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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSeniors on Social Security Could Face $460 Monthly Cut to Benefits - Republicans are fine with that.
https://www.newsweek.com/seniors-on-social-security-could-face-460-monthly-cut-to-benefits-11417911It's not "insolvency". Social Security will always pay benefits as long as workers and employers continue to pay into it. That's not "insolvent". It's not "bankruptcy" or "broke".
IT'S A SHORTFALL that can be easily fixed by LIFTING THE CAP and other small adjustments.
BILLIONAIRES & Corporations hate it & want it gone because they don't want to pay ANYTHING into it. They will SCREEAAAM bloody murder if they have to pay more into it if the cap is lifted. So they are lobbying Congress to CUT SENIORS' BENEFITS instead.
_ _ _ _ _
"In no way do I expect Social Security to see a monthly benefit cut. The reality is simple: the people receiving Social Security actually vote and they show up consistently. No politician survives arguing for cutting benefits to the most reliable voting bloc in the country. That makes this scenario highly unlikely, Thompson told Newsweek.
He continued: At the same time, the government continues to spend aggressively in areas where the U.S. already leads the world by multiples, particularly military spending. Asking Americans to justify endless war spending while cutting support for their own citizens is not a tradeoff most people will tolerate over the long term.
Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor for the University of Tennessee at Martin, echoed Thompsons sentiment.
They know the alternative would be catastrophic for not just those affected by cuts, but their political careers, as well, Beene told Newsweek. However, its still a great reminder for soon-to-be retirees to not rely completely on that monthly check. Save in your 401k and IRA with the anticipation Social Security may be cut to make sure youll have enough to cover any possible funding gap.
FalloutShelter
(14,243 posts)Everybody sing...
PatSeg
(52,429 posts)Great bumper sticker slogan.
mobeau69
(12,247 posts)Beartracks
(14,429 posts)
Americanme
(416 posts)maliaSmith
(168 posts)Cap must be raised and ALL income must be taxed for SS and Medicare.
CousinIT
(12,330 posts)Midnight Writer
(25,185 posts)popsdenver
(1,781 posts)Reagan DOUBLING the deduction for SSI......"To save Social Security".................7.5% to 15%.........
Then, Ray-Gun Ronnie.....used all the windfall money coming in to the Feds, to give out the LARGEST TAX CUT EVER, to the wealthy....
And, hilariously, even the so called "Reagan Democrats" of the time....cheered him doing it............
travelingthrulife
(4,699 posts)never even feel it.
mobeau69
(12,247 posts)Emile
(41,132 posts)SS trust fund.
popsdenver
(1,781 posts)the money for Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, etc etc etc.........
It is almost like Political Darwinism.........
Gum Logger
(349 posts)popsdenver
(1,781 posts)that his stalling on COVID, only resulted in an additional 500,000 deaths here in the U.S. He was in hopes of more quasi genocide deaths.....
Of all the world's deaths, the U.S.'s Covid deaths were DOUBLE, per capita, of any other nation due to his intentional delays and screwing around. And that was diluted by Florida and Texas not bothering to tally deaths, or intentionally mis-stating the cause of death on death certificates.
chouchou
(2,888 posts)Perhaps maybe like: "Disgusted"
ColoringFool
(386 posts)haele
(15,156 posts)Ah yes - bootstrap philosophy. Totally devoid of understanding the income divide between the average worker and "professionals".
If you're a worker, you can put more in your 401k or IRA, and spend years raising your family in a tent by the river or using a cycle of family shelters, house-sharing, homeless clothing give-aways, and food pantries, or you can raise your family/present enough of a presentable appearance in public to keep a decent paying job by renting a "cheap apartment" and going grocery and thrift store shopping fairly regularly - and hope to die before you hit retirement age.
CousinIT
(12,330 posts)...what life is like for the working poor or middle class. Unfortunately, most of Congress are quite wealthy too - and they get cushy retirements and healthcare WE PAY FOR - while they vote to cut ours.
Dirtbags!
