Seniors on Social Security Could Face $460 Monthly Cut to Benefits - Republicans are fine with that.

[CousinIT]

https://www.newsweek.com/seniors-on-social-security-could-face-460-monthly-cut-to-benefits-11417911

It's not "insolvency". Social Security will always pay benefits as long as workers and employers continue to pay into it. That's not "insolvent". It's not "bankruptcy" or "broke".

IT'S A SHORTFALL that can be easily fixed by LIFTING THE CAP and other small adjustments.

BILLIONAIRES & Corporations hate it & want it gone because they don't want to pay ANYTHING into it. They will SCREEAAAM bloody murder if they have to pay more into it if the cap is lifted. So they are lobbying Congress to CUT SENIORS' BENEFITS instead.



_ _ _ _ _

Kevin Thompson, the CEO of 9i Capital Group and the host of the 9innings podcast, said it’s unlikely that Congress and the SSA would allow a benefit cut to actually transpire for seniors who’ve spent their working years paying into the system.

"In no way do I expect Social Security to see a monthly benefit cut. The reality is simple: the people receiving Social Security actually vote and they show up consistently. No politician survives arguing for cutting benefits to the most reliable voting bloc in the country. That makes this scenario highly unlikely,” Thompson told Newsweek.

He continued: “At the same time, the government continues to spend aggressively in areas where the U.S. already leads the world by multiples, particularly military spending. Asking Americans to justify endless war spending while cutting support for their own citizens is not a tradeoff most people will tolerate over the long term.”

Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor for the University of Tennessee at Martin, echoed Thompson’s sentiment.

“They know the alternative would be catastrophic for not just those affected by cuts, but their political careers, as well,” Beene told Newsweek. “However, it’s still a great reminder for soon-to-be retirees to not rely completely on that monthly check. Save in your 401k and IRA with the anticipation Social Security may be cut to make sure you’ll have enough to cover any possible funding gap.”

[FalloutShelter]

1. CUT THE CRAP...RAISE THE CAP...

Everybody sing...

[PatSeg]

10. Very catchy!

Great bumper sticker slogan.

[mobeau69]

14. Eliminate the cap.

[Beartracks]

33. Here's another cap to get rid of.

[Americanme]

20. Kill the cap!

[maliaSmith]

21. Cap and crap

Cap must be raised and ALL income must be taxed for SS and Medicare.

[CousinIT]

34. I like that! Good campaign slogan! n/t

[Midnight Writer]

2. Like most problems, the longer we wait to fix it, the worse it will be.

[popsdenver]

23. Must we not forget,

Reagan DOUBLING the deduction for SSI......"To save Social Security".................7.5% to 15%.........

Then, Ray-Gun Ronnie.....used all the windfall money coming in to the Feds, to give out the LARGEST TAX CUT EVER, to the wealthy....

And, hilariously, even the so called "Reagan Democrats" of the time....cheered him doing it............

[travelingthrulife]

3. Liars. Raise the cap. I am certain Elon and the rest of these greed-bags would

never even feel it.

[mobeau69]

15. Eliminate the cap.

[Emile]

4. The wealthy need another tax cut. So they raid the

SS trust fund.

[popsdenver]

24. Along with

the money for Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, etc etc etc.........

It is almost like Political Darwinism.........

[Gum Logger]

29. Yep. Nasty ole social Darwinists. The masters of social engineering

[popsdenver]

32. Trump is still pissed off

that his stalling on COVID, only resulted in an additional 500,000 deaths here in the U.S. He was in hopes of more quasi genocide deaths.....
Of all the world's deaths, the U.S.'s Covid deaths were DOUBLE, per capita, of any other nation due to his intentional delays and screwing around. And that was diluted by Florida and Texas not bothering to tally deaths, or intentionally mis-stating the cause of death on death certificates.

[chouchou]

5. Sometimes, I wonder if Republicans came from another planet?

Perhaps maybe like: "Disgusted"

[ColoringFool]

16. Planet Greed, Ruled By The God Mammon.

[haele]

6. Save into your IRA and 401K...if your job barely pays renting from a slumlord?

Ah yes - bootstrap philosophy. Totally devoid of understanding the income divide between the average worker and "professionals".

If you're a worker, you can put more in your 401k or IRA, and spend years raising your family in a tent by the river or using a cycle of family shelters, house-sharing, homeless clothing give-aways, and food pantries, or you can raise your family/present enough of a presentable appearance in public to keep a decent paying job by renting a "cheap apartment" and going grocery and thrift store shopping fairly regularly - and hope to die before you hit retirement age.

[CousinIT]

35. The entire Trump crime syndicate are billionaires. They have no CLUE

...what life is like for the working poor or middle class. Unfortunately, most of Congress are quite wealthy too - and they get cushy retirements and healthcare WE PAY FOR - while they vote to cut ours.

Dirtbags!

[popsdenver]

37. Basically

The Republicans in the Senate and House, along with the Republicans in the Supreme Court......are simply:
The very best Politicians that money can buy........

The only difference between the Crack Whores walking the streets of this country.... and Republican Politicians,.... (especially all the female Republicans that surround Trump) is that there are things the crack Whores WILL NOT DO.....FOR ANY AMOUNT OF MONEY....

[Rebl2]

7. If they do

that, I would be getting less than 300 dollars a month.🤬

[pecosbob]

8. Cut someone's social security by fifty percent and that someone will go to DC and shoot someone responsible in the head.

Just a prediction...

[leftstreet]

11. +1 They'd better outlaw public weapons first

[31st Street Bridge]

30. I know at least four people who will do exactly that

Maybe more.

