Sense of DU: Worried about Social Security cuts?

[MannyGoldstein]

How worried are you about Social Security getting cut in the next few months?

(I'd appreciate if you can keep this kicked and/or reced so that a bunch of people have a chance to answer.)

Thanks!

[damntexdem]

1. Will become eligible for Medicare this year.

For full SS next year.

Assuming they're not changed, that is.

If they are, then ALL politicians who participate in the butchery will be my political enemies from that time forward.

[notesdev]

2. I'm under 44 and not worried about SS

The reason I am not worried about SS is because I have known for at least 15 years that Social Security never had a chance of making it through the outsized Boomer generation intact. Ideally they will get rid of the pretense entirely, that there will be anything left in the kitty once the Boomers are done gorging themselves at the trough; at least that way I don't have to endure many more years of these insults to my intelligence.

What I am worried about is a hyperinflationary monetary policy (bought gas or food recently? It's starting...) that will render all our discussions on SS, and many other topics, moot. It will be no problem to hand out $10,000 weekly checks to every senior citizen - but it will cost you $400 for a can of dog food (and not the premium stuff either).

[sinkingfeeling]

8. Aren't you sweet? Have you and your employers paid in over $250,000 into SS yet? I have.

[notesdev]

12. About that much, yes

slightly less, but not so much as to be statistically significant.

It's the law that I am owed back none of it. And I have known all this time that any pretense I would get it back was a deliberate fraud being perpetrated upon me, those of similar age, and those younger, by a craven and oddly immature older generation that would apparently take to sucking the lifeblood from their own children (as they plan to do, metaphorically) to sustain their own lives, if they could.

And they will try.

And they will fail.

[bvar22]

21. If you really are under 44, and have "Paid In" over $250K,

then you have nothing to worry about.
Social Security will mean next to nothing to you when you retire in luxury.
Social Security is a Life Line for the Working Class & The Poor.

[sabrina 1]

11. You are very misinformed and obviously haven't been reading

many of the excellent OPs on the facts about SS and the Baby Boomers. That is a rightwing lie, one of the more egregious and outright deliberate lies.

The truth is that the baby boomers not only fully paid for their own retirement, they paid for their parents AND contributed to the huge surplus, over 2 trillion which will increase even without doing anything, to double that by 2023. So there will be plenty of money for several future generations, as far into the future as 2075 or further, without doing much of anything, and those figures are based on the current unemployment rates. If the economy improves, the future of SS is even brighter.

However, the Government has been borrowing from the 2 trillion dollar SS fund for wars, for bailouts of corrupt Wall st gamblers, mostly for things that do not benefit the American people. NOW they do not want to repay that debt so they are attempting to make the working people pay.

The Boomers, having paid more into the fund than any other generation, are not going to affect it all, other than positively.

Whenever I see this stuff repeated, I realize how effective Rightwing Propaganda has been and wonder why the Left does not even try to counter it with the same intensity.

Please do your own research on this. I used to believe it also, but then began to see articles from some of the most respected economists in the country trying to counter those lies, and so I did my own research.

We are lied to about everything, but that lie really worked, even on people who normally question everything, like me and you. But it really is way past time to stop allowing them to destroy one of the most successful and necessary programs ever.

[notesdev]

14. OPs don't pay the bills

Please, spare me the rehash of fiscal denialism.

Sure, the boomers paid for their own retirements.

Then they elected a bunch of folks who took their retirement money and spent it on the political equivalent of crack and hookers.

Then they re-elected these folks to the tune of 95% incumbency retention rate for a generation.

Now they are coming to future generations and demanding their money. From the point of view of being a member of a post-Boomer generation, this is indeed as grossly offensive as it sound.

If the Boomers had really saved their own retirement money, where is it? Why then are you asking for your retirement from me and the rest of the younger folks - didn't you just say you saved your own money?

Any person younger than 50 who puts up with this nonsense is a fool, and will be a dead-broke fool by the time his parents' generation is done with his broken, used-up shell.

[CelticThunder]

23. If you're saying all boomers voted for SS slashers you can't be taken seriously at all.

[aquart]

24. Know the story about the father and son?

They were very poor and it was a harsh, cold winter. Finally, the father said to the son, "There's nothing else to do, we cannot afford to feed your grandfather and survive ourselves." So he handed the old man, his father, a blanket and sent him out into the snow.

The boy rushed out after his grandfather brandishing a knife. He grabbed the blanket and hacked it into two pieces, gave one to the old man and rushed back inside with the other half.

"What did you do," cried his father. "That's all he had!"

"This?" asked the boy. "This is the half I'm saving for you."

[sabrina 1]

33. You make a lot of assumptions just in this post, which

confirms my initial impression that you do not bother much with facts. Assumptions are always easier, and most of the time wrong as your post proves beyond a doubt.

This has to be the stupidest comment I have ever had directed towards me and that is saying something:

Why then are you asking for your retirement from me and the rest of the younger folks - didn't you just say you saved your own money?

No, I did not say 'I saved MY own money'. Can you read? I know from your post that everything is about YOU, but for most people the world doesn't revolve around them. I said, and try to read slowly this time. 'Boomers saved their own money'. Where you got that jumbled mess of thinking from that statement I cannot even guess. But to make it simple for you, I am NOT a boomer. Does one have to be a boomer to correct rightwing lies about SS?

If that is how you normally interpret what you read, with huge and false assumptions, it definitely explains your total lack of knowledge about this entire subject. You sound like a lot of other older, middle-people I know who fell for the propaganda about SS. Younger people know better, they are better informed, probably due to having more access to information.

