what exactly do we do?????

True statement .
Wars and various other items were funded by the money that was to be held separate in trust.
"Shrinkage on Aid , loans and schemes in general can amount to 25% of unaccounted for funds. No one ever verify s what is going on. There is a hand out on both ends of these transactions.
Agencies are to large and to numerous with large overlaps to be functional or realistic. Government is to large.
The cost structure is way out of line for a government our size. The power belongs to the states.
We have become as the old USSR where there is a security agency for every agency on paper.
How 545 people control 300,000,000 people . A neutral look from Charlie Reese. His last column after 49 years with The Orlando Sentinel. Do a search and print and read this item.

Pep

 

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They are insolvent because less workers support each retiree than previously. It is a demographics problem. So what if they brought in more cash previously? They are not doing so now.

 

This, and the fact someone retiring in the last 20 years will get more out of SS and medicare than they paid in for any tax, at any level, for their entire lives. Its a ponzi scheme the democrats in the 60's constructed and now we are left holding the bag. For those who argue, "I paid in all my life" look at the low rates you were paying in at, versus expenditures. People were not paying in for prescription drugs and the astronomical price increases in health and long term care, but now they have them.

Sorry, but its simply true. The only thing keeping it afloat the last 30 years was the baby boomers. Now that they are retiring and there is not that population to replace them, the system is broke. I am sorry you do not believe it Frydaddy, but its the simple truth that the commissioners just reported. Google it.

I am 43 and fully expect to only be able to collect any form of SS when I am 72 or older. Even then it will be about half the rate or less than what is promised now. All the more reason to try to take care of myself and not rely on government for anything. Yes they can remove the cap, (though they still cap benefits, so this is not a contribution just an income tax hike), but that will NOT solve it until benefits are cut. If they had the will freezing the SS benefits for the next 20 years would do it, but the elderly have too many votes, and that is what will bankrupt America.

Edit: I am not trying to pick on the elderly at all. They did not design this system, and I understand they made life choices based on promises. I am just saying we do not have the money anymore to fulfil those promises.

 

These are not entitlements. If you don't work and pay taxes into the system you can't collect either. Right now, the government collects collects more FICA than it is paying out in either and if they took the excess as designed and place it in trust, then the funds could last for decades without change. The numbers are there if you care to check them.

Furthmore, that the macro level Medicare has proven to be the lowest cost way for society to provide healthcare to older workers. Nothing else even comes close.

Don't confuse Medicare with Medicaid. Medicaid is an entitlement for the poor who don't work to pay for it.

This is completely off-topic of course. Why isn't there any scorn directed towards military spending? The ability of the government and the media to control people's minds is very impressive.

 

I wonder how many people, if given the choice to either pay into SS or to opt out and fend for themselves, would actually save on their own for their retirement? I'd be willing to bet it would be a single digit number, regardless of how many claim they would save themselves. If they government really was concerned about this issue, they'd give you an option: Continue paying into a system that may or may not be able to support you when you retire, or save 10% of your yearly earnings tax-free with the stipulation you cannot withdraw any until you're 60. The smart ones will choose the later option and retire comfortably, provided you actually work, while the first bunch may have to work till they die. I don't pay into SS so it doesn't effect me one way or another, but it seems the issue has easy fixes that nobody wants to consider because it puts responsibility into the hands of those who will benefit from it, and lets face it, most people feel they're financial future shouldn't be their responsibility. Until that mindset changes, policy and the problems they create won't change.
Guy

 

- over the past 37 years i have paid in over $200,000 and my employer matched over $200,000
- i get statements every year telling me how much my benefits are going to be (around $1800 a month starting at age 67)
- so far i have gotten $0
- now they are telling me all the money i paid is is gone
- i cannot opt out ... i am STILL PAYING IN every 2 weeks
- i am 54
- what is wrong with this picture?

what happened to the "social security trust fund" that wasn't supposed to be touched.
normally when people steal other peoples money, someone goes to prison.

 

How about the lost simple interest , if it was not touched ?

