On the fourth Wednesday of every month,

[MineralMan]

Social Security payments are deposited, as if by magic, in our checking account. When they arrive, we make a mortgage payment and a car payment. Other SS recipients have a different date for that direct deposit, and some still get checks in the mail.

For most Social Security recipients, like us, those payments are an essential part of our budget.

What if they stopped coming? What if Republicans got their way and altered the way Social Security is done? They'd like to do just that. If they could, they'd stop those deposits, leaving millions of Americans wondering how they would survive. Some wouldn't survive at all.

If anyone thinks it doesn't matter whether Democrats or Republicans are the majority in Congress and in the White House, think again. It matters. It matters very, very much.

If you think it doesn't matter to you, you're wrong about that, too. Think about it.

[CrispyQ]

1. This might be one of Luck's best cartoons of all times.

Post it far & wide!

[Wellstone ruled]

2. Ah my friend.

You and I are in the same wheelhouse. There are Millions in that same wheelhouse. So many of our associations in Rural Minny have zero idea of what you speak. The Rural economies would collapse in a heart beat. And most of the Urban areas would follow within weeks.

[bobbieinok]

8. Me too. Though I have some additional $ from a monthly pension

Loss of SS super bad news to so many.

Did SS start to keep seniors from starving? Does no one care about this any more? SATSQ

[Wellstone ruled]

11. Still recall the day

my older neighbor received his first SS check. $12,that was 1951 when Farmers first qualified for SS. And he being a Emigrant from Hungary thought it was the most spectacular thing in the world.

Like you referenced,most likely 60+ % of the population have zero defined Pensions and others are tied to some what sketchy Corporate Pensions. The real hurt is,that same percentage or maybe higher,can not pull 4-5 hundred bucks together before sundown.

If the Rethugs want to go after SS,which they have been trying since 1948,bring it,that will be the last nail to seal their coffin as far as a Political Party.

[DENVERPOPS]

19. Remember when Gore

Remember when Gore talked about creating a lock box for SSI

In the entire history of SSI, it is ludicrous the politicians didn't separate it. If they had the SSI checks would be higher than they are now, with no end in sight.

I can imagine that Medicare would also be solvent, paying more and doing well with the medicare employee contributions set aside. Especially if more Dr's, Hospitals, Clinics etc were investigated & prosecuted for Medicare Fraud.....

So for a very long time, the Politicians just threw the money into the general funds and wildly spent it....

The best was in ? 1981 or 1982 When Reagan, (actually HWBush and Cheney et al) told the American public that HE was brave enough to touch the untouchable, and would settle the upcoming short fall of Social Security (who's impending "insolvency" was all made up BS by the way....)

HW and Cheney and even Rumsfeld, DOUBLED the amount put in to social security by both employees and employers. Problem solved!

Ha Ha Ha........Still no Lock Box, but tons more money coming into the Fed general funds. Think about it, an ADDITIONAL 7% of all earned income in to the treasury as "increased tax revenue"......wow

Then a year later, the same ass wipes crooned about how well Reagan was running the economy, (which also was also a spurious statement), and that the feds were sitting on a ton of extra tax money. Then suddenly, they all were chanting "We Should Cut Taxes", people are paying too much, Trickle down Economics is validated.......of course the Republicans and Reagan Democrats bought it hook line and sinker.

When the tax cuts were enacted, most, if not all, of the tax cuts went to the top tax brackets and corporations. Cute, huh!
Check the historical records if you don't believe me...... Of course Fascist Trump and the Fascist Senate Republicans have just put it to everyone below the 1% and didn't even bother to try and hide it like Reagan's pretended Social Security scam. Keep bending over America, the Fascist Choo Choo is headed right up your caboose more and more in the future of this crowd........

[DownriverDem]

15. Why don't

Seniors believe that the repubs will cut their SS?

