Social Security benefits expected to be cut by 2034

[Mierin]

http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/13/news/economy/social-security-trust-fund-projection/index.html

If Congress doesn't act soon, tens of millions of Americans will only receive about three-quarters of their Social Security benefits when they retire in the future.

Below is an article saying if we increased the cap to $250,000, it would push back the cut to 2055. That is what we need to do, right now, to give us more time. And I think the cap should increase with inflation. We then need to wait out the babyboomers and hope for economic growth and more tax revenue.
The article also shows the effects of increasing the SS tax.

https://www.google.com/amp/www.bankrate.com/financing/retirement/will-raising-the-cap-save-social-security/amp/

 

[teachercd]

Start it at a later age...people live so much longer now

 

[Mierin]

Start it at a later age...people live so much longer now

Haven't they already done that? (I don't know much about it but I always hear the retirement age is increasing and assumed they were talking about the amount of the SS payments and not just people opting to work longer)

Also, I thought US life expectancy had started to drop slightly.

 

[teachercd]

Start it at a later age...people live so much longer now

Haven't they already done that? (I don't know much about it but I always hear the retirement age is increasing and assumed they were talking about the amount of the SS payments and not just people opting to work longer)

Also, I thought US life expectancy had started to drop slightly.

Yeah, I think they have changed it once...Thing is when SS started people worked until 60 and died at 65-70 (I am just making up that number but you know what I mean). That isn;t the case anymore. Shoot people at 65 years old are in the gym getting a workout in and then going out skydiving.

I am sure they have thought about that as an answer and I am sure the math might not work out as well as people would like and I can sure understand people that are 61 thinking "f#*k you...you are not raising the age"

 

[RedDenver]

Start it at a later age...people live so much longer now

Haven't they already done that? (I don't know much about it but I always hear the retirement age is increasing and assumed they were talking about the amount of the SS payments and not just people opting to work longer)

Also, I thought US life expectancy had started to drop slightly.

Yeah, I think they have changed it once...Thing is when SS started people worked until 60 and died at 65-70 (I am just making up that number but you know what I mean). That isn;t the case anymore. Shoot people at 65 years old are in the gym getting a workout in and then going out skydiving.

I am sure they have thought about that as an answer and I am sure the math might not work out as well as people would like and I can sure understand people that are 61 thinking "f#*k you...you are not raising the age"

If we raise the age, then we're reducing the amount of time people will be able to enjoy retirement and reducing the number of jobs leaving the workforce (making it harder for other to enter the workforce). Is that what we want?

IMO extending SS tax above $118k isn't asking for much. And why was it ever capped to begin with?

 

[teachercd]

Start it at a later age...people live so much longer now

Haven't they already done that? (I don't know much about it but I always hear the retirement age is increasing and assumed they were talking about the amount of the SS payments and not just people opting to work longer)

Also, I thought US life expectancy had started to drop slightly.

Yeah, I think they have changed it once...Thing is when SS started people worked until 60 and died at 65-70 (I am just making up that number but you know what I mean). That isn;t the case anymore. Shoot people at 65 years old are in the gym getting a workout in and then going out skydiving.

I am sure they have thought about that as an answer and I am sure the math might not work out as well as people would like and I can sure understand people that are 61 thinking "f#*k you...you are not raising the age"

If we raise the age, then we're reducing the amount of time people will be able to enjoy retirement and reducing the number of jobs leaving the workforce (making it harder for other to enter the workforce). Is that what we want?

IMO extending SS tax above $118k isn't asking for much. And why was it ever capped to begin with?

Yeah, that is a good point.

 

[VectorVictor]

IMO extending SS tax above $118k isn't asking for much. And why was it ever capped to begin with?

IIRC from my American History courses, there wasn't a cap in FDR's original plan for Social Security. The cap was added to get the opposition (the current GOP--I'm blanking on their previous party name) on board with approving it, and has remained in place as a supposed deterrent from Social Security not getting too big and offering citizens too much money/too many increases. Also, Social Security can only offer X% of someone's lifetime earnings up to a certain dollar amount.

I remember there were plans a few years ago to up the cap to something like $250k or $500k, but they went nowhere with the GOP and their overlords.

 

[teachercd]

I guess a fair question is, would you rather NOT have SS and the money get left in your check?

I think I would rather have SS...I also think it was not designed with the thinking that people would be collecting SS for 20 plus years. With my luck, I will collect my first check and get hit by a buss...Probably a boss driven by NUance...cause he is so mean and stuff.

 

[teachercd]

IMO extending SS tax above $118k isn't asking for much. And why was it ever capped to begin with?

IIRC from my American History courses, there wasn't a cap in FDR's original plan for Social Security. The cap was added to get the opposition (the current GOP--I'm blanking on their previous party name) on board with approving it, and has remained in place as a supposed deterrent from Social Security not getting too big and offering citizens too much money/too many increases. Also, Social Security can only offer X% of someone's lifetime earnings up to a certain dollar amount.

I remember there were plans a few years ago to up the cap to something like $250k or $500k, but they went nowhere with the GOP and their overlords.

I love your avatar! I love that movie. How a movie like Airplane doesn't, at the very least, get nominated for an Oscar is a joke.

 

[Danny Bateman]

I guess a fair question is, would you rather NOT have SS and the money get left in your check?

I think I would rather have SS...I also think it was not designed with the thinking that people would be collecting SS for 20 plus years. With my luck, I will collect my first check and get hit by a buss...Probably a boss driven by NUance...cause he is so mean and stuff.

I don't know that a lot of Americans are responsible enough to manage their own retirement if they just kept the extra money and couldn't collect SS.

 

[Mierin]

If we didn't pay into SS I can already imagine the people who wouldn't save up a single penny, and then... we'd just let them die, right? 'Cause even if we don't reduce medicaid or SNAP, they can't support a crapton more people than they already are.

 

[teachercd]

I guess a fair question is, would you rather NOT have SS and the money get left in your check?

I think I would rather have SS...I also think it was not designed with the thinking that people would be collecting SS for 20 plus years. With my luck, I will collect my first check and get hit by a buss...Probably a boss driven by NUance...cause he is so mean and stuff.

I don't know that a lot of Americans are responsible enough to manage their own retirement if they just kept the extra money and couldn't collect SS.

Neither do I. I want SS, for sure...I just wonder if it should be something the we rely on the government for, our retirement.

With that said...I will gladly take it!

 

[teachercd]

If we didn't pay into SS I can already imagine the people who wouldn't save up a single penny, and then... we'd just let them die, right? 'Cause even if we don't reduce medicaid or SNAP, they can't support a crapton more people than they already are.

I have no idea, how did they do it before SS? Did people even "retire" back then or did they just work until they died? Did people make sure to live within their means instead of living beyond their means?

I want SS, no doubt about it.

 

[VectorVictor]

If we didn't pay into SS I can already imagine the people who wouldn't save up a single penny, and then... we'd just let them die, right? 'Cause even if we don't reduce medicaid or SNAP, they can't support a crapton more people than they already are.

They still make these, do they not Moiraine? These people can just use these to pull themselves up as they continue to work well past what one would consider to be a retirement age.