Discussion for article #236156
Two conservative morons arguing and flinging bullshit about Social Security.
And in other news, water is still wet.
Edit: With rounds 1 through 3 of quantitative easing (QE) long since done, we have ample proof that anyone who tries to claim that we have to cut benefits, or increase payroll taxes (or retirement age) to keep Social Secutiy “solvent” is a lying prick who needs to be called that, to their face.
Peg Social Security benefits to the Consumer Price Index for the elderly (CPI-E) and tie the Fed. min wage to the standard CPI as well. Then once and for all, get it through our collective heads that deficits really do not matter when you have a sovereign reserve currency, and back up all public obligations with what we did in the QE rounds, print more money.
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Hey, you heard him, vote for the Democrat.
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SS is not going broke Christie.
Even though all you assholes say it is.
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We could easily fix this manufactured crisis by doing a couple of things- first, stop using Social Security money for the rest of the budget. Second, eliminate the cap on income paid into it. In other words, all income is taxed for social security regardless of how much it is or what the source is.
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The Republican presidential candidate, clown show is starting to get really interesting. I’m going to love every minute of these fools performing their slapstick comedy routines in front of the entire nation.
Gonna need more popcorn.
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But it is…because the GOP is doing everything they can to make absolutely sure it does go bankrupt.
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Raising the cap (or better yet, eliminating the cap) is hardly a massive tax increase on “everyone”. Most of us pay taxes on every damn dollar we earn, only a select few don’t.
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I agree with eliminating the cap. But I’ll go you one better.
Peg SS benefits to the CPI-E (and tie the Fed. min wage to the standard CPI) then guarantee (and back up) all public obligations with what we did in the QE rounds, print more money. Because reality is that deficits really do not matter when it comes to Federal debt when you have a sovereign reserve currency.
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Another thing we can do to show that the oligarchs are not in charge, is to change the “carried interest” rules. Hedge fund managers making billions of dollars should not have that income deemed as capital gains. It’s not. That income is earned income, subject to social security taxes; just like the rest of us pay on our wages. It is not capitals gains income, except for a loophole crafted by a corrupt Congress.
By the way, they should eliminate the preferential tax rates on capital gains and dividends. Why the hell should such income be taxed at a lesser rate than wages? The only reason “carried interest” rules and preferential rates for dividends and capital gains exist is because Wall Street owns Congress. Democrat Chuck Schumer is especially egregious on this matter.
There is no good economic reason for the disparity in such treatment. If anything, the last 14 years have shown that consumer spending spurs economic growth not reliance on the already wealthy to invest their money and let it “trickle down” to the rest of us.
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Considering all it must contain, I would have thought Christie’s skin would be thicker.
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“That’s your right, you’re a radio talk show host, you don’t have to come forward with solutions.”
Among others. The radio talk show hosts are Statler and Waldorf.
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GRAWL!
The big, bad and mean bear has reappeared to eat humans alive, once again!
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As FDR said when Social Security was being created, if you means test the benefits they will just be looked at as welfare. We will then find ourselves in an ongoing race to se how low we can make the payments and how little we will tax ourselves to fund them.
It seems FDR understood the Republicans of today as well as those of his time.
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SS money is used for SS and has nothing to do with the rest of the federal budget.
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You’re right on the money about “means testing”. At first it may seem reasonable, but then it will be used to continually reduce the number of people able to collect. It’s a “foot in the door” proposal to eliminate social security, entirely.
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Let Christie highlight want only a few rich republicans think - means testing SS.
Only helps punctuate what too many rank’n’file republicans afraid to notice - their leadership really just wants to eliminate SS.
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In theory, yes, but in reality they put all of the money into one pool and dole it all back out, according to several sources I’ve read.
No thanks, I’m not going to listen. Two conservative morons with no imagination, no sense that there are solutions to this problem and they don’t have to be severe. Bernie Sanders says if tax higher income people on a higher level of their income but at the same rate as the low-wage earners are paying, we can solve to problem. But no, these numbskulls won’t consider that solution, they will only consider solutions that keep the rich getting richer.
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In this episode of “The Con Game”, GOPers try to “save social security”, get mad at each other.
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