Do Not Touch Social Security!

[Fire-medic]

And so it starts:
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/...-massively-cut-social-security-222200857.html

This may push me to retire sooner rather than later, as this coming year is full retirement age for me.

This is a Very Scary Development!

On Thursday, Rep. Sam Johnson, a Republican from Texas and chair of the Ways and Means Committee, introduced legislation to significantly cut Social Security.

The bill introduced by Johnson, who is also the chair of the Social Security subcommittee, slashes benefits, adds means testing, and would raise the retirement age from 67 to 69.

For most workers, the bill would cut Social Security benefits substantially. As Michael Linden, associate director for tax and budget policy at Center for American Progress, pointed out on Twitter, a letter from Social Security’s Office of the Actuary calculated workers making around $50,000 would see checks shrink by between 11% and 35%.

Nearly every income bracket would see a reduction, save for the very bottom. People making around $12,280 in 2016 who have worked for 30 years would see an increase of around 20%. But young people making the same amount would be hit hard by the changes. If they had 14 years of work experience by 2016, they would see their benefits cut in half.

The plan would also cut entirely cost of living adjustments (COLA) for retirees earning above $85,000.

 

[Tex85]

Since I still close to 20 years before retirement I will be thinking about retirement I would gladly opt out of social security now if it meant I never had to pay another dime into it. I know I will pay more than it ever gives back to me. Politicians need to pay back ever dollar taken from SS and the freeloaders who never properly funded it, cut off. Since that will never happen that is why I wish there was an opt out option.

 

[caseyjones955]

Great idea to go straight for SS, lets not touch welfare, food stamps, housing and medical for those who made shitty life decisions. Nope. Lets hit the elderly instead. Amazing!

I'm going to wager that this one wont see the light of day. Nevertheless we know SS is on borrowed time.

 

[Fire-medic]

Social Security is 'pay as you go,' meaning, benefits paid today are from people who are working today, to pay the benefits of those who were working, and who are now collecting. Only 10% comes from interest bearing accounts, and a minimal amount (<4%) coming from other taxation and other sources.

Unless you die immediately after retirement, you will withdraw more from benefits paid than you pay in, after just a few years.

https://www.ssa.gov/news/press/factsheets/HowAreSocialSecurity.htm
How is Social Security Financed?

Social Security is financed through a dedicated payroll tax. Employers and employees each pay 6.2 percent of wages up to the taxable maximum of $118,500 (in 2016), while the self-employed pay 12.4 percent.
In 2015, $795 billion (85 percent) of total Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance income came from payroll taxes. The remainder was provided by interest earnings ($93 billion or 10 percent) and revenue from taxation of OASDI benefits ($32 billion or 3 percent), and $325 million in reimbursements from the General Fund of the Treasury - most resulting from the 2012 payroll tax legislation.
The payroll tax rates are set by law, and for OASI and DI, apply to earnings up to a certain amount. This amount, called the earnings base, rises as average wages increase.
Tax rates for employees and employers each under current law Year OASI DI OASDI 2000 and later 5.30 0.90 6.20 SOURCE: 2016 OASDI Trustees Report

 

[SpecOps13]

Great idea to go straight for SS, lets not touch welfare, food stamps, housing and medical for those who made shitty life decisions. Nope. Lets hit the elderly instead. Amazing!

I'm going to wager that this one wont see the light of day. Nevertheless we know SS is on borrowed time.

My thoughts Exactly. Punish those of us who worked hard. It's been the American Way. Screw the good and give benefits to those who never even tried.:bang head:

 

[ga_max]

I'm concerned about Medicare. I've got PKD (Poly-cystic Kidney Disease) with 30% kidney function. I'm 56 and will most likely be on dialysis or looking for a transplant in 10 years. No insurance company will cover me individually so it looks like I'll need to keep working till I drop. A voucher is meaningless if you can't even get insurance. And by the way PKD is genetic. I don't drink or smoke and nothing I do will change the outcome. As far as SS, just raise the cap and add a means test. Problem solved.

 

[Traumahawk]

Yep SS's future does kind of bother me. As it currently sits, by the time that i am eligible to get SS, it is supposed to be broke 2 years later.

 

[caseyjones955]

I'm concerned about Medicare. I've got PKD (Poly-cystic Kidney Disease) with 30% kidney function. I'm 56 and will most likely be on dialysis or looking for a transplant in 10 years. No insurance company will cover me individually so it looks like I'll need to keep working till I drop. A voucher is meaningless if you can't even get insurance. And by the way PKD is genetic. I don't drink or smoke and nothing I do will change the outcome. As far as SS, just raise the cap and add a means test. Problem solved.

I'm really sorry you have to deal with this. It's odd how we will rush to rescue someone who has smoked or drank their whole lives but cant throw a bone to an individual who is ailing through no fault of their own. I know transplants are scarce courtesy of the state/SS/Medicare/cade/Private insurance regardless, but it's a shame that someone ill r/t non-modifiable factors gets the same or less than someone suffering an illness with etiology based on modifiable factors (ie shitty choices).

http://www.medicalmarijuanainc.com/polycystic-kidney-disease-medical-marijuana-research-overview/

http://www.midwestcompassion.org/2015/05/18/treating-polycystic-kidney-disease-with-cannabis/

Im guessing the above is not your sort of thing but more info is preferable too less, this is something even good doctors often dont bring up. I'm hearing about efforts and pushes too isolate specific active ingredients that carry medical benefit while weeding (no pun intended) out the non-therapeutic components, like THC et al. It's every bit as promising and interesting as it is controversial and research continues. I hope current treatments keep you whole. A close friend is at <20% renal function and still not on dialysis but she rigorously adheres to a renal and low Na diet, her Dx is different than yours but that number can get fairly low in many cases before they need to plug you in. Fortunately there is a great deal of headroom in kidney function. I'm big on optimism and hope in areas like this. My experience as a nurse has let me to firmly believe in the psychosomatic link, so words like optimism and hope have much greater value than just the paper they can be written on.

