Haley reaches for the third rail

[lawgator1]

https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/09/poli...ement-age-social-security-medicare/index.html

I'll give her credit for having the courage to even suggest a change to the retirement age or modifying benefits based on income. Don't think it will fly, and she is being a bit cagey still, but at least she is not completely abandoning it.

 

[LouderVol]

I liked your post simply because you finally included a link in a new thread so that others can know wtf you are referencing.

 

[DC_Vol]

https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/09/poli...ement-age-social-security-medicare/index.html

I'll give her credit for having the courage to even suggest a change to the retirement age or modifying benefits based on income. Don't think it will fly, and she is being a bit cagey still, but at least she is not completely abandoning it.

They could have fixed much of this circa 2005, but some politicians refused to touch the rail.

 

[Velo Vol]

They could have fixed much of this circa 2005, but some politicians refused to touch the rail.

Should have been done long before the Boomers retired.

Good luck now.

 

[sonofUT62]

Should have been done long before the Boomers retired.

Good luck now.

That’s what the gain of function research funding in Wuhan was for. I kid. Sort of.

 

[lawgator1]

What we are essentially talking about here is means testing for benefits. Will it test based on your income prior to retiring? Or what you have available after retiring? It could encourage people prior to retiring to hoard cash so it doesn't show up in an income screen for the means testing.

 

[DC_Vol]

What we are essentially talking about here is means testing for benefits. Will it test based on your income prior to retiring? Or what you have available after retiring? It could encourage people prior to retiring to hoard cash so it doesn't show up in an income screen for the means testing.

It was only a matter of time. The biggest robber baron that had ever existed has been pilfering from the “lock box” for decades.

 

[lawgator1]

It was only a matter of time. The biggest robber baron that had ever existed has been pilfering from the “lock box” for decades.

As someone who has paid in far more than he could ever be awarded in benefits, I won't vote for someone who would reduce my benefit even further, either because I worked hard and paid in so much, or because I also saved.

Now, that admittedly selfish thought process by me is why this means testing notion is going to be so touch to pass.

 

[DC_Vol]

As someone who has paid in far more than he could ever be awarded in benefits, I won't vote for someone who would reduce my benefit even further, either because I worked hard and paid in so much, or because I also saved.

Now, that admittedly selfish thought process by me is why this means testing notion is going to be so touch to pass.

Don’t be so hard on yourself. It’s not selfish to want to fully participate on the taking side of a program where the government confiscates your earnings to put into a lockbox and pay you back later in life.

I’m in the same boat as you and have saved far greater than SS will ever pay me. Means testing means I’ll get nada.

 

[hog88]

What we are essentially talking about here is means testing for benefits. Will it test based on your income prior to retiring? Or what you have available after retiring? It could encourage people prior to retiring to hoard cash so it doesn't show up in an income screen for the means testing.

Say no to theft, otherwise called means testing SS benefits.

 

[utvolpj]

As someone who has paid in far more than he could ever be awarded in benefits, I won't vote for someone who would reduce my benefit even further, either because I worked hard and paid in so much, or because I also saved.

Now, that admittedly selfish thought process by me is why this means testing notion is going to be so touch to pass.

So you had your money forcefully taken and don't want it wasted or redistributed by politicians? I've never considered that stance

 

[SpaceCoastVol]

Watching Puddinhead in CNBC and the crawler says he's gonna raise taxes to reduce the deficit.

 

[McDad]

What we are essentially talking about here is means testing for benefits. Will it test based on your income prior to retiring? Or what you have available after retiring? It could encourage people prior to retiring to hoard cash so it doesn't show up in an income screen for the means testing.

You are means tested for tax rate. Why not mean test for "benefits"?

 

[McDad]

Watching Puddinhead in CNBC and the crawler says he's gonna raise taxes to reduce the deficit.

He can't even raise his feet on steps. His "tax raise" is political BS to entice the Rs to be against it so the Ds can have rhetoric against them.

