If we raise the max amount if salary which is taxable, it will be fine. It's capped at like 100k. Raise that to $200k and it will survive the boomers dying.

Thank you George Bush for throwing our throwing our surplus down the toilet.

When you cut the payroll deduction by 33% for several years in a row, the lifespan of the trust fund goes down.

Dumbest decision of the Obama administration.

foo monkey: If we raise the max amount if salary which is taxable, it will be fine. It's capped at like 100k. Raise that to $200k and it will survive the boomers dying.

Is that true? I shouldn't be surprised that there's a loophole for rich people, but wow. You can never be cynical enough about this stuff.

foo monkey: If we raise the max amount if salary which is taxable, it will be fine. It's capped at like 100k. Raise that to $200k and it will survive the boomers dying.

This. I would even argue that the cap could float back down after the demand on the system is reduced as boomers die.

/I blow past the cap every year
//Have no problem with SS and Medicare taxing the whole thing

It is going to be so great when all the Boomers die off. They have been the greatest burden Western Civilization has ever known.

Wait,you mean pyramid schemes don't work?

Screw the math, the old people want "their" money!

It's not taxes you want to increase. It's Executive salaries you want to decrease. Millions of dollars that are centered on very few people in large companies could be more fairly divided amongst the other employees thereby keeping them from requiring the Social Security benefits after retirement.

It isn't socialism that is failing. It's greed. Eat cake.

why dont we just kill all the boomers and compost their bodies to be sold as fertilizer?

they are the most entitled generation in the history of the country. they grew up during a time when minimum wage was $11 and hour. college was heavily subsidized and you could get a good job after graduating. the economy was the most prosperous during the 50s 60s and 70s than it has ever been throughout the the nations history. They enjoyed massive government protections in the post new deal era. they enjoyed a stable economy free of financial crisis. they enjoyed a time when jobs were not being shipped to china and india and mexico. compared to the experience of any other american, the boomers have had the easiest lives. they call us the snowflake generation when the reality is that they are the true snowflakes. they took the wonderous world that was inherited from the greatest generation and left the millenials a smoldering ruin of ashes.

fark all of you selfish pieces of shiat.
and yes. i work 65+ hours a week.

olddinosaur: Omnivorous: When you cut the payroll deduction by 33% for several years in a row, the lifespan of the trust fund goes down.

Dumbest decision of the Obama administration.

THIS.

Because it was cutting taxes for poor and middle class, not rich folks, right?

If SS is so popular, make contributions voluntary and in direct proportion to received benefit.

You can get 13% of each check taxed away from you from 16-66 and get $1k/mo when you retire
I'll keep it, bury it in a coffee can in my backyard and see who comes out ahead.

Well the new number is optimistic too. It assumes no one will dismantle the system so they can show it will not work.

OgreMagi: madgonad: means testing SS could easily fix the problems.

Basically, you are saying it's ok to steal money from people because they have more.

I think he's saying it's ok to steal more money from people who have more. Plus savers. You can steal from them without needing the formality of a tax!

Huck And Molly Ziegler: Coelacanth: Thank you George Bush for throwing our throwing our surplus down the toilet.

This. The next tax hike that will be required to re-float the Social Security boat should be called the "George W. Bush Social Security Solvency Act of 20XX."

The Election of 2000: We're gonna be paying for that little tinker job for 50 years.

You do realize that the Clinton "surplus" was only a surplus if you assumed that the US defaulted on Social Security and Medicare? Right?

HeadLever: madgonad: The 'Trust fund' is invested in US bonds/securities which is both good and bad. Bad, because the Feds don't pay much interest, but good because you could imagine the potential for corruption if SS money was invested in the open market. It is a safe place to put money. Insurance companies park billions in low return investments for the intrinsic security of the holding.

One of the biggest issues that I see regarding the sacred 'lock box' is that when you start redeeming those bonds, you are basically contributing to the public debt (basically swapping intragovernmental debt for public debt). The treasuries that currently make up these IOUs is a government liability. Having them parked in stocks or other company bonds would at lease make that someone else's liability. Though you are defiantly correct that this privatization opens up an whole 'nother can of worms that is not likely worth the hassle.