 

[ga_max]

Thanks for the info Casey.

 

[Bill Seward]

Last I remember reading, a lot of people here voted for that asshole Trump....
This is just the start of the fuckin'.......

 

[Traumahawk]

Last I remember reading, a lot of people here voted for that asshole Trump....
This is just the start of the fuckin'.......

Well things CANT stay the same.....like I said, it supposed to go BROKE in the future, so SOMETHING has to be done. If nothing is done by 2037, at which I will be 66, The "excess" in SS will be gone, it will go into default mode.

 

[ga_max]

• Social Security is heading toward bankruptcy.

False, though the answer somewhat depends on how you define bankruptcy. Social Security will have money to pay retirement benefits for decades to come, even if needed reforms are not made. It's just that the program won't have the means to meet all its scheduled obligations. Social Security's trustees estimate the program, in the absence of reforms, will be able to pay only about 75 cents on the dollar by 2034.

 

[caseyjones955]

Last I remember reading, a lot of people here voted for that asshole Trump....
This is just the start of the fuckin'.......

I'm comfortable speculating that it wasn't out of love or enthusiasm. It's a real wait and see time, seeing SS go away would sure put a lot of folks in a terrible position. I'm really not thinking that the bill mentioned will ever come to pass but stranger things have happened recently.

 

[Traumahawk]

• Social Security is heading toward bankruptcy.

False, though the answer somewhat depends on how you define bankruptcy. Social Security will have money to pay retirement benefits for decades to come, even if needed reforms are not made. It's just that the program won't have the means to meet all its scheduled obligations. Social Security's trustees estimate the program, in the absence of reforms, will be able to pay only about 75 cents on the dollar by 2034.

So.....basically that by the time that I am eligible, I wont get the full amount that I have been promised, and like I said.....it goes into default mode.

It actually reminds me of a giant pyramid scheme. You need MORE and MORE people at the lower levels of the pyramid to pay in, for that money to get paid out at the top.

 

[ga_max]

The problem is that it can be fixed. Get rid of the income cap and add some sort of means testing. I'm fortunate to hit the cap in November and I like the extra $$$ but if it mean I pay more and the program keeps going, I'm ok with that. Bumping up the retirement age would suck for a lot of hard working people and cutting benefits won't make the program last much longer.

 

[SpecOps13]

Trump isn't even in office yet. He's a Smart Businessman he knows to go big and then compromise. I hope he will make the best deal for all of us if Congress will allow it. Besides other Presidents and possibly Trump are controlled by Extremely Big Money. They aren't the real boss anyway. Continuing the way we have the past decades is and was our path to destruction. Maybe he will be too but I'm at the point of not giving a shit one way or another.

 

[Kronx]

SS is one of those fonts of money that the GOP(heavily influenced by lobbyists) have had their eyes on for a really long time. Remember back when Bush and Gore were campaigning in 2000 and talking about what they were going to do with all of that surplus? Bush was eyeing privatising SS. Can you imagine the state it would have been in after the crash of 2007/2008?

With a GOP controlling the House and Senate and the oval office -- SS days are numbered. I don't think Trump will give two shits about it. Billionaires don't give a shit about a program they'll never use. And congress doesn't really care since most of them are millionaires.

Given the blind eye the GOP is turning to Trump on his obvious business conflicts of interest. They're clearly setting up a one hand washes the other scenario.

"Hey we won't give you a hard time about your conflicts(even though we were planning on endless hearings about the Clinton Foundation if she had won) , as long as you just sign off on the stuff that comes across your desk."

 

[88vmx12]

Great idea to go straight for SS, lets not touch welfare, food stamps, housing and medical for those who made shitty life decisions. Nope. Lets hit the elderly instead. Amazing!

I'm going to wager that this one wont see the light of day. Nevertheless we know SS is on borrowed time.

++++++++++1 times over!!!!!

 

[88vmx12]

Last I remember reading, a lot of people here voted for that asshole Trump....
This is just the start of the fuckin'.......

Bill this is where we will agree to disagree I am sure. The SS was screwed up and going in the toilet long before Trump. We the people also can only blame ourselves for not standing up and making government do what they were supposed to do to prevent these things. Many Americans also need to pull their heads from their asses and have a coming to Jesus conversation and slap of reality. Stuff ain't free and never will be, the program after program that the idiots in Congress keep putting into place. Along with let's blow up that country and now let's pay to put it back together. Or let's keep giving out funds to support this or that country. I call BS and we need to start taking care of our own in this country. Kick 3rd generation health and welfare veterans off unless they actually need help. In order to do that we need a major correction and we will all feel it no matter who you are. I am all for a good government shake up if that is what it takes to straighten this mess out.

G