 

[sonofUT62]

Sooo Biden. Tell me that you’ve never been in the same room with Arthur Laffer, without telling me that you’ve never been in the same room with him. And yes I know some people don’t take Laffer seriously because he’s famous. But his work is still sound and he generally kept Clinton from driving the car into the ditch.

 

[Vol737]

What we are essentially talking about here is means testing for benefits. Will it test based on your income prior to retiring? Or what you have available after retiring? It could encourage people prior to retiring to hoard cash so it doesn't show up in an income screen for the means testing.

I think means testing will come later, but will eventually be on the table. I will not be surprised if the first step, in order for the Boomers to not come unglued at the seams, will be to modify the formula based on a “born on or before” bracketing as they change/reduce the formula for future benefits paid.

 

[sonofUT62]

Watching Puddinhead in CNBC and the crawler says he's gonna raise taxes to reduce the deficit.

He’s going to raise taxes to cause stagnation in investment. What a brilliant idea to create a situation where real estate investors can make less by building new homes to relieve the bottleneck. As if it wasn’t enough to cause raw materials to go through the roof. Biden is like the Grinch when he realized he left one tiny crumb behind.

 

[Vol737]

Watching Puddinhead in CNBC and the crawler says he's gonna raise taxes to reduce the deficit.

I walked in and saw him talking with the banner saying he was raising taxes to reduce the deficit. Had to turn it off. Such garbage as It never has reduced the deficit. It’s just more taxpayer money to spend on pie in the sky s*** they dream up.

 

[lawgator1]

So you had your money forcefully taken and don't want it wasted or redistributed by politicians? I've never considered that stance

I get your larger point, but that argument can always be made. SS (and Medicare) are in a class by themselves on that because they are intended to be universal. Contributing taxes for purposes of, say, infrastructure, no one expects that to necessarily benefit them in every instance. SS and Medicare, however, there is an expectation that those programs will benefit you directly.

So I don't really see those as supporting the point you are trying to make.

 

[85SugarVol]

I get your larger point, but that argument can always be made. SS (and Medicare) are in a class by themselves on that because they are intended to be universal. Contributing taxes for purposes of, say, infrastructure, no one expects that to necessarily benefit them in every instance. SS and Medicare, however, there is an expectation that those programs will benefit you directly.

So I don't really see those as supporting the point you are trying to make.

Well of course you don’t. You openly advocate for redistributive programs.

 

[lawgator1]

Well of course you don’t. You openly advocate for redistributive programs.

Every single expenditure or taxation by local, state, or federal governments, throughout history, has a redistributive element to it. You drive on a road? Redistributive element. You fly on a plane, have a bank account, or use any program or service which is any way regulated or promoted by any level of government? Redistributive element.

 

[LouderVol]

I get your larger point, but that argument can always be made. SS (and Medicare) are in a class by themselves on that because they are intended to be universal. Contributing taxes for purposes of, say, infrastructure, no one expects that to necessarily benefit them in every instance. SS and Medicare, however, there is an expectation that those programs will benefit you directly.

So I don't really see those as supporting the point you are trying to make.

yeah, talk to someone under the age of 40 who is paying attention. there is absolutely no expectation to be able to rely on SS or Medicare. I don't care their political leaning.

that is just pure money gone.

 

[VolStrom]

You are means tested for tax rate. Why not mean test for "benefits"?

They already do, since 85% of mine is taxed as regular income.

 

[85SugarVol]

Every single expenditure or taxation by local, state, or federal governments, throughout history, has a redistributive element to it. You drive on a road? Redistributive element. You fly on a plane, have a bank account, or use any program or service which is any way regulated or promoted by any level of government? Redistributive element.

Yes. Everyone knows which ones you like to reference to sell the others.

 

[Boston Vol]

The numbers don’t add up anymore. When social security was enacted there were 42 workers for every retiree. Today that figure is 3 to 1. Hard decisions have to be made, starting with the age of retirement. If they had just indexed SS to life expectancy, the retirement age in America today would be 73 and there really wouldn’t be a social security problem. Good luck trying to raise the retirement age now.