[Wellstone ruled]

20. Boomers simply got lazy.

There Parents were Depression Babies and they knew who to trust and that was FDR because they owed their lives to his Policies and Policy decisions. They were determined to never let their Children want. Vietnam and the Propaganda of the Nixon era changed everything. We called it the rebellion times,Kids wanted their so called freedom from the Parents belief system,and we are where we are as a result of the so called rebellion.

Looking back on a major factor,the major change in our Public Education System as to what Curriculum should be Taught in our Schools. Tons of Social Sciences were eliminated via the so called School Budget short fall hoax. And now we are seeing the short sighted effect of those decisions.

Civic Duty and Community awareness as well as Voter participation fell,in my opinion since. My Parents and Grand Parents all said,it is better to bitch than switch and get involved and make a difference.

Do remember the Chicago School of Economics starting in the early sixties pushing a program of Supply Side Economics and the conversion of SS Trust Funds,which was only on paper and not a real thing, into a Wall Street run program. Well,just asked all those folks in Chile how that worked out.

Once Senator Mel Roth conned the Nation into the 401k idea,SS has been under a massive assault. The Likes of the Heritage Foundation will keep this assault until the National Conversation changes to fix and preserve SS.

[malaise]

24. This

Do remember the Chicago School of Economics starting in the early sixties pushing a program of Supply Side Economics and the conversion of SS Trust Funds,which was only on paper and not a real thing, into a Wall Street run program. Well,just asked all those folks in Chile how that worked out.

The good news is that Chileans are on the street as are people in any other countries.

Sadly Americans in the main did not pay attention to what was being done to others.
So here we are with decision day pending.

[Wellstone ruled]

29. Had a fellow College Student Friend from

Chile whom I kept in touch with for a couple decades. Do remember his plight when the Chilean Stock Market blew up. Believe his Pension was to be some where in the 1200-1500 dollar range and when the market blew up,he received less than a hundred dollars.

Lost track of him shortly after that,all we knew was he was headed North and was hoping he could make it to the States.

[Hoyt]

3. Two ways that could happen -- Republicans or a real economic shock. We have a guaranteed 25% SS cut

looming in 2030s. Yet nothing is being done about it.

And, it's not a simple matter of increasing cap, etc., especially when shoring up SS will be competing with needed funding for things like healthcare, childcare, climate change, deficit and debt reduction, jobs, college, college debt reduction, housing, etc.

Fortunately, we'll have plenty of company living under a bridge.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

4. GOP is betting the planet dies first, ergo get it while they can

[deurbano]

5. Who cares? The Messiah has returned! (Rapture to follow...)

[erronis]

7. Yeah, right. That tired meme is roled out every day/year and has never happened.

Ain't goin' to, neither. The only rapture is when the clueless stick some of their hard-earned money into the offering plate - straight into the preacher's pocket.

[deurbano]

10. And I wonder what happened to all those Anti-Christ (amazingly, always a Democrat) warnings?

The embodiment of everything their Savior (allegedly) preached against is God's new Chosen One? I mean, I know they like to say "God works in mysterious ways,"... but all that Sermon on the Mount stuff and those admonitions about money as a false god (ETC.!) are now invalid? Is God ironic? (That little rascal...) Or is it "Opposite Day" (or year... or 4-year-term)?

[Traildogbob]

6. Just last week

Romney is writing legislation to make big cuts to SS, Medicare and Medicade. If trump is installed back for another 4 by Puty, it will happen. Every one of these dem candidates needs to hammer this in the think cult heads. I have no data, but I would bet a very large percentage of SS recipients are tRumpers, brain dead Foxers. This is Bernies wheel house. Start screaming this everywhere. They are not hearing, or buying the grand new deals. Ya wanna shock them into reality, show them SS will be eliminated to pay for billionaires tax cuts, war toys, and golf trips. No insurance matters if these seniors, me included are all bankrupt by GOP criminals. Merry Thanksgiving and Happy Christmas to all. Fuck O'Rielly and "his" baby Jesus. War on Thanksgivings??? Why did I not get the liberal game plan?

