Obama claims GOP trying to destroy Social Security

[SparkyJJO]

Social Security, as it stands, is doomed anyway. It's been doomed for years, it isn't sustainable in its current state. And frankly, it is ripoff system.

 

[Jhhnn]

Social Security, as it stands, is doomed anyway. It's been doomed for years, it isn't sustainable in its current state. And frankly, it is ripoff system.

That's right- just re-assert the same stuff over and over again, as if repetition will make it the truth. It's currently very much in vogue on the Right, largely because they're unwilling to face up to the utter failure of their ideology and governance....

 

[dmcowen674]

Social Security, as it stands, is doomed anyway. It's been doomed for years, it isn't sustainable in its current state. And frankly, it is ripoff system.

How old are you and what have you've done to be set for retirement?

 

[ShawnD1]

How old are you and what have you've done to be set for retirement?

Hi I'm 25 and I plan to kill myself when the money runs out.

 

[spidey07]

raise the fica tax past $108,000. Why do you stop paying tax after this magic amount?

Because then you are paying much more into it than you could ever take out. Have no fear, Obama has stated many times he wants to steal people's money by removing the HCE cap on social security.

Oh, and FICA includes medicare which is NOT capped. Only social security.

I'm all for allowing people to opt out of social security. Anybody concerned about their retirement would be much better off if they could use that money to make even more money.

 

[dmcowen674]

Hi I'm 25 and I plan to kill myself when the money runs out.

Yeah right, your tune will change in 25 years

 

[bamacre]

That's where the money in the SS trust came from

the existence of the money in the trust.

There is no money there.

 

[spidey07]

Yeah right, your tune will change in 25 years

He's correct. The key is to make it so the money never runs out.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

How old are you and what have you've done to be set for retirement?

It is called savings, investments, and a 401k plan. Try it sometime.

 

[ShawnD1]

Yeah right, your tune will change in 25 years

Who retires at age 50?

Retire at 65. Money runs out at 73. Kill self.

 

[Hacp]

Who retires at age 50?

Retire at 65. Money runs out at 73. Kill self.

New York City public Union workers retire at 50. have you ever heard of 20 and out?

 

[ShawnD1]

New York City public Union workers retire at 50. have you ever heard of 20 and out?

That sounds awesome. I totally need to join the new york mafia union.

I guess that's just one of their perks. Some guys get great wages, some guys get great healthcare, some guys get great pensions.

 

[Fingolfin269]

Which may or may not work out, but you care nothing for the other millions of Americans.

Before SS, the elder poverty rate was 90%, and you say 'who cares, I want that again'.

So what is your idea to fix social security? I pretty much know that every dollar I put in now is basically going to disappear. I will never see anything by the time I'm old and ready to retire. Or do you think it will all just work out because it feels good?

 

[Fingolfin269]

It is called savings, investments, and a 401k plan. Try it sometime.

Didn't you hear? If you make enough to be able to invest then obviously you're rich and should be helping out the greater good instead of worrying so much about your own future.

 

[Zebo]

Who retires at age 50?

Retire at 65. Money runs out at 73. Kill self.

You've said that twice now...little concerned. Me? I'd kill others before self...and that's the problem with no social welfare. See Mexico,Chad or anyplace else life is cheap. top 1% rides in bullet proof cars and everyone else never knows when it's their day.

 

[Darwin333]

And what happens if you lose it all like in the case of Enron...?

How is that any different than the current system of "you lose it all the moment the tax is collected"? Hopefully you are lucky enough to have lived long enough to see some benefit of the tax and for people my age we are hoping the government will still be able to borrow insane amounts of money when we get to that age so that we can see some benefit from the program.

However, lets be perfectly clear about one thing. The government doesn't "owe" you social security because you think you have paid into it all of these years. You got taxed and they don't really owe you shit. Oh yeah, they kinda spent all of that money they taxed from you already too so the "just give me back MY money" argument is bullshit. First of all, it aint yo money no more once they take it and secondly they blew it on hookers and blow or something similar.

 

[Darwin333]

You've said that twice now...little concerned. Me? I'd kill others before self...and that's the problem with no social welfare. See Mexico,Chad or anyplace else life is cheap. top 1% rides in bullet proof cars and everyone else never knows when it's their day.

Agreed, social programs are definitely a necessity nothing motivates a person like hunger. Often that is a good motivator but a lot of times it motivates them to take YOUR stuff by any means necessary. Basically its really bad for society to have a bunch of hungry people.

OTOH, we seem to be really fucking bad at math in this country. Programs like social security are the very definition of a ponzi scheme and was meant to be from the beginning. Then politicians started using it as a bribe to people who vote a lot and here we are.

 

[TehMac]

yep, he's right.

Because the democrats aren't going to try and remove government's stranglehold over millions of Americans.

That's too much to ask/too difficult/contradicts the whole purpose of the Left's mission.

 

[manimal]

Costs for caring for the millions of elderly homeless will skyrocket if SS and Unemployment insurance were ever removed. The strain on services and the sheer amount of people with nowhere to go would create hoovervilles and shantytowns the like we have never seen. Have you ever seen the slums of Kingston? The Favela's of Brazil? The entire poor populace of India?

Go ahead and get rid of social security. See what happens to your way of life...

The future is starting to look more and more like a Philip K Dick novel or like Blade Runner...