[popsdenver]

38. Why do you think that

one of the Republicans first moves in January, was to turn DC into a fortress by flooding DC with National Guard, FBI, Secret Service, ATF, U.S. Military etc .......ALL walking the streets of DC.......

I am sure there are thermal microwave, and high decibel sound crowd control devices staged around the White House, Capitol, Supreme Court..............

[orangecrush]

9. Go for it

Most people on SS vote.

[popsdenver]

25. Also

Most people on SSI DISABILITY, vote

[Johonny]

12. Another bad economic policy

This is money that will be pulled out of the economy. It's anti-stimulus.

[gulliver]

13. Our waiting for the trust fund crisis is political malpractice

There's no better way to undermine Social Security than to let trust fund insolvency continue to be a thing. How stupid we have to be to think, perhaps, that it can wait and not realize that waiting causes problems now.

You see it at the end of this OP. Someone telling you you should be sure to save money in your 401(k) and IRAs just to guard against the looming insolvency of the trust fund. That's a direct statement that Social Security isn't to be fully trusted. And, SMH, it just goes right over the heads of everyone.

Leaving the trust fund on a path to insolvency is like creating an ad against Social Security's reliability that runs every day until the crisis is averted. Are we really this stupid?

This is why I keep saying, "Core issues folks!"

[dugog55]

17. The main reason Social Security is in trouble,

is because wages have been stagnant since the mid 80s. Had everyone's wages kept up with inflation, SS would still be solvent. Reagan broke the unions and we lost a huge chunk of high wage earners, and the force behind keeping all wages competitive. All the cap raises in the last 30 years have not helped because fewer and fewer workers met the cap. Most were well below it. Right now, raising the cap is still a gap-step solution. Getting a nationwide workforce making more than minimum wage salaries would help immensely.

[popsdenver]

27. HWBush was running things for 12 long years

Reagan, like WBush and Trump, are merely pawns, or front men.

More was done during the entire 80's to obliterate the middle and lower classes, than in any period since........

As far as Reagan's administration, one of his crowning blows was:


Reagan, (actually HWBush) DOUBLING the deduction for SSI......"To save Social Security".................7.5% to 15%.........

Then, Ray-Gun Ronnie and the Republicans, along with most Dems,.....used all the windfall money coming in to the Feds, to give out the LARGEST TAX CUT EVER, almost exclusively to the wealthy....

And, hilariously, even the so called "Reagan Democrats" of the time....cheered him doing it............

[ColoringFool]

18. Easy-Peasy. After All, Meals Cost Only $3.00.

[Fiendish Thingy]

19. Unless we elect a progressive president in 2028, and the senate kills the filibuster, they will wait to fix

Until the last possible moment, sometime in 2033-35, when the shortfall is predicted to kick in.

If the filibuster is still in place, then republicans will demand concessions like they did in the re-engineering of SS during the Reagan years.

They will insist on raising the full retirement age for millennials and Gen Z’s to 70 or even older, and reducing benefits further for those who take benefits before then.

Count on it.

Or, we could elect a progressive president and a senate willing to kill the filibuster, and lift the cap in 2029, and SS would be able to pay benefits for decades, if not forever.

[Celerity]

39. There will may well be a systemic problem with a Democratic Caucus-controlled Senate IF this attempt at a centrist wave

of new Dem Senators comes to fruition over the next 3 election cycles (2026, 2028, 2030).

Enough of the new centrists, if they win, will probably (combined with some already-sitting Dems who are pro-filibuster and/or anti SCOTUS-expansion institutionalists as well) be anti filibuster removal and/or anti SCOTUS enlarging to block either from happening.

Starting in the 2032 election, we have an additional huge problem, as post 2030 Census, the Red states will gain a lot of NET seats (could be a 20 or more seat net swing from D to R) which will ratfuck us in both the House races and in the POTUS electoral College.

[Fiendish Thingy]

40. The oligarchs know the populist pendulum is swinging leftward

Which is why they are promoting the centrist backed “abundance agenda” Trojan Horse, as a feint towards “affordability”, when it’s really a move towards deregulation and massive profits.

[Wonder Why]

22. You damn old people are getting all my money!

Oops! I just looked at the calendar and realized what year it is! I'm 79 already.

You young 'uns are stealing all our money.

[timms139]

26. Democrats should put fixing

social Security in front of their messages as one of the first things to happen after the mid terms.The Ice problem and all the other things Trump ruined should be there but Social Security should be mentioned everytime they speak .

[Miles Archer]

28. But this won't effect Elon's tax cut, right? OH DEAR JESUS PLEASE CONFIRM THAT ELON WILL BE OK.

And Zuckerberg. And Bezos. And Thiel. For GOD'S SAKE please confirm they will still get their tax cuts.

[markodochartaigh]

31. This is not accurate:

"However, it’s still a great reminder for soon-to-be retirees to not rely completely on that monthly check. Save in your 401k and IRA with the anticipation Social Security may be cut to make sure you’ll have enough to cover any possible funding gap."

It is NOT a reminder for soon-to-be retirees. It is a reminder for people who have more than a decade left to retire, or the few who are soon to retire who are in the top 10% and can afford to throw wads of cash towards retirement. The great majority of soon-to-be retirees cannot afford to put enough towards retirement in their final decade of working to make up that difference.

[snot]

36. Raise the cap to include the effect of all inflation in necessities

since the current cap was first adopted; and then peg the cap to inflation in those necessities.

(Note: Inflation in necessities such as food, housing, and healthcare has been much higher than in the CPI as calculated by the government.)

[roamer65]

41. Eliminate the cap for individuals, but keep it for businesses on their American employees.

It’s half paid by workers and businesses. Use it to incentivize American jobs.