[unblock]

13. reagan and congress DOUBLED payroll taxes to prevent EXACTLY this problem

they deliberately built up a huge surplus to handle the eminently predictable retirment of the baby boomers.

it's a complete fraud to NOW say that there are problems because of this THAT problem was already addressed and paid for!


the only real problem is that they federal government borrowed from this surplus for other purposes and doesn't want to pay it back.

[notesdev]

15. Correction

federal government borrowed from this surplus for other purposes and doesn't want to pay it back.

The federal government can't pay it back. Which is why the financial crisis happened in the first place, this country accumulated more debt than it could repay. Now that the world is waking up to this fact, we are looking at tops, $3-5T more in borrowing before the whole enterprise comes to a full stop, through lack of ability of others to continue to finance our deficits, and lack of credibility in the promise that we'll actually be good for what we borrowed.

As we see from the wailing and crying of the Boomers who are suddenly upset upon realizing that they themselves spent their own retirement money down to nothing and that replacement funds are nowhere to be found, there are a lot of people in this world who think they are owed things - and some may, in truth and justice, actually be owed - but they ain't going to get it.

[MannyGoldstein]

27. It can easily be paid by restoring tax rates for the wealthiest

to historical levels.

They've been cut by 2/3rds: http://fdrdemocrats.org/the-common-sense-guide-to-social-security/5/

[unblock]

28. as you said, it ain't social security that's the problem.

it's other spending, and insuffient other taxation.
payroll taxes are DEDICATED to social security and medicare, and THOSE ACCOUNT ARE LARGELY FINE.

if you want justice, go after the military contractors and the ultra-rich and the so on. THOSE are the ones who overspent and skimped on their taxes. don't go after the ones who paid faithfully over an entire working lifetime into a dedicated fund.

besides, i take issue with the notion that it "can't" be paid in full. restore real progressive taxation at levels that worked brilliantly in the past and we're fine.

[LaurenG]

18. You really need to rethink your hate speech. Gorging themselves? Like that is even possible.

Seriously, who do you think has been paying into ss for the last 30-40 years? Not you I take it.



Edit:typo

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[leftstreet]

3. Did I miss a meeting? Weren't we just talking about a Public Option the other day?

How quickly things change

:-(

[Adsos Letter]

5. You didn't miss the meeting...

none of us were truly invited.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. I am not only worried about it......and I'm collecting it now...

But anyone (Dem or Repub) who messes with it has my eternal wrath to contend with.

Recommended.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

6. Cuts, partial privatization -

anything that fundamentally changes how SS functions or contributes to the citizenry.

[Adsos Letter]

7. K&R

[w8liftinglady]

9. For the record, SSDI kept me from being homeless after my brain surgery

I dread what lies SS. They will cut SS along the same lines as the VA... tiers 7 and 8 (income levels)
What they fail to realize is that without a second income,most people can not survive on SS alone as is. When cutbacks arrive...get out the cat food and plastic bags....

[daleanime]

10. It's not about age...

it's about whats right. My parents worked hard at shitty jobs their entire lives, Dad since he has 16, and its been 2-3 years since there's been a cost of living increase?:nuke:









Too bad, so sad. It's never been about the people-it's alway about the money.:banghead:

[Poboy]

16. Younger people better care, we'll be the ones to be taking in our parents.

[zorahopkins]

17. EXTREMELY Worried

I am on Social Security and I am Extremely worried about cuts.

(I'm beyond being "very" worried)

[JoePhilly]

19. What ... no APOPLECTIC???

[Scuba]

22. I'm not so worried mine will be cut as future generations. n/t

[Buns_of_Fire]

29. I think those over 55 or so probably don't have much to worry about, themselves.

Any congresscritter who would dare vote to cut benefits for those in that age bracket (and older) should expect to meet a very chilly reception when they return to their home districts -- if they dare show their face at all.

But, like you, I fear those younger than that are about to get boned. I imagine we'll have a better feel for how much after the President's speech tomorrow.

[Scuba]

31. I have two "special needs" children...

...now in their 20's. They can't afford to support them selves now. How will they manage when they are 70?

[Buns_of_Fire]

32. I wish I had an answer (or even a suggestion) for you. I don't. I'm sorry.

But maybe, just maybe, we'll all be able to find some sliver of hope in tomorrow's speech. I hope so. :hug:

[MannyGoldstein]

34. I also have a special needs child

I think he'll basically be OK, but the current "let's have a Serious Adult conversation about screwing the poor and disadvantaged" environment scares the hell out of me.

[DianeK]

25. kick

[hamsterjill]

26. Where's the category for "scared shitless"?

Yes, I'm worried. I'm in my early fifties. I've worked all of my life paying into Social Security with each and every paycheck. Right or wrong, agree or disagree with me, but it was promised to me and I believe I should get my share.

Unfortunately for me and a bunch of others in my age bracket, I've not had the luxury of saving big bucks on my own for retirement. I've been too busy trying to live from paycheck to paycheck, paying the bills, and putting food on the table.

[sakabatou]

30. Under 44 and very worried. It's my only income

And for a disabled person like me, it's very hard to find a job.

[ParkieDem]

35. I don't want to trivialize the fears of others ...

... but I find it VERY unlikely that benefits will be cut for those above a certain age, say, 55 or so.

Let's face it, older people vote in the largest numbers in this country. Many or most are somewhat dependent on Social Security. I have yet to see any proposal (except from the Libertarians), whether from the far right, moderates, blue dogs, progressives, etc., that would cut benefits for those above a certain age threshold. The theory is that those people are near retirement, have paid into the system the longest, and have the right to rely on SS. Younger people, for whatever reason, should have more flexibility. The real reason, however, is the political popularity of Social Security, particularly among those older Americans.

[donheld]

36. k & r