I told you so: Taxes and Social Security

I agree Law. You might want to also check the link that I posted above.

I've learned from MyLot that you're the smartest and have a monopoly on truth and wisdom. Oh, yes, you're also a horse's petute!

Yeah, go read his link of BS, that way you can at least get your complete fabricated stories to match up.

Your 'prediction' is merely restating what other experts have said. Also it was recognized that not enough money was being put into the system, prior to the 2% tax cut and the cut did not create the problem. The real truth is though that SS can't go completely broke. How can that happen if money keep being put into the system? There are several ways to fix the problem. One would be to raise the retirement age. This has already been done by raising the retirement age to collect full benefits to 67 years old. Also the tax on income stops with earnings above $113,700. That limit can be raised to bring more money into the system. One of the best ways to help out is to create more jobs.

Everything you said is true. However, you missed my point. I have heard now, for 5 years, that the *ONLY* reason SS is going broke is because of that 2% tax cut. This is FALSE. I predicted for 5 years now, that not only would raising taxes back up 2% not solve the problem, but it would quickly be followed by more tax increases AND cuts in benefits. I was right. Social Security is a ponzi scheme, it can't work, it won't work, and it needs to be scrapped.

Mike I agree with you it can definitely go broke but all they need to do is start putting people to work, and pay people a living wage. There is way more people now than there was back then. That's a hell of a lot of people we are not utilizing to pay into the system. Plus there is a surplus right now, it is just they are not putting enough people to work to keep up with the current standards. If people have to work a bit longer then so be it I am fine with that but just not fine with them making people work forever.

Well, whether Obama does, or does not, care about the middle class, I honestly do not know. What I do know, is that his policies harm everyone. I don't actually believe in a class system at all. The Middle class are often the poor of the past, and the future rich are often the middle class of today. Nearly everyone passes through multiple so called "classes" over the course of their life. The bottom line is, Obama's policies hurt everyone. The system itself, is not salvageable. There is no way to make a ponzi scheme work for everyone. Can't happen.

Here, here Mike. Its funny how more people from other countries seem to know more about our current state of affairs than many people living in the actual country.

I would agree. I personally have said for over 8 years, that there is no class system in the US. Of course this is a huge problem for leftist because in order to justify destroying the entire country, you have to have an inherently unfair construct which is part of the current system. Of course most modern leftist belief system, were based in historical Europe, where for thousands of years, they did have a class system. But when the ideology was transplanted to America, the myth was created that we have a class system too, if for no other reason than because it's fundamental purpose of leftist ideology to destroy the class system. It's hard to justify ruining the country in favor of a new socio-economic model, when the primary reason you are where you are, is because you are lazy and don't want to work. Of course the typical response is "Of course there is a class system! Some people are rich! Some people are poor! That's the upper and lower class!" Of course they conveniently forget, the millionaire today, we working a 9 to 5 job yesterday, and was working at Wendy's before that. Warren Buffet started out running a paper route. American's have no concept of what a class system really is. In a recent economics show, they interviewed a lady that owned a million dollar a year business. Her father was an immigrant from lower-class Egypt. In his own words, with a complete education, he could never have been anything other than a low-class worker, simply because of what family he was born into. He immigrated to the US, and became head manager of a Hospital in Upstate New York if I remember right. Something completely impossible for him in Egypt. And his daughter becoming owner of a million dollar business? Even more impossible than his accomplishments. This is what a class system really is. We have nothing like that here. What we do have, is some incredibly whiny people who don't want to work.

Dar, the rules for income and collecting social security benefits were set BEFORE Obama became President. And what tax increases has he put in but and increase in taxes on the wealthy, not the average person. The recent 'increase' in the social security tax, was not an increase but a return to the old level that was only reduced to try to kick start the economy. You should check out the link I posted above which discusses was of the original culprits for the current SS money problems who was none other than Ronald Reagan.

Well as long as you depend on someone else for your livelyhood, you are going to have to choose between food and medication, because no one, not government, not anyone else, is going to give you everything you want. If you want to get everything you want, you must work for everything you want. People who work for what they want, don't have that problem. Social Security is not sustainable. It had to be cut, and taxes had to go up, and that will be the case until the system is replaced. I say, better to do it now. But most just want a quick fix, that will make things worse in the long run.