There is little difference financially between public vs government held debt. Leaning more on the open market will probably have some upward pressure on yields, but it is the nature of the beast. It wasn't meant to be a permanent holding anyway.

Investing government money in the open market is a bad idea for a million reasons. We already see the impact of Sovereign Wealth funds on the marketplace. You want something as massive as Trust fund (Trillions!) dropped onto Wall Street? Fark no!
Aaaaaaaand, It's gone.

AeAe: Here's an idea: Old people - kill yourselves now.

You know you'll be old some day right? Why wait?

Here's an idea: Old people - kill yourselves now.

Yeah_Right: Yeah... damn those new-fangled horseless carriages..! Don't they know those things will put the carriage-makers and blacksmiths out of business..!

I'ts not about putting obsolete business out of business. It's about the planned obsolescence of labor which has been the cornerstone of modern capitalism. Which means we can no longer sustain a consumer based economy.

Com'on Zombie Apocalypse!

I know alot of Farkers will never support Ron Paul because he is a "neo confederate, a neo Nazi, a racist, he wants to enslave women, he is the anti-Krugman, an anti-semite" (did I forget anything?) but he would immediately bring the troops home saving a ton of money.

Mitt Romney wants to increase militarism and we've seen how much Obama has done for the war business. But, let's keep rearranging those deck chairs.

Coelacanth: Thank you George Bush for throwing our throwing our surplus down the toilet.

I remember catching CSPAN about the time the surplus was projected. Of course, everyone had an idea on how to spend it. There was a lone congressman ( I wish I could remember which one ) that was giving a speech on the floor telling how it wasn't really a surplus since they were counting SS funds in the general fund and giving the SS trust fund and IOU just like they always have. He was proposing restoring that money before spending a surplus. He had charts and everything. But nobody listened to him.

pudding7: 1derful: It is going to be so great when all the Boomers die off. They have been the greatest burden Western Civilization has ever known.

To be replaced by twice as many Gen-X'ers with a serious sense of entitlement.

"twice as many"?

Uh.... You may want to look up what boomers/x'ers are all about.

At some point we will not be able to borrow any more money.
The US will default.
It won't called if a default but it will not be able honor its obligations.
The rich will be taxed but we will realize that is the barest of stopgaps.

Cities won't have money because soon 50% of money budgeted for employees will be paid out to retired employees. That just won't sit well as local services decline.

Rug Doctor: foo monkey: If we raise the max amount if salary which is taxable, it will be fine. It's capped at like 100k. Raise that to $200k and it will survive the boomers dying.

Is that true? I shouldn't be surprised that there's a loophole for rich people, but wow. You can never be cynical enough about this stuff.

Loophole for the rich? Social security is a giant waste of a tax. The only reason for its existance is to force people to save money for their retirement because they can't be counted on for themselves and provide the government with another source of money to plunder.

lazyguineapig33: they are the most entitled generation in the history of the country. they grew up during a time when minimum wage was $11 and hour

The minimum wage was $11 and hour? Citation?

ghare:
The stupidest thing they did was produce a generation or two of spoiled brats who can't take any responsibility for themselves, and just blame it all on mom & dad.

Well that and destroying the U.S. economy without contributing jack shiat to society.

ghare: 1derful: It is going to be so great when all the Boomers die off. They have been the greatest burden Western Civilization has ever known.

The stupidest thing they did was produce a generation or two of spoiled brats who can't take any responsibility for themselves, and just blame it all on mom & dad.

You sound 50-65 years old.

1derful: It is going to be so great when all the Boomers die off. They have been the greatest burden Western Civilization has ever known.

The stupidest thing they did was produce a generation or two of spoiled brats who can't take any responsibility for themselves, and just blame it all on mom & dad.

This might be the only topic that makes me start ranting and raving like a Ron Paul supporter.

"THEY TAKE YER DOLLAR AND GIVE YA BACK 75 CENTS! THAT'S WHAT'S WRONG WITH AMERICA! FARK THE ELDERLY! GOLD STANDARD!"

But really. I support what Social Security is supposed to be, but they need to make it 100 percent transparent and bulletproof or stop faking it.

And sadly, nobody's got the balls to make it bulletproof...

HA! HA!

WE HAVE BIGGER PROBLEMS
THAN SOCIAL SECURITY FAILING

Can I stop paying ss taxes now?