30 year old R male wants Ryan's to reform SS so it will be there for him!!!!

[jodymarie aimee]

Been watching C SPAN all day for House's First Day. On a break now, and they are taking calls from Rs and Ds. A 30 year old male R just called in and he wants the Rs to go with Ryan's "reform" for SS. Because he has paid in and he wants it to be there for him, when he is old. Good Lord, no wonder Cheeto won.These folks are absolute dimwits.

[Achilleaze]

1. He so funny

[HassleCat]

2. Most Americans no longer get it.

They see no value in a system. They just want to pay little or nothing, and collect as much as possible. They don't want to pay gas tax, but they want the pot holes repaired. They don't want to be forced to buy health insurance, but they want their medical bills paid. They vote against school levy measures but they demand better teachers. And so on, and so on, ad infinitum, ad nauseum.

[MissB]

5. Most people wouldn't know the tragedy of the commons

if it walked up and struck them in the face.

Add to that the fact that so many Americans don't know how our government works. They've been told it doesn't. We need a grown up version of school house rocks' how a bill becomes a law played at every movie theater in the country.

[HassleCat]

10. Tragedy of the commons perverted under Reagan

This is one of the crafty things they did. According to the "greed is good" bunch, the tragedy of the commons was not that the pasture was insufficiently regulated. Oh, my no! That would be burdensome! The tragedy was that the grazing land wasn't divided up and allotted to the exclusive use of private owners. This is the way they look at everything, from health care to education to the postal service. Government exists to help private enterprise skim the cream off the top for private gain, leaving the dregs for those who can't afford the good stuff.

[guillaumeb]

9. Nicely summarized.

And I would add is that what they personally collect is an earned benefit. What other people collect is welfare.

[HassleCat]

11. Exactly. And they apply that idea to pure welfare.

When they collect food stamps, or subsidized housing, or WIC checks, they use the old, "I worked hard and paid my taxes. It's about time I got something back!" Some of my relatives are the noisiest with this stuff, even though I doubt they ever paid much in the way of taxes. They are very quick to judge others who collect benefits, particularly those of a different skin color.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

23. FDR's warning.

[CentralMass]

3. Doh !

[Hoyt]

4. I live in a sea of red and there are a lot of young right wingers who believe that it won't be there

Actually, there are a number of young Democrats who have concerns. Not in support of what I've seen from Ryan, but there are a lot of people who are concerned and since the young folks, more or less, pay folks benefits, they have a right to be concerned. Yeah, I know I paid into the system, but the way it works now -- right or wrong -- workers pay my benefits. The IOU will likely never be repaid unless they find trillions in gold under the White House.

Point is, I think a public debate is necessary if for no other reason than to get the truth out. People need to understand SS is also disability, insurance for kids under 18 if a parent dies, etc. I thought the debate should have been held during Obama's terms, but everyone -- particularly here -- went batchit crazy at the mention. So, now we'll get some sort of "debate" under a GOPer admin and Congress. Good luck.

[Wounded Bear]

15. That meme has been around for decades...

Hell, we were saying it in the 70's and 80's. It's bullshit, of course. It only needs a few tweaks to survive almost indefinitely.

GOPers always point out the funding "problems" and work to cut benefits because "it costs too much." Liberals have been a little lax in pointing out that the funding problems can be corrected rather easily with simple things like raises in the minimum wage and raising the cap on deductions. One of the biggest funding issues in the SS program now is the continuing drop in basic incomes that the program is based on.

[Hoyt]

16. Well, prior to 1991 the tax rate was increased every couple of years under Dem and GOPer admins.

Maybe it's time again. Would have preferred the analysis under Obama, but we stuck our heads in a hole and here we are.

[hollowdweller]

6. Why do we make it so hard??????

"If policymakers restored Social Security’s long-term balance solely by raising payroll tax rates now — without making any other changes to taxes or benefits — workers and employers would each pay 1.29 percentage points more of wages toward Social Security, bringing the total combined payroll tax rate to 16.0 percent."



http://www.cbpp.org/research/social-security/increasing-payroll-taxes-would-strengthen-social-security


OK so as part of Trumps tax cuts Dems negotiate a cut for the middle class and then raise the payroll tax enough to fix Social Security
till 2075 so that we fix SS and it's revenue neutral to the middle class.

[Hoyt]

12. That is a supportable solution. Unfortunately, Democrats seem to only offer a 14 percentage point on

all income over $118,500 (the SS wage cap) with no increase in benefits. That is just not likely to happen under GOPer or Democratic controlled Congress.

[exboyfil]

17. You could half the formula for the proposed fourth tier

and almost get there anyway. That way they still get something back for their contribution. Those earning in the third tier right now are what is supporting Social Security right now (between approx. $50K to to the $120K cap). I just don't understand why the obligation to help out the lower earner's ends at $120K.

[Hoyt]

18. Unless you cap benefits at the current level, the problem is not solved by increasing the wage cap.

Plus a 12.4% point tax increase (or 6.2% if halved) is a "huge" increase when we need money for education, health, jobs, "welfare," etc. Yeah, I know we could cut military spending. But that ain't gonna happen anytime soon.

[exboyfil]

19. It would help dramatically

Looking at benefits formula

90% for $856 monthly
32% for amounts between $856 and $5,157
15% for amounts between $5,157 and the current cap (around $10,000)
and a fourth tier 5%?, 7%? You can easily justify it by looking at the drops between the 1st and 2nd tier, and the 2nd and 3rd tier.

We could treat the current increased amounts as retiring the Trust Fund bond balances. After the bonds are expired, then it goes to pay current benefits directly. I admit it still creates a short fall where a negotiation on reducing benefits could then occur. Sliding the retirement age up slightly

I view it as a matter of fairness. Once you decide to tier benefits then everyone should have been paying their percentage on their entire salaries

I don't see raising with holdings above 12.4%. I think that is a line in the sand that should not be crossed.

The fact is the Trust Fund bonds will have to be retired (requiring about $200B/yr. for 15 years). After that the benefits will be reduced by a 1/3.

Any negotiation has to start with eliminating the cap.

[Hoyt]

20. Agreed that it might help. But I don't think we can ignore other needs that will

require tax increases.

[liberal N proud]

7. Misinformation is the way republicans keep these fools voting for them.

[charlyvi]

8. Fox news has done more to destroy this democracy than Trump, Assange and Putin combined.

[kacekwl]

21. You are so correct.

[Oneironaut]

13. That's like asking a bear to watch the fish you just caught.

[jodymarie aimee]

14. spot on Oneironaut

the others seemed to have gotten lost in the woods here !! Point was he wants Ryan's SS, which is NO SS. He votes Republican for the guy killing it !!

[JI7]

22. Churches Lie to the people and tell them Democrats want to take away things like SS