[b]Dar, the rules for income and collecting social security benefits were set BEFORE Obama became President. And what tax increases has he put in but and increase in taxes on the wealthy, not the average person. The recent 'increase' in the social security tax, was not an increase but a return to the old level that was only reduced to try to kick start the economy. You should check out the link I posted above which discusses was of the original culprits for the current SS money problems who was none other than Ronald Reagan. [/b] No, it was before Reagan. It was fundamental to the system. People were talking about how they were going to be able to fund social security before Reagan was ever elected president. With all due respect, you are either being willfully ignorant, or you are flat out lying. All you need to do is look up statements by Jimmy Carter on social security, and you can find all his speeches where he screams about Social Security going broke. http://www.ssa.gov/history/carterstmts.html#system Not your dumb leftist crap link to idiots more ignorant than yourself. This is directly from the Social Security administration itself, the words of Jimmy Carter, May of 1977. [b]Message to the Congress. May 9,1977 To the Congress of the United States: The Social Security system affects the lives of more Americans than almost any other function of government. More than 33 million people currently receive benefits. Another 104 million people are making contributions with the expectation that they will receive benefits when they retire or become disabled, or when their survivors need help. Today, the Board of Trustees of the Social Security Trust Funds is submitting its 1977 report to the Congress. The report tells us that the system critically needs financial support in the short term. The high unemployment of recent years has curtailed Social Security's revenues, while benefits have risen with inflation. Since 1975 expenditures have exceeded income; and existing reserves will soon be exhausted.[/b] The system had problems for YEARS before Reagan, and the leftist spewing BS started blaming everyone but themselves for the problems. Yes, this irritates me. Not because you are attacking Reagan. I'm used to that. But the shear intellectual dishonest of stupid people with their heads shoved so far up their partisan politics, than can't even think for themselves. Burrito, if you don't know what you are talking about SHUT UP... Get clue and come back when you don't sound like a Obama Sound bite.

I accidentally accused you specifically of saying "that's a great program". I withdraw that comment. I meant that leftists say it's a great program. Not you specifically.

The very first Social Security recipient, was a lady that had never paid so much as a penny into social security. That right there doesn't fit the definition of a ponzi scheme. I didn't say it was an exact copy of insurance. I said it was similar to insurance. Insurance has tons of stipulations to it, it's a huge money maker, but it also has the option to simply drop people or charge them huge rates for per-existing conditions, traffic tickets, term life insurance, etc. Not to mention premiums have been skyrocketing lately. People are paying 100s a month just to have health insurance. Guess what, if a huge earthquake hit CA, or some other massive disaster, most insurance companies would be in the same situation as social security. Finally, I never said that it was any sort of great system. Quite frankly I think its stupid, but somewhere in recent history, people decided the government would make a good babysitter so we now have a host of "services" that are nothing more than money pits paid for on money borrowed by the government. And no, I don't think we're somehow too good to turn into Greece. We're probably worse off actually. Our golden era of wealth was made on borrowed money and eventually even our credit card is going to dry up. Our attempt to stave if off with more loans is only going to make it that much worse. I my non-expert opinion, the "crisis" of 08 was just a little bump before the storm and were merely borrowing more money to stave off the problem which is only making the inevitable problem that much worse.

[b]The very first Social Security recipient, was a lady that had never paid so much as a penny into social security. That right there doesn't fit the definition of a ponzi scheme.[/b] Yeah it does. The people at the top of the pyramid, never pay in. Insurance has tons of stipulations to it, it's a huge money maker, but it also has the option to simply drop people or charge them huge rates for per-existing conditions, traffic tickets, term life insurance, etc. But you know those stipulation going in. It doesn't change mid contract. And no, they simply can't drop you. The only time you can drop someone, is if they lied on their application. If you lie on your application, that's your fault for being a liar. Social Security was promised to pay out X amount at Y time. Now they are changing the payout, and the time when I can collect. If you sign up for any other insurance, and they tried to just say "oh sorry, I know you purchased $50,000 full coverage auto insurance for your car that you totaled, but we've decided to just pay out $25,000, and only after 5 years have passed"... you would sue that insurance company into oblivion. But when the government does it, you just "well it's a great program". Right, whatever. Not to mention premiums have been skyrocketing lately. People are paying 100s a month just to have health insurance. Guess what, if a huge earthquake hit CA, or some other massive disaster, most insurance companies would be in the same situation as social security. Well of course premiums have been skyrocketing. Obamacare? Remember, Obamacare has tons of requirements on what an insurance policy must cover, including removing pre-existing condition clauses. Where do you think an insurance company gets the money to pay out benefits? From premium payers. Every single service that government mandates insurance cover, directly translates into higher premiums. Every joe blow who refuses to buy health insurance until he is sick, and then buys an insurance policy that by law must cover his pre-existing condition, directly translates into higher premiums. Yes.... of course premiums have been shooting up. This should not be surprising. I my non-expert opinion, the "crisis" of 08 was just a little bump before the storm and were merely borrowing more money to stave off the problem which is only making the inevitable problem that much worse. It would have been a bump in the road, had government not made it into a crisis. If the banks had simply been allowed to fail, this problem would be long over by now. Instead we bailed out the banks, bailed out GM and Chrysler, spent billions in 'stimulus spending' which screwed up the economy worse, passed dozens of government programs and policies, and just tried to mess over the economy as much as possible, while promising more and more spending, none of which we can pay for. We've turned a bad coffee break, into a full fledged nightmare, that will likely span the next 10 years.