The Associated Press reports that Barack Obama said today that the only thing required to bring Social Security into long term financial balance is to lift the cap on earnings covered by the FICA tax. This is in contrast with the off-hand statement of his aide, Paul Volcker, that the retirement age should be increased or benefits reduced.
16 comments:
A TERRIBLE idea. This would futher socialize SSA into a "needs" program! The higher end earners ALREADY get less $$ in benefits vs that paid in than do lower earners due to the benefit formula.
Typical Democrat mentality - tax the rich, tax them more, till there are no rich, no more.
You attorneys out there want pay FICA tax on your total income?
When it is other peoples' $$, that's OK for the left; how about it now boys (and girls)?
I've been saying the same thing for years. If nothing else, lift the cap on the FICA wage on the employer's contribution and let the employee pay on what they get. Think how quickly the SSA funds would be restored a piece of those banker's salaries in the millions of dollars (and bonuses) contributed.
I believe i heard that comment and i certainly agree. Logic dictates the wealthy should pay more especially when the wealthy are outsourcing jobs.
Every program proposed by the Obamacrats involves adding another tax or taxes on top of what the highest earners already pay. It reduces their disposable income without reducing the deficit because it represents taxes targeted to spend on new programs. It has already been pointed out that confiscating the entire incomes of the top 5 percent of wages earners will not cover the additional spending proposed by the Obamacrats.
Dream on komrad. Your class envy is showing.
Tax the rich until you can't anymore - then they are going to come after you in the middle class. Anyway, you think the wealthy will just sit there and be taxed to death? They are going to leave, just like in New Jersey, New York, and Calif.
The Feds need to stop/cut spending.
That is just the kind of ideas that Obama and the Dems need to push to make sure that jobs aren't created and the Republicans control the Senate and House again and Obama is gone in 2012.
Bring it on.
It's a freaking insurance program, not a pure redistribution program!
Out of control spending? I think that was GW Bush. Spending on a nonsense war in which his best buds made tons of money. So did he, D-ick and whole lot of them. Sequestered trusts my butt. Please don't acuse anyone of overspending until you include GW. He inherited a tremendous surplus and left us with the biggest debt in US history.
If you think my position is wrong, please educate me. With facts.
GW did spend like a drunken sailor. The problem is that the Obamacrats are spending like a whole shipload of drunken sailors. Between both brands of politicians using taxpayer's money to buy votes, they are really close to destroying our economy.
Duel of the trolls. Neither listens to the other; few cite any facts. Must get wearisome for Charles to monitor this stuff.
Why must a person be a troll for stating Bush II spent us into a hole and Obama has made it larger and deeper.
The only fixes of the Social Security program are to raise the payroll tax and/or reduce benefits.
Raising taxes affects job growth. Cutting benefits is going to make it more likely that younger people paying into the system are going to revolt over getting hosed by getting back less of what they have paid into the system.
Dont forget about reduction in federal salaries as a solution!!!
In order for any policy to work our elected officials need to seperate the Social Security tax funds.
Dont forget about reduction in federal salaries as a solution!!!
In 2 years you won't have to worry about mine. LOL
Granted the government is bloated, but government salaries amount to billions and it will take trillions to fix Social Security and Medicare.
I recall yaesr ago (under Clinton, I think) a number of solutions were looked at - raising the rate of FICA, raising retirement age, lifting the cap on taxing of earnings, and various cominations of those (and others which have slipped my mind - likely slowing rise in benefits was one). I recall that analysis of the impact of lifting the cap on earnings would do little to close the yawning deficiency in funds and might push the day of reckoning out two years, tops.
As others have pointed out, the risk of losing support for the entire program would vastly incrase if it were viewed as a mere income redistribution scheme, rather than an insurance program.
As an alternative to simply raising the $109K cap, Obama also noted at the town hall that one possible alternative would be to leave that cap in place but then resume FICA taxes at a higher income level, such as $250K.
Post a Comment