 

lets keep the politics out of it

 

I pay too Winged, I feel you. The "Trust fund" is a pay as you go system, meaning you pay for those who are retired. It is what I stated will be broke in 7 years the trustees just announved because they have been paying out too much in benefits, and with baby boomers retiring there are not enough paying in. Benefits are too high, plain and simple.

@Fatima, if you look it up you will see they greater pay out more than they collect now, and have been for Medicare for a long time. I am not confusing anything with medicaid. It is labeled in the US budget as an entitlement just like veterans benefits, so I have two reason to hate that title, but just referring to it as such because of the way its reported in the budget.

@danr, I was not trying to pull politis in, I could have simply said the Congress in the 60's but it was identical to what I said. Regardless, the politicians changed the system that today is causing the problems. 1950's levels of benefits would not have caused this.

Listen, we have lots of budget problems, and I agree with Fatima that even though I am a war vet I think the defense is too high, but the fact is that without touching SS/Medcare and other items labelled "entitlements" we will never fix this hole. Even stripping this country of any defense will not fix it by itself.

 

there is no problem- simply subject income over $106k to ss problem solved

 

If you look at the cash flows over the life of the programs, they brought in more than went out. So it is inaccurate to say the programs cause the problem with the debt ceiling. The causes lie elsewhere.

 

Rarely does anyone suggest that the current problem may be caused by the military actions going on in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Lybia, Yemen, and Somalia -- or that it might be caused by the 1000 military bases overseas defending nations such as Germany and Japan from nobody knows what -- or that the $2trillion missing from amounts given to the Pentagon that Rumsfeld admitted at a press conference on 9/10/01 [quickly forgotten]-- and on and on it goes. It would be nice to have a few trillion of that money back just about now.

 

That's why we need to cut everything. Saying only cut the military is as disingenuous as saying only cut entitlements.

Edit: Time will tell who is right. People don't want to believe that the entitlements are wrecked.

And I agree that SS should be subject to higher cap than 106k but that won't help if more is paid out to compensate for higher top end taxes. We should treat SS and Medicare as the welfare that they are, and means test and eliminate the SS income cap.

 

No not rarely!! Just that the entire GOP and there BASE (voters) are employed by the U.S Government in someway. (Military, Police, etc. ) What do you think would happen if we cut all that funding??? someone on this board pointed it out earlier, we have shipped all of our industrial jobs overseas. The only jobs here in america are literally military jobs for average people i mean. and in that meantality what would happen to all those soldiers if we decided to cut funding. where would they work and how would they survive? and there families etc... Maybe they could get jobs as Prison correctional officers because if you didnt know that this country has a lot of people in prison and its a big business here.. putting away people for drug related offenses and charge the taxpayer crazy amounts to hold him in a prison. while he works for slave wages for the benefit of the prison.

I totally agree with you that the defense budget needs massive cuts but these are the real problems we face now we have created a system now that is toxic..

 

The entire GOP is emlployed by the government?????

Man, I have heard the opposite, like 91% of government workers are registered Democrats or democrat voting independents, but have never heard that.

I think I missed the memo.

 

If I am not mistaken most ss is paid out for disability and widows/orphans with a smaller amount going to retirees. Considering that you have to ask yourself why does the middle class have to shoulder that burden while the rich get a pass.

 

alright it is just my opinion..

 

SS & Medicare are not welfare. If you don't work and pay into the system, you do not receive any benefits from it. Welfare in contrast are programs that give money to people who don't pay anything specific to support it. This would be such things as food stamps, mone for children's nutrition (classic welfare), public housing, medicaid, and so forth.

Let's put this into perspective compared to war activities. The USA is spending $20 Billion/Year just to provide air conditioning to the troops station in the deserts of Afghanistan. This is more than the budget of NASA.

 

Thank you fatima this is exactly the type of information people do not truly understand. Or maybe don't want to understand because they have vested interest in the system that is currently in play.

 

a lot (maybe most) of ss money goes to disability and widows/orphans- I am pretty sure that retirees make up a big chunk of it but disability also takes up a huge chunk.