[TexasBushwhacker]

13. I don't suppose they realize that cutting Social Security would cause a recession

That money goes straight back into the economy.

[Traildogbob]

18. That is their problem.

They do not want it in the economy, they want it in their off shores.

[Hortensis]

9. They're not stacking SCOTUS to improve SocSec.

Ruling it unconstitutional would be followed by privatization, each participant receiving pennies on the dollar from the fund compared to what'd be lost in 25-35 years of monthly retirement checks, followed by most investing in private "safe" investment funds set up for that purpose, followed under a RW faux democracy by theft by thousands of cuts, fees for everything including deposits, of course, but also losses from market changes. The very wealthy arrange to make money when markets go up AND when they down, and try to arrange both.

And of course seizures of accounts whenever deaths aren't preceded by dotting all the i's and crossing all the t's.

Regarding that last, we know an ex-wife and a widow who both lost their husband's handsome pension when he remarried right after divorcing his wife of 30 years and then died less than 3 months after that. Neither were legally entitled to inherit the pension. Not the one who shared with her husband their investment in staying with the company and growing the pension, because they'd divorced. Not the new wife because of small print meant to cut her out if he died before a certain amount of time passed.

[Lars39]

12. How far we've come and how far we could fall.

I still have the letter my grandfather received from Social Security. They were telling him they fudged his income so that he could receive a monthly check. They knew that if they didn't he would have starved. Sharecropping didn't allow money to be saved.

[mdbl]

14. When someone says "It won't be there when i retire"

I just tell them it's their fault if that ever happens and don't vote for people who say that to you. Repugs have that meme out there that haunts conversations. People forget they still have a representative government that might be salvageable if they would get off their butts and vote for the right people.

[MineralMan]

16. Just say, "Vote for Democrats for all offices and it will be there for you."

People don't get it, so we have to tell them.

[Scarsdale]

17. Exactly. Better think hard about this.

I worked at a job for 25 years, while raising 3 kids. I saved a little, but not much. My pension for that is $400 monthly. SS is essential to me for living expenses. My late husband worked until he was 76, contributing every month to SS. He wanted me to retire comfortably. The gop know nothing about working people, people who do not receive money from Russia and wealthy donors, to screw over the working people. Amazing how these politicians retire as millionaires, and STILL draw their pensions, yet want to take SS away from the rest of us. Time to adjust their pensions, since they are "on the take" the entire time they work part time for good wages and benefits.

[SCVDem]

21. Cut my SS?

I'm left with my 1911 A1 retirement option.

No camping for me!

[sakabatou]

22. I'm disabled

There's no way I can live if it's cut

[Captain Zero]

23. Tax the Rich - Raise the cap

People making over $125K stop paying into social security at that point every year. That means each year someone making a million dollars only pays in the same amount as someone making $125,000. This solution is so simple.

Ok so someone says people in the 125k to 300k range are often entrepreneurs. Ok, put a hole in the contributions for them between 125-300k, then make them start paying in again on all income over 300k.

I'm sure this is still Bernies solution. There is absolutely no reason it wouldn't work and it would fund SocSec forever. But, that may what they like the least about it. Fund it like this and Social Security is never a political football again.

[MineralMan]

25. Any solution that is proposed has to pass in both houses of Congress

and be signed by the President. That is the absolute truth of the matter. That is why we need to work as hard as we can in 2020 to take back control of the federal government.

There are probably many ways to save Social Security, but they all face that same requirement. If we lose, we lose. We'd better make sure we don't lose.

[Cartoonist]

28. Any solution has to be passed by the millionaire's club

When forced to choose, they will cut our checks and not theirs. And it's not just repubs.

[MineralMan]

30. Then there is no hope?

I don't accept that position. Not at all.

