1. Social Security & Medicare -- What Should We Do With Them?

WDDT said:

Pay everyone what they have put in.

If the government cannot account for money that has been given to them, start hanging people.

Click to expand...

ArtRadley said:

I have already told you that there is not enough money to pay everyone back - that isn't how the system was designed. If you stop collecting money there is no money to pay benefits with - and nobody has broken any laws, so there is no one to hang.

Again, raw emotion doesn't solve anything.

Click to expand...

scotchtiger said:

Jesus dude. Empathy? Trickle down? Do you know how much people actually pay in taxes? Here’s a quick comparison between a $1M household and a $100K household, both families of four. ChatGPT:


… So the key number is about $10,900 in total federal taxes, or 10.9% of gross household income.

That makes for an interesting comparison with a $1M household:

$100K family: ~10.9% effective federal rate
$1M family: ~32.5% effective federal rate

So the $1M family earns 10× as much, but pays roughly 30× as much federal tax (~$324,500 vs. ~$10,900).


So despite paying $314K more in taxes, you’re telling me a high earning (and high tax paying) family lacks empathy by suggesting a family that makes $100k should pay a mere $800 in SS tax to save a system that they will depend on? And instead, you think the higher earning family should pay an additional $40K for a total of $365K vs $11K? Seriously?

Click to expand...

WDDT said:

You just described a pyramid.


Pay the people what they put in. If your system relies on paying you with someone else's money, you have just described a pyramid. If you cant pay me the amount I have put in because you have lost it. We should start hanging people.



Its a government mandated pyramid scheme. No intelligent person would want to keep this, the only people that want to keep it are the ones that are pot committed already and just want to make sure they get what little benefit is left.

Click to expand...

WDDT said:

Pay the people what they put in.

Click to expand...

FLaw47 said:

Ah, I missed where you'd said that you'd raise the tax on everyone. My apologies.

Click to expand...

ArtRadley said:

They can't. So do you have anything else to add, or is ranting all you have?

Because the rest of the country will be busying working out where to go from here is the most rational and fair manner possible...

Click to expand...

tarheelbybirth1 said:

The fix in 1983 was specifically set to capture 90% of all income. Due to the K-shaped nature of income since then - the wealthy capturing a greater and greater share of all income - SS today captures 83% and is still falling. Return to the 1983 standard, which means raising the cap and then indexing it to maintain that number.

Click to expand...

scotchtiger said:

So that threshold is $350K-$400K. So despite the left whinging uncontrollably about the ultra rich and billionaires, you want to raise taxes on families earning between $185K and $400K? This seems completely counterintuitive.

A more reasonable approach to accomplish your goals while taxing the actual rich would be to apply a tax surcharge at some much higher level on either income or capital gains, using a donut hole of sorts.

It just seems that the tax solutions from you and the left are incredibly poorly reasoned. There's a deep bitterness influencing a lot of it, but it isn't counterbalanced by logic or intelligence. Thankfully I lack bitterness, but not logic, which is why my original proposal still makes the most sense.

Click to expand...