What will YOU do when social security stops ?

[cbelt3]

With the staff being all fired by President Musk… I figure it won’t take long before social security grinds to a halt. It’s part of my retirement plan. Coupled with my 401K being murdered. The dollar being devalued…

I suspect suicide will be my best option.

[kledo]

Pitchforks, rope, and a road trip to Washington---just like almost everyone else!

[pdq]

You know, I read the other day about a plan to save Social Security for the foreseeable future. It simply required lifting the cap on SS taxable earnings to $250,000.

Some history:

Since 1982, the Social Security taxable earnings base has risen [by law] at the same rate as average wages in the economy. Because the cap is indexed to the average growth in wages, the share of the population below the cap has remained relatively stable at roughly 94%. However, due to increasing earnings inequality, the percentage of aggregate covered earnings that is taxable has
decreased from 90% in 1982 to 83% in 2016.

If you’re employed, you pay SS tax of 6.5% of your SSA earnings and your employer pays 6.5%; if you’re self-employed, you pay both halves. For higher employed earners, the maximum tax increase resulting from a change like this would amount to ~$5K, if you make $250K/yr or more; ~$10K if you’re self-employed. And Social Security is saved.

Do you think Elon could afford that?

Edit: Just to be clear, this wouldn’t necessarily solve all of Social Security’s problems forever (nor would you expect it to). But it looks like it would til 2050 and maybe beyond.

[Black]

pdq wrote:
You know, I read the other day about a plan to save Social Security for the foreseeable future. It simply required lifting the cap on SS taxable earnings to $250,000.

Some history:

Since 1982, the Social Security taxable earnings base has risen [by law] at the same rate as average wages in the economy. Because the cap is indexed to the average growth in wages, the share of the population below the cap has remained relatively stable at roughly 94%. However, due to increasing earnings inequality, the percentage of aggregate covered earnings that is taxable has
decreased from 90% in 1982 to 83% in 2016.

If you’re employed, you pay SS tax of 6.5% of your SSA earnings and your employer pays 6.5%; if you’re self-employed, you pay both halves. For higher employed earners, the maximum tax increase resulting from a change like this would amount to ~$5K, if you make $250K/yr or more; ~$10K if you’re self-employed. And Social Security is saved.

Do you think Elon could afford that?

The dismantling of Social Security is in no way related to its projected solvency.

[August West]

I suspect suicide will be my best option.

I know you will hang in there and suffer until natural causes take you, belty. You, like many of us, are salt of the earth, brother. We're just gonna head into another Great Depression, getting into breadlines, sneaking apples off trees, working to provide for others, like good people have had to do for time immemorial.

[Michael]

Not gonna happen. Us seniors vote in large numbers. We'd vote out anybody who messed with SS.

Last time SS was "saved" it was done in 1983 and raised the full retirement age from 65 to 67 (although they didn't change the 62 yo early retirement age). BUT, they made the change a month or so per year and started the changes for those who were 40 years of age in 1983. So, nobody who was in SS or relatively close to SS was impacted. I was 30 at the time and I knew about it but didn't think a thing of it.

They'll "save" it again but likely at the last minute. And they'll probably raise the income limit and also raise the full retirement age and perhaps index the full retirement age to life expectancy so they don't have to do this again. As an aside, if they had already indexed full retirement to life span, it would have been interesting to see what would have happened with COVID reduced US life expectancy for a couple of years (life expectancy in 2019 was 79 and in 2020 was 77).

[$tevie]

Michael wrote:
Not gonna happen. Us seniors vote in large numbers. We'd vote out anybody who messed with SS.

I never thought I'd wear a tin foil hat, but at this point I am uncertain that there will be any more elections, or if there are, they will be Muskified to the point that our votes will be meaningless. Jesus, I hope I am wrong.

[cbelt3]

$tevie wrote:
[quote=Michael]
Not gonna happen. Us seniors vote in large numbers. We'd vote out anybody who messed with SS.

I never thought I'd wear a tin foil hat, but at this point I am uncertain that there will be any more elections, or if there are, they will be Muskified to the point that our votes will be meaningless. Jesus, I hope I am wrong.
Mark my words… the last election WAS the last federal election we will be allowed to vote in.

[Randalls]

I am sharpening my pitchfork

[Fritz]

Si vis pacem, para bellum.