[Turin_C3PO]

32. It is just Republicans.

Our Democrats in Congress would not cut our social security.

[Backseat Driver]

26. Before Cons do that, they should really consider

taking all the guns away!

Seriously, though, I wish they would change one thing and deliver those checks on a specific date instead of day.

Almost every month I or DH have to make a payment arrangement for a timely (not reported to credit bureau) payment. I've even paid extra for that pro-rated change of billing date. To achieve timely payments or participate in autopayment that may give one a reward/discounted bill, one needs at least double the amount tucked away for advance payment. Choosing monthly payments often means "more expensive" and who has the funds to take the "annual" payment option with so little disposable amount(s) in the monthly budget. The shopping service, meal service, subscription news, and VPN all require autopays and won't even allow banking on-line banking personal bill-pay! Yup, the minimum balance shall not diminish!!! Even when one makes "arrangements" for car payments, because a more expensive car repair was necessary, the threatening collection robo calls keep on coming. Most mortgage servicers grant a 15-day grace that would cover a week's difference in receipt of funds, but landlords want their money on time or pay extra, late and extra day fees for a short reprieve. They claim they still need to go through the eviction notice legalities. There's little unassigned money to save to make this happen. Augmenting SS isn't the answer either...DH has been booted from non-living wage gigs, FT and PT, three times already - you know, nothing personal-you were (emphasis on past tense) an exemplary employee -- just business. I've been scammed at least twice, and I'll not subject myself to their abusive treatment and lies while I try to make their corporate coffers fuller any longer.

It's wishful thinking, but our best laid retirement plan went up in smoke, so Plan B is to be as expensive as I can be to TPTB 1%; the stress and less than quality future living will probably kill me earlier than later--but would one rather eat every day or waste all the funds on all the insurances safety-nets that are just gateways to CEO greed. I refuse to fund it or waste my energy in their service. Younger folks should take note and realize they'll be old too one day, but TPTB want changes that will strip away your best plan as well if Democrats don't lead to close wealth gap greed and Con corruption. TICK TOCK - Then there's always karmic climate change approaching the midnight hour.

TPTB sure make life more stressful than it need be!

[MineralMan]

27. I understand the problem.

Since our checks come in almost at the end of every month, it doesn't really cause a problem with any bills due on the first of the month. We just pay them online when the deposit happens. As self-employed freelancers, payments to us from our clients come in erratically at times. So, we were often in a situation where the money isn't there. The SS deposits, however, coming when they do, lets us pay our large regular bills. We also often pre-pay some other bills at the same time.

Having the SS come in on a specific date wouldn't really do much for us, any more than having it show up on the fourth Wednesday does. We just have to work around all of that. Typically, we get checks coming in throughout the month. Occasionally one is delayed. We have enough in our savings account at all times to compensate for those situations. Then, when a delayed check comes in, we move the amount we paid out of savings back into savings. We're quite well-disciplined in doing that.

[captain queeg]

31. Guaranteed the repugs will go after SS soon

I don’t see how many stupid people aren’t paying attention. Those same idiots that will be suffering the most will believe the R lies that somehow it’s democrats that are to blame. Or at least it’s economic forces that are not the fault of the repugs. Those guys must gloat in private about how it’s so easy to manipulate the ignorant.

[RicROC]

33. another look at the 'flat tax'

I hear Trumpists continually proclaim about their support of the Flat Tax, which they mean Income Tax. To which I say, "so let's start with Social Security. Let's let everyone pay the same tax rate with no cap on income.

But here's what Dems should do (and I have written to many Dem.Representatives about this concept...no answer back from any of them):

Keep the flat tax concept on income for SS, no cap, BUT since the coffers should be overflowing at this high 14 % rate, the idea of Democratic Party is to lower that tax rate to something more reasonable, which salvages SS.
Let's say 5%, which is really 2.5% to the worker because the boss pays the other 2.5%.

Now that is the Democratic way to fix SS and the economy.