Thread: Social Security

I was not agreeing with you at all, I was explaining why a higher comparable suicide-rate necessarily don't equate to many or more people being miserable.

As documented in the Forbes happiness survey the two things do not collaborate, I also showed you the Scandinavian countries where not at the top of the list as you said but evenly spread out over the top half like most other western countries.

I also tried to explain that religious reasons and culture make a marked difference, for instance in the catholic faith suicide is a sin to God, so obviously in predominantly catholic Countries believers will be more reluctant to use this way out, than people in Countries generally less prone to superstition and not bound by such quaint constraints.

So your "squirming" around the fact that US capitalism is a failed system as far as good functioning societies go, by mentioning suicide-rates in scandinavia, is in relation to US cooperate taxation levels and their moral debt to society, completely irrelevant.

Mr G.

Social Security is paying out more now than it takes in. The numbers on SS rolls sill jump significantly in the coming years.

"Crisis" is a big, loaded word.

Let's just say that Social Security is a very BIG problem. Decisions will have to be made: increase the age of eligibility, and add mean testing.

They should just cut SS. Lower taxes and let folks invest for retirement. If they don't invest, tough titty. Welfare? Cut that, too. Church charity worked in the past. Do muslims take care of their own? Lots of benevolent societies around, too. Food banks, clothing depots. Lots of free stuff for folks.

Jets Utopia- no social security and welfare, no minimum wages, no State healthcare system, no unions and labour laws. Most of us would call that a Dystopia Jettie, but good luck selling your vision to the People.

Originally Posted by sabang

Jets Utopia- no social security and welfare, no minimum wages, no State healthcare system, no unions and labour laws. Most of us would call that a Dystopia Jettie, but good luck selling your vision to the People.

Exactly! It's called responsibility and work and reaping the fruits of your labours to dispense with as you please. Not some government mummy orchestrating your whole life. Fek, in the socialist systems and any with SS and welfare, folks are like kids who live their whole lives in their parents' basement. Got a problem -- don't solve it yourself, run upstairs, cry and get mummy to handle it.

Just curious here about what, in this Laissez faire philosophy, are the functions of the State?

In a broad context I can think of two, being-

Enforcement- Judiciary/ Police/ Legal system

and

Security- Military/ Police/ Fire brigade/ Civil defence & disaster relief

Would there be any other State functions in Jets Utopia?

Originally Posted by larvidchr

If the corporate kingpins in US really where the patriots they claim to be they would share their gains with society thus creating a happy well-educated healthy US, but they are in reality hypocritical lying scumbags,

I think you're right on point. Henry Ford wanted his workers to have a high enough wage to be able to afford the cars they built. The balance of give and take that was once a part to the culture in the country has been lost to the culture of greed rhetoric of "free enterprise". The system of tax breaks and subsidises has little to do with capitalism, but the volume of rhetorical bombast rises to deny it.

Originally Posted by sabang

Just curious here about what, in this Laissez faire philosophy, are the functions of the State?

In a broad context I can think of two, being-

Enforcement- Judiciