Can this be stopped by Congress? Have any congresspeople spoken up about this...?

[BigmanPigman]

1. Add it to the list.

[LakeArenal]

2. Vote.

[Shermann]

3. There was talk of challenging it in court on account of being unconstitutional

But it's sort of dropped out of the headlines. I wouldn't waste thought on it pre-election.

[exboyfil]

7. Actually you should stampede the herd with it

I haven't seen any ads in Iowa by either Biden or Greenfield. It would be totally truthful.

1. Trump is signing executive order to stop SS withholding (also Medicare).
2. That withholding goes to pay current benefits.
3. Without the funding stream, the Treasuries in the Trust Fund will need to be sold back to the Federal government to pay current benefits.
4. That money will have to be borrowed.
5. After three years, under current law, the checks go to zero (no funding source and no Trust Fund Treasuries to sell).

[exboyfil]

4. In three years the benefits will stop

completely based upon current law. Before then the general fund will have to make up about $1T/yr. in lost revenue (ie borrow it) as it retires the bonds held by Social Security.

I don't understand why the Democratic party isn't emphasizing this more.

[questionseverything]

10. I don't understand either

Democrats and Biden should be pounding him on this

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. He can't do it. He says he'll do a lot of things that he can't/won't do

and this is one of them. Only Congress has the power to tax; executive orders are subject to judicial review and can be overturned if found unconstitutional, which this clearly would be. Don't worry, it's not going to happen.

[groundloop]

9. The trouble is he WILL do it, it will take YEARS of court battles to undo everything he's done

He'll do it and GOPers will tie it up in the court system for years, all the while the Social Security trust fund will be shriveling up.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

12. I doubt it. Social Security has always been the third rail of politics,

and as craven and cowardly as the GOP is right now, they know better than to destroy a program that's extremely popular with their base.

[exboyfil]

13. Yes. Take him at his word

Just like McConnell trying to say the Supreme Court will not rule the ACA is unconstitutional.


We need better attack ads. I haven't seem much out of Greenfield or Biden in Iowa.

[Ohiogal]

6. The fact that he would even suggest it

and that it doesn’t faze his ardent supporters just boggles my mind.

[onethatcares]

8. you bet I'm more than concerned

worked my ass off over 50 years. paid in, and have gotten to collect.

If it goes away, so do I. As a self employed carpenter all these years I'd have one good year, 1.5 slow years or the truck would braak, or the kids needed medical or dental care, or the wife needed tires on her car and it was impossible to save enough to invest.

What I did in an investment was an annuity that I got screwed out of due to changes in COI.

I'll never make it.

BTW, how sick of a person do you have to be in order to wake in the morning thinking about how you're going to screw your fellow citizens that day? I include the puke representatives in that assessment.

[Under The Radar]

11. Promising to eliminate everyone's taxes? He can't pass a budget now,

....he can’t do it with an executive order. It takes congress to make a law.
Yet someone must pay for pay for the common defense, general welfare and the cash to promote the blessings of Liberty because contrary to what the idiot thinks, Mexico nor China is paying for anything.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

14. It scares the shit out of me

I get SSI. I am disabled I have no idea how I would survive without the help I get.. I would lose my home,my cat, everything and I have no clue how I would afford my diabeties medicine, get therapy or even eat.

When I think about it and what most likely would happen to me and others I know or don't know who are on SSI too .. I think of killing myself.

[lordsummerisle]

15. Scary Thought

This could eventually be brought before SCOTUS...

[customerserviceguy]

16. Social Security

is in trouble no matter what. We need the economy to recover to be able to have enough payroll taxes going in to the system to keep it afloat.

We have drastically cut back our spending to be able to save money for the time when SS benefits are cut by a third. We have our pensions, but mine is fairly modest, but I think we can live on that and 2/3rds of our SS checks.