Rebl2
(17,488 posts)that, I would be getting less than 300 dollars a month.🤬
pecosbob
(8,332 posts)Just a prediction...
leftstreet
(39,273 posts)31st Street Bridge
(125 posts)Maybe more.
orangecrush
(29,039 posts)Most people on SS vote.
popsdenver
(1,781 posts)Most people on SSI DISABILITY, vote
Johonny
(25,682 posts)This is money that will be pulled out of the economy. It's anti-stimulus.
gulliver
(13,782 posts)There's no better way to undermine Social Security than to let trust fund insolvency continue to be a thing. How stupid we have to be to think, perhaps, that it can wait and not realize that waiting causes problems now.
You see it at the end of this OP. Someone telling you you should be sure to save money in your 401(k) and IRAs just to guard against the looming insolvency of the trust fund. That's a direct statement that Social Security isn't to be fully trusted. And, SMH, it just goes right over the heads of everyone.
Leaving the trust fund on a path to insolvency is like creating an ad against Social Security's reliability that runs every day until the crisis is averted. Are we really this stupid?
This is why I keep saying, "Core issues folks!"
dugog55
(368 posts)is because wages have been stagnant since the mid 80s. Had everyone's wages kept up with inflation, SS would still be solvent. Reagan broke the unions and we lost a huge chunk of high wage earners, and the force behind keeping all wages competitive. All the cap raises in the last 30 years have not helped because fewer and fewer workers met the cap. Most were well below it. Right now, raising the cap is still a gap-step solution. Getting a nationwide workforce making more than minimum wage salaries would help immensely.
popsdenver
(1,781 posts)Reagan, like WBush and Trump, are merely pawns, or front men.
More was done during the entire 80's to obliterate the middle and lower classes, than in any period since........
As far as Reagan's administration, one of his crowning blows was:
Reagan, (actually HWBush) DOUBLING the deduction for SSI......"To save Social Security".................7.5% to 15%.........
Then, Ray-Gun Ronnie and the Republicans, along with most Dems,.....used all the windfall money coming in to the Feds, to give out the LARGEST TAX CUT EVER, almost exclusively to the wealthy....
And, hilariously, even the so called "Reagan Democrats" of the time....cheered him doing it............
ColoringFool
(386 posts)Fiendish Thingy
(22,332 posts)Until the last possible moment, sometime in 2033-35, when the shortfall is predicted to kick in.
If the filibuster is still in place, then republicans will demand concessions like they did in the re-engineering of SS during the Reagan years.
They will insist on raising the full retirement age for millennials and Gen Zs to 70 or even older, and reducing benefits further for those who take benefits before then.
Count on it.
Or, we could elect a progressive president and a senate willing to kill the filibuster, and lift the cap in 2029, and SS would be able to pay benefits for decades, if not forever.
Wonder Why
(6,598 posts)Oops! I just looked at the calendar and realized what year it is! I'm 79 already.
You young 'uns are stealing all our money.
timms139
(501 posts)social Security in front of their messages as one of the first things to happen after the mid terms.The Ice problem and all the other things Trump ruined should be there but Social Security should be mentioned everytime they speak .
Miles Archer
(22,099 posts)And Zuckerberg. And Bezos. And Thiel. For GOD'S SAKE please confirm they will still get their tax cuts.
markodochartaigh
(5,175 posts)"However, its still a great reminder for soon-to-be retirees to not rely completely on that monthly check. Save in your 401k and IRA with the anticipation Social Security may be cut to make sure youll have enough to cover any possible funding gap."
It is NOT a reminder for soon-to-be retirees. It is a reminder for people who have more than a decade left to retire, or the few who are soon to retire who are in the top 10% and can afford to throw wads of cash towards retirement. The great majority of soon-to-be retirees cannot afford to put enough towards retirement in their final decade of working to make up that difference.
snot
(11,580 posts)since the current cap was first adopted; and then peg the cap to inflation in those necessities.
(Note: Inflation in necessities such as food, housing, and healthcare has been much higher than in the CPI as calculated by the government.)