The future Social Security problem we SHOULD be worrying about

[SoCalDem]

SS is based on your earnings over time..

As more and more people are working for less and less, their future benefits will also be a lot less than will be necessary for them to stay above the poverty line.

And since FICA is calculated as a percentage of income, as salaries have eroded and will continue to erode, Medicare solvency is never going to "get better".

People who have never had a job that pays more than $10-15 an hour will have to face old age with next to nothing.

The benefits currently being paid out were earned from wages paid during a time when many people worked union jobs and paid to people who may have also still had the benefit of a pension.

This is the real time bomb, and may be behind the rush to cut & slash now..

[MichiganVote]

1. But that's the GOP plan my dear. Sadly, its looking like the Dem plan too.

[KoKo]

5. Agree...they have run out of "Bubbles" ....so Low Wage American Workers

can't support the system going out. Still...the money for those who put in should be honored.

The Slash Now...covers up bad policies for the past decades...which sadly the New Trade Agreements and the reliance on China will keep...so that our young never have the chance to earn what would keep them from poverty past their 50's.

That this "offshoring and deregulation of banking harnesses" is supported by our own Democrats is the most disheartening.

The cows have been out of the barn and many are over the cliff.

There's nothing LEFT but AUSTERITY...and nothing RIGHT that won't promote it as long as the FAT CATS can survive and their children will do well going to the finest Universities and Private Colleges that others will not be able to afford.

We are Peasants. Get used to it.

[TheProgressive]

2. Yes, this is part of the plan...

30 years of stagnate wages was planned so as to not build up the Trust fund and
to have a lower wage history, thus reducing Social Security.

Nafta, et. al. and the outsourcing of our jobs, obviously, results in higher unemployment. Social
Security earnings will have $0.00 for the entry and once again lowers Social Security contributions
and lowers wage history to the employee.

The Wall Street/Housing heist thru people our of their homes and devastated their 401K and other
retirement plans. And because of the housing bank heist, homeowners who played by the rules and
made their payments, saw the equity in their homes vanish. People normally see their home
values *increase* - now its worth less than what you paid for it.

We did the right things - get an education, went to work, bought a home, and saved some
for retirement.

So, the result? We all have been totally fucked over by the oligarchy. And now they want to
even destroy Social Security and Medicare.

These people are seriously fucking evil...I say we get what is rightfully ours and take back our government.

[John2]

3. That is

what people may think, but history tells us the current situation between classes of people is not sustainable. People react to oppression. It forces people to react illegally. Study History and see what I'm talking about. That is the real time bomb.

[LWolf]

4. I've been thinking quite a bit about this.

My state retirement is based on earnings the last few years of my working career. I'm making quite a bit less than I was a decade ago.

My SS is based on earnings over time. Every pay cut extends out into future earnings, lessening what I will see then.

My TSA crashed and is worth a small fraction of its previous value.

I expect I'll work until I drop dead in the classroom or am forced out.

[KoKo]

6. Well...they tell us we are "lazy" and expect hand outs.

We must all learn to be entrepreneurs and find the Next Greatest Thing from Creative Inspiration by assembling it in our Garage...so we can be the Millionaires of the Future.

But, nevermind, Bill Gates and Arne Duncan will have our kids so well-trained in Private Education that it will all take care of itself.

[Yo_Mama]

7. Yes - this is really, really on point

We are looking at a generation of retirees who are going to have very little aside from SS, which is one reason why it should be defended so adamantly.

[SoCalDem]

8. I started paying into SS when I was only 11...and paid in for 50+ years.. My check each month

is $834.00 because I never made more than $16.48 per hour, and took time off when I had 3 babies within 5 years..

I took it at age 62 and once medicare starts coming out, It will be below $700 a month.

[Yo_Mama]

9. Yup - a whole lot of working people are facing retirements on three hots and a cot

The idea that we can cut SS for those people is just ridiculous.

Even before I retire, I do not want to have to walk into the grocery store past a cordon of begging senior citizens. People who think we can cut SS for most recipients are just out of touch with reality.

You should apply for Medicaid once you get on Medicare - they will pay your Medicare premium and you will have no Medicare copays, which you cannot afford on that income.

Also food stamps. Don't be proud. You worked and paid into the system all these years, now it is your turn to receive. These programs exist for a reason.

When you don't earn much, you can't afford child care. It is cheaper to take care of them yourself.

[KoKo]

10. Are you saying that you feel your benefits are too generous?

Are you feeling that your health care below $700.00 a month means that you are doing better than anyone behind you in the SS Benefits?

Confused about what you are thinking about this.

[SoCalDem]

11. I'm saying that this is probably the BEST that future retirees could hope for

and what I get would be poor-house living if I did not have a husband and some savings.

People who retire post-"fixing" SS will be in very dire straits..

for them

[KoKo]

12. Ok....but what do you think our President in Second Term would do about that?

Should we revise SS/Medicare/Medicaid ...to allow for what you see as the differences?

[SoCalDem]

13. I have no idea what can be done at this point...

I am just sad that a country like ours cannot do better for its old people..

[Skittles]

14. if you did not save during the "good times:, you're fucked

[Demo_Chris]

15. For some of us there have never been good times.

Unions, benefits, healthcare, pensions, a living wage? Those things belong to a time that existed before I was born.

My entire working life has been a series of recessions, one after another, with no recovery for anyone but the top. With each, the jobs lost were gone forever. The factory's that closed were closed forever. And the layoffs, well those impacted the guys on the bottom first. The top got richer, the middle slowly crumbled, and the bottom were curb stomped over and over and over again.

Bill Cinton passed NAFTA and gutted welfare.

[Skittles]

17. I am in the IT industry

I know very well of what you speak

[Romulox]

16. SS doesn't have the funds to pay promised benefits within the lives of current workers

even at that reduced level.

So many, even here on DU, tell us that a 25% shortfall in SS in 2035 is "no big deal", but a 1 or 2% COLA reduction today is life or death. Fuck.

[Demo_Chris]

18. There's class war and generational war...

Sadly, some have been carpet bombed by both.

[Romulox]

19. I've had DUer tell me, straight up, that they'll be gone in 2035, and they don't care.

Fuck!