What tanks and bombers does Brazil have , or Austria.
This is not uniquely a USA issue.
And even if this was an USA issue reducing the military budget to zero(which should be reduced anyways) will give but a couple of years of extra time until collapse
Nope. The US spent $1.6 Trillion on SS last year and spent $1.5 trillion on the military in the same year. We could eke out more than a "couple of years" by being less bloodthirsty. Too bad a large chunk of idiots here in The US would rather kill a stranger far away than help somebody locally.
Ditch capitalism altogether and institute actual socialism. Our society is insanely wasteful. Most of that waste goes to middle-men, profit-seekers and rent-seekers. They bleed everyone who actually works for a living, even though they produce nothing. We don't need them.
In addition to removing the cap they should assess a surcharge/penalty the way Medicare does once your earnings exceed $200k but have tiered penalties so additional 1% on all income >$200k like Medicare, but then start increasing to 1.5% over $400k, and so on.
Then they'd expect the payments to increase for top earners. The current cap determines the max payout and that's what makes it "fair" in people's mind.
Yes. Its a baseline income program and not a huge payment program. For example, even though high incomes would pay in more, no one would expect them to get $20,000 monthly checks once they retire. Bottom line either benefits get cut or more has to come in somehow.
Its not a benefit program where u pay in and get a defined benefit. People think that, but there is no fund balance in your name. It is meant to provide a base level of retirement income so people survive. Its not setup to provide people a cushy life, even if they paid in a lot. Others who paid in zero still collect. Trust me I’ve paid in for 30 years near or at the max they can collect.
There very much is a defined benefit. It's a straight up math formula based on how much you pay in. You have to have paid in for 40 quarters to get anything. And your benefit gets bigger the more you pay in. The only way to collect having paid zero is to be the spouse/survivor of someone who paid in more than zero.
No there isn't an account in your name, but the rules for what you get is directly based on how much you pay in.
I get it, but that's not a defined benefit. Its an estimate based on what it would pay right now. It clearly tells you the SS fund is not fully funded and right now could only pay out 76% of what those numbers show. You are NOT guaranteed to get those amounts. The math formula can change at any time, because it is NOT a defined benefit. Look it up.
I have looked it up. SS is currently funded and pays 100% of benefits today. There is a projection that it will be forced to reduce to 78% in 2032 due to insolvency. But right now, it pays 100%.
Even so, it still functions a lot like a traditional corporate pension plan. It's a formula-based payout for the rest of your life. That's a defined benefit.
The lack of a guarantee holds just as much for pension plans - if the company goes bankrupt, you can lose your pension. And that's what's going on with SS - it's going bankrupt.
Social Security is a social insurance plan. It also covers disabled persons, surviving children etc. It is also a safety net for people who don't even pay in enough. The big difference is in a pension plan, when you are paying in - there is a bucket of money sitting there with your name on it. Things could go wrong, but there is a fund. Social Security really has almost no money in it - all the money coming in goes immediately out. All social security has right now is some IOU's from the treasury. So in a few years the money coming in won't cover the money going out that same day. They could change the rules tomorrow - increase the retirement age, decrease benefits etc - you do not have a bucket of money you could take out or leave to your heirs.
If anything, social security tax should be 0% on your first std deduction's worth and the cap should be removed. I make way over the cap and I promise you: I don't need it and people earning as much as me or more don't need it.
See, you aren't paying into it for your retirement. SS is not a retirement account, it's essentially insurance against poverty in old age. Everyone that makes a taxable wage pays into it, it guarantees that you won't be flat out destitute should you live long enough that working to support yourself is no longer a reasonable choice.
You shouldn't be relying on it for retirement. In fact if you have the means, which you claim you do, you should have a completely separate retirement plan that doesn't factor SS at all.
that's not what social security is. it's not an individual investment program. it's a social safety net. it's meant to keep society as a whole functional, not benefit you personally. so, you should adjust your expectations.
if you're a high earner, you're already in a better place than almost everyone else. maybe just give yourself a trophy that says "I won capitalism" and stop complaining when you're made to pay back into the system that enabled your own success in a way that's semi-proportional.
The people like you that are just in it to get yours and everyone else be damned are the problem, not the people that don't make enough money to ever retire.
I seriously don’t understand why more people don’t have this mentality. The more my wife and I earn, the more we put into helping others. How do people not feel like shit being comfortable while their neighbors are struggling to survive? It’s deplorable.
I've been wishing we could change the messaging around "American Dream" to add helping your neighbor. Everyone who is lucky enough to experience success should take great pride in doing everything they can to lift up and help those in need. The greed among many Americans is astounding.
This isn't really something you can just hand wave away, otherwise it would've been done already. I'm not even saying this is what I think, what I described is the majority opinion of SS recipients who are a massive and powerful voting bloc. I would love if we could means test SS so wealthy people don't get any of it but it's an uphill battle.
368
u/EL_Malo- 4d ago
Removing the maximum cap paid by the top earners will keep SS solvent. Anything else is a paid message, brought to you by those same top earners.