Super powerful corporations? Check
Individual rights non existent? Check
Polluted skies and waters? Check

 

[Zebo]

Agreed, social programs are definitely a necessity nothing motivates a person like hunger. Often that is a good motivator but a lot of times it motivates them to take YOUR stuff by any means necessary. Basically its really bad for society to have a bunch of hungry people.

OTOH, we seem to be really fucking bad at math in this country. Programs like social security are the very definition of a ponzi scheme and was meant to be from the beginning. Then politicians started using it as a bribe to people who vote a lot and here we are.

They robbed between 100 billion to 200 billion almost every year fund was created to pay for other things. Not wanting to raise taxes to pay for these things so they hit the working class money. Money from which they can not escape from paying until you make ~ 95K, or have passive income, or capital gains. If you make minimum wage you're paying 14% no exclusions, exemptions, or deductions. The money would be there, is there, if you treat working class like bankers. We owe about half the national debt to SS/FHA/FICA/Pension recipients who overpaid or about 7 trillion is securities held by government accounts. I bet bankers are paid their half first though.

 

[Hacp]

Costs for caring for the millions of elderly homeless will skyrocket if SS and Unemployment insurance were ever removed. The strain on services and the sheer amount of people with nowhere to go would create hoovervilles and shantytowns the like we have never seen. Have you ever seen the slums of Kingston? The Favela's of Brazil? The entire poor populace of India?

Go ahead and get rid of social security. See what happens to your way of life...

The future is starting to look more and more like a Philip K Dick novel or like Blade Runner...

Super powerful corporations? Check
Individual rights non existent? Check
Polluted skies and waters? Check

How would the costs skyrocket? The elderly eat less than normal people. Let them live out their lives with their children and die naturally if they don't have health insurance. Its the organic thing to do.

 

[Hacp]

They robbed between 100 billion to 200 billion almost every year fund was created to pay for other things. Not wanting to raise taxes to pay for these things so they hit the working class money. Money from which they can not escape from paying until you make ~ 95K, or have passive income, or capital gains. If you make minimum wage you're paying 14% no exclusions, exemptions, or deductions. The money would be there, is there, if you treat working class like bankers. We owe about half the national debt to SS/FHA/FICA/Pension recipients who overpaid or about 7 trillion is securities held by government accounts. I bet bankers are paid their half first though.

Guess who benefited from that money? Yes, the boomer generation benefited from the 100-200 billion. Now they're making young people eat the costs and fund the retirements of the baby boomers who are basically double dipping. The whole idea of social security is a sham. If we get rid of social security and medicare, businesses might actually have enough money to hire more workers!

 

[Zebo]

It's Obama who set up the Cat Food Commission. Obama trying to pass the buck for his enviable slashing. So obvious. He'll cut like crazy and say "see I saved it, those nasty Republicans wanted to privatize it"...and stupid sheep will fall for it. Cat food is not bad Ive eaten it and a lot worse.

http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/08...-alan-greenspan-and-dancing-grannies-medicare

 

[Zebo]

Guess who benefited from that money? Yes, the boomer generation benefited from the 100-200 billion. Now they're making young people eat the costs and fund the retirements of the baby boomers who are basically double dipping. The whole idea of social security is a sham. If we get rid of social security and medicare, businesses might actually have enough money to hire more workers!

Baby boomers will pay don't worry. If what happens what I think is going to happen rent and food will be least of concerns compared to dodging bullets at 65.

 

[Jhhnn]

You're barking up the wrooong tree, Hacp, and likely always will be.

The whole thing hasn't been driven by generational warfare, but rather class warfare- the financial elite against the rest of us.

All that's necessary to see it is to cast a dispassionate eye on the debt, who owns it, and on the changes to effective tax rates and income distribution over the last 30 years.

That's not possible for people who are emotionally invested in their own ideology, unfortunately. Seems to me that you're "all in".

Trying to put it off on boomers is dishonest and truly blind in every way. Boomers have paid it forward in the $3T in the SS trusts, which is above and beyond paying SS benefits to their seniors. money spent otherwise went into the general fund, which accounts for all federal expenditures from infrastructure to defense to law enforcement to you name it. It's not like boomers laid the country to waste.

The other $10T in debt was mostly created by Repub admins cutting taxes at the top, increasing spending, and then borrowing money rather than taking it as taxes. the beneficiaries of both the tax cuts and the offsetting borrowing have overwhelmingly been... surprise! the financial elite.

The GWB example of choosing to go to war and cutting taxes to pay for it pretty much covers the whole thing in a nutshell. RR and GHWB did much the same, but Ronnie never actually went to war, he just spent on the military as if we were at war...

It's only $3T, Zebo... Imagine if that were the only federal debt...
Your whole bit about savings, investments and 401k's is a little off base. 401K's *are* investments of the tax deferred variety. The idea of the 3 legged stool of retirement actually originated with the New Deal- Personal savings, Investment in the form of pension plans, and SS. Savings wouldn't actually be safe w/o the FDIC, however, and investments never are, unless they're in US govt securities, the backbone of every great portfolio...

Nobody's getting rich off of SS, that's for sure. the maximum benefit is $2350/mo, based on contributing at the max amount for 45 years, which basically nobody does. The average benefit is under $1200/mo. Many SS recipients actually live in poverty, believe it or not, because there's no minimum.

http://ssa-custhelp.ssa.gov/app/ans...he-maximum-social-security-retirement-benefit.

http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/TRSUM/index.html