Finally, something from the Motley Fool on Social Security that's worth reading. Matthew Frankel debunks five common myths about Social Security. My only bone of contention is that I wouldn't call these myths so much as I would call them right wing lies.
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Did you actually read the article linked in your message? Myths??? Actually, the basic truth in the article is that math is real, not right wing or left wing. This is all about basic math. To help those who do not follow the link, I will copy and paste some of the conclusions/facts and leave it to you if they are, as Charles states, "right wing lies."
1) After 2021, the picture is not so rosy. Thanks to the retirement of the Baby Boomer generation and longer life expectancies, Social Security is expected to swing to a deficit, which will continue for the foreseeable future. In 2034, the Social Security trust funds are expected to be completely depleted.
2) "there's really no money in the Social Security trust fund -- the government is lying." As we've already discussed, there are several trillion dollars in Social Security's reserves. However, this one is halfway true
3) Even if Social Security completely runs out of money, as it is projected to do in 2034, the incoming payroll taxes will be enough to cover 77% of promised benefits. So as a worst-case scenario, we're talking about a 23% across-the-board cut,
4) Historically, a little more than three people have been paying into Social Security for every beneficiary collecting income from the program.
In 2016, however, this ratio is just 2.8 workers for every Social Security beneficiary. That number is expected to continue to fall, and by 2035, it's expected to be just over 2-to-1. Less cash will be flowing in, and more will be flowing out. That's why Social Security is facing financial difficulties in the future.
5) plenty of options to fix Social Security. Here are examples of three different ways we could fix the program for good right now. Most take the form of either tax increases or benefit cuts,
I believe the article is accurate, and that belief makes me feel a bit better. With regards to SS, each wing (left and right) seems like two half's of a sphere where the truth is in the circumference. The right makes me feel nervous and the left caters to that anxiety. To anyone out there who is actually disabled and collecting, I say that the future of SS is as uncertain as the world we live in, and so try to take one day at a time; life may be shorter than anyone thinks and no sense worrying about something that may or may not happen.
Very simple solution
Not complex at all
Eliminate cap on payroll taxes
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/making-sense/what-impact-would-eliminating/
boom problem solved
These are all right wing lies.
Completely remove the wage cap - problem solved. End of discussion.
Through voluminous articles like these, the right wing is doing everything they can to scare Americans in order to instill a culture of fear. By doing this over and over for many years, their goal is to drastically eliminate or reduce SSA retirement and disability benefits without opposition from the vast majority who rely on SSA, because the scare tactics and culture of fear they have instilled over all these years will have convinced us there are no other choices, when nothing could be further from the truth.
The fact is there are other choices which can easily be made right now to preserve all SSA benefits, and the continuation of one of the most successful programs in our nations history. The solution which has the least impact, and which can easily be absorbed by the wealthy, is to completely remove the wage cap.
Through their scare tactics and culture of fear, the right wing is ONLY protecting the wealthy among us to the exclusion of everyone else.
Those among us who plan to rely on SSA, but continually vote right wing Republicans into office, must realize you are voting against your own economic and best interests.
There are an entire buffet of options.
1. Eliminate the cap on earnings.
2. Raise the cap on earnings.
3. Increase the tax rate.
4. A high earner "surcharge" ie. pay some lower rate on earnings above the cap or at some earnings figure past the cap.
5. Dedicate a part of the capital gains tax to Social Security.
6. Adjust full retirement age to account for longer life spans (though as a practical matter simply moving the first year of old age pension itself will just shift more people to disability).
And when you fix it, that's probably the time to just go ahead and increase the old age pension to account for the fact that fewer people have employer sponsored pensions and fewer of those without an employer pension have an income producing asset (ie. family farm).
Agree with 11:24 except leave the retirement age alone!
Living longer does not mean that you can get up and put in a 40 or 50 hour week day in and day out. Seriously, think about this. Do you want a 69 and 1/2 year old nurse starting your next IV? Are you willing to wait for a 72 year old checker to run your week of groceries through the scanner at the store? Check out your morning coffee? Drive the school bus? Drive the gravel truck coming at you at 65mph on the highway?
Also check the mortality rates in America and look at how they work for those that are not upper middle income and above, you do realize that those folks are not living as long.
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