General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Social Security and the life expectancy meme: the age of SS cutting is upon us again. [View all]Warpy
(112,808 posts)and/or physical neglect, especially dental neglect. They would simply not visit a doctor unless they were drastically ill and could no longer put up an effective fight against it. End stage cirrhosis, sepsis, and pneumonias were the big killers.
Women were then left mostly destitute, a man's pension dying with him, if he'd even had one of those. Social Security was above all a program for surviving women, giving them choices instead of forcing them into servitude as unpaid cooks and nannies in the homes of relatives if one would take her in. A measure of how horrible this was is how quickly it was abandoned as soon as Social Security came in.
My own parents benefited greatly from SS before the big stock market runup in the late 90s. It had been the difference between living comfortably and having to rely a little too heavily on what my dad could pull out of the Indian River for dinner.
Now they're trying to take it away because we live too long. How fucking dare they? They know full well how to fund it, keeping it pay as you go. What they're really freaking out about is the lack of overpayments that allowed Reublicans to disguise the national debt caused by reckless Republican tax cuts for corporations and rich men.
First, fund Social Security by raising the minimum wage to a living level in most locations outside a few of the big cities nationwide. That alone might increase contributions beyond what is necessary.
Second, get Social Security out of the General Fund. It was never meant to be there. It is a national INSURANCE program, not anything the Republicans have tried to call it. Pay your premiums, get insurance payments wen you can't work any more. That's how it works and it works well, thanks, as long as we can keep Republican grabby hands off it.
Third, raise the ridiculously low earnings cap so that an emergency fund can be maintained.
Fourth, index the earnings cap and the disbursements to inflation.
Fifth, require a constitutional amendment to end the program, and good luck to the skinflint Republicans (or whoever replaces them) on that one.
We know how to do this. We just need to get rid of Republicans and "fiscal conservatives" in Congress.