Counting On Social Security? Don't.

Started by Solar, July 31, 2015, 06:52:03 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

Solar

Commiecare changed that equation through Commie Core Math.

We, the Govt, your big brother is giving you free health care. (boy, what a line of shit that is, eh?)
Since we are taking care of you, we decided that you must pay for the privilege of our generosity, via an income reduction.
We decide what is best for you!

QuoteWhile engaging in the mundane task of gathering financial statements for a "secure retirement" meeting with my husband's and my adviser, this Baby Boomer stumbled upon documented proof that our nation does not have the guts to confront one of its most serious economic problems. The realization came when I pulled from my files a document statement innocently titled, "Your Social Security Statement." At first glance, the statement did not appear menacing. I was told I could expect to receive a benefit of "about $2,136 a month" upon reaching age 70 — which certainly seems like good news. But immediately I thought of a parallel of President Obama's infamous Obamacare promise: "If you like your Social Security, you can keep your Social Security."  Then, as if on cue, I saw an asterisk with the following message:  The law governing benefit amounts may change because, by 2033, the payroll taxes collected will be enough to pay only about 77 percent of scheduled benefits. My full form: I could not believe I was seeing the equivalent of what I was just thinking, but with a new twist, "If I like my Social Security, I can keep 77 percent of it." With an asterisk, my beloved government was informing me that they will be unable to fulfill their part of a financial arrangement into which, as their statement attested, I had been making mandatory contributions starting in 1971 at age 16.

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/421790/social-security-bankruptcy-statement-baby-boomers
Official Trump Cult Member

#WWG1WGA

Q PATRIOT!!!

Dori

Why don't they just raise it?

SS withholding today is 6.2% of wages (up to 118k) 

As much as I would like to see all these taxes go away, you know there are too many people who will not save any money for retirement.

The danger to America is not Barack Obama but the citizens capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency.

kroz

Quote from: Dori on July 31, 2015, 10:26:12 AM
Why don't they just raise it?

SS withholding today is 6.2% of wages (up to 118k) 

As much as I would like to see all these taxes go away, you know there are too many people who will not save any money for retirement.

We should educate kids very early in life about financial planning.  Parents SHOULD do it, but if they don't it should be in the school system.  It is one of the most critical pieces of education for their entire lives..... and we ignore it!!   :angry:

walkstall

Quote from: kroz on July 31, 2015, 02:54:22 PM
We should educate kids very early in life about financial planning.  Parents SHOULD do it, but if they don't it should be in the school system.  It is one of the most critical pieces of education for their entire lives..... and we ignore it!!   :angry:

IF you do that then you will have no Dem's.   They would like to keep there money and not give it to some they don't know.    :lol:
A politician thinks of the next election. A statesman, of the next generation.- James Freeman Clarke

Always remember "Feelings Aren't Facts."

Solar

Quote from: Dori on July 31, 2015, 10:26:12 AM
Why don't they just raise it?

SS withholding today is 6.2% of wages (up to 118k) 

As much as I would like to see all these taxes go away, you know there are too many people who will not save any money for retirement.
Privatize it, make it a trust that can't be touched till retirement, can be willed away to a loved one in the event of death, but get it out of the greedy hands of govt.
Official Trump Cult Member

#WWG1WGA

Q PATRIOT!!!

zewazir

Quote from: Dori on July 31, 2015, 10:26:12 AM
Why don't they just raise it?

SS withholding today is 6.2% of wages (up to 118k) 

As much as I would like to see all these taxes go away, you know there are too many people who will not save any money for retirement.
Because raising it does nothing more than push the collapse a few years into the future.

Reagan raised the FICA tax enough to cause an excess of FICA revenues, which were then to be invested. Sadly, succeeding congresses and administrations defined "invest" as buying U.S. treasury notes, which put the the funds into the general fund, and were subsequently spent. (It's the primary factor which allowed Clinton to claim a balanced budget.)

Simply raising the rate, or raising the contribution ceiling, by itself will not solve the problem long term, nor, sadly, will privatizing.  But a hybrid between the two just might.

An analysis of the first 10 years of the Social Security Trust Fund shows that had those funds been invested in the same manner most pension funds are required to be invested, the growth of those funds would have been sufficient enough that the trust fund today would be a hop-skip-and-jump from becoming fully self sustaining.

daidalos

Quote from: kroz on July 31, 2015, 02:54:22 PM
We should educate kids very early in life about financial planning.  Parents SHOULD do it, but if they don't it should be in the school system.  It is one of the most critical pieces of education for their entire lives..... and we ignore it!!   :angry:
Wow school really has changed then. We learned budgeting in accounting in school. And I went to a public high school to boot.
One of every five Americans you meet has a mental illness of some sort. Many, many, of our veteran's suffer from mental illness like PTSD now also. Help if ya can. :) http://www.projectsemicolon.org/share-your-story.html
And no you won't find my "story" there. They don't allow science fiction. :)

kroz

Quote from: daidalos on September 08, 2015, 01:02:31 PM
Wow school really has changed then. We learned budgeting in accounting in school. And I went to a public high school to boot.

If you were lucky enough to attend a high school with an Accounting Class, consider yourself  blessed.  But I bet it was not a required class.

ZQuickSilverZ

Quote from: Dori on July 31, 2015, 10:26:12 AM
Why don't they just raise it?

SS withholding today is 6.2% of wages (up to 118k) 

As much as I would like to see all these taxes go away, you know there are too many people who will not save any money for retirement.

I have a better idea. Why don't they cut welfare spending, stop giving away American wealth to foreign countries, and stop burdening the social and welfare cost of illegal immigrants.

mhughes

We've known about this problem for decades.  It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.

Now, one of the scary parts, that date assumes a certain GDP growth, which we have not been achieving.  So the actual date is probably sooner than advertised.

The other consequence of this is that $2.6T "trust fund" is going to get used up.  What that really means is those treasury bonds will be redeemed and general-issue bonds will be issued.  So instead of the government "owing" itself, it will start owing other people/governments.  That won't have a net-impact on the debt directly since the $2.6T is included in the debt, but it will probably have an effect since it could cause interest rates the US borrows at to rise (supply/demand).

Personally, I'm in favor of raising the retirement age.  People live longer and healthier these days, it makes sense.

One partial cause of all this is the math for SS only works out if the population growth is over a certain percentage, and we just aren't there. 

walkstall

Quote from: mhughes on November 25, 2015, 06:38:34 AM
We've known about this problem for decades.  It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.

Now, one of the scary parts, that date assumes a certain GDP growth, which we have not been achieving.  So the actual date is probably sooner than advertised.

The other consequence of this is that $2.6T "trust fund" is going to get used up.  What that really means is those treasury bonds will be redeemed and general-issue bonds will be issued.  So instead of the government "owing" itself, it will start owing other people/governments.  That won't have a net-impact on the debt directly since the $2.6T is included in the debt, but it will probably have an effect since it could cause interest rates the US borrows at to rise (supply/demand).

Personally, I'm in favor of raising the retirement age.  People live longer and healthier these days, it makes sense.

One partial cause of all this is the math for SS only works out if the population growth is over a certain percentage, and we just aren't there.

I worked for over 65 years. I only stopped working as people around me were losing there jobs. 
A politician thinks of the next election. A statesman, of the next generation.- James Freeman Clarke

Always remember "Feelings Aren't Facts."

mhughes

Quote from: walkstall on November 25, 2015, 09:02:53 AM
I worked for over 65 years. I only stopped working as people around me were losing there jobs.

If everyone did that, we wouldn't have any problems.

supsalemgr

Quote from: walkstall on November 25, 2015, 09:02:53 AM
I worked for over 65 years. I only stopped working as people around me were losing there jobs.

It is a simple problem to solve, but the wussies in both parties won't touch it. Slowly raising the retirement age and making it illegal for politicians to "borrow" from the SS Trust Fund to overspend would do it.
"If you can't run with the big dawgs, stay on the porch!"

Traninit

Quote from: ZQuickSilverZ on November 25, 2015, 12:31:36 AM
I have a better idea. Why don't they cut welfare spending, stop giving away American wealth to foreign countries, and stop burdening the social and welfare cost of illegal immigrants.

That's the ticket! :thumbsup:
One more liberal President in 2016 will mean the irreversible, eventual and total demise of our democracy. The rise and fall of democracy IS past the "apathy stage" at this moment. If this  momentum continues on its present path, restoration of democracy will require the least desired of actions.

daidalos

Quote from: Solar on July 31, 2015, 04:36:11 PM
Privatize it, make it a trust that can't be touched till retirement, can be willed away to a loved one in the event of death, but get it out of the greedy hands of govt.

Solar short of amending the Constitution, scrapping the already existent tax law, and starting completely over with a whole new government.

That's never going to happen. Cutting Uncle Sam out of our retirement accounts, would be like cutting off water to a fish.

D.C. is never going to willingly allow that. Well at least, not the liberals who are there that is.
One of every five Americans you meet has a mental illness of some sort. Many, many, of our veteran's suffer from mental illness like PTSD now also. Help if ya can. :) http://www.projectsemicolon.org/share-your-story.html
And no you won't find my "story" there. They don't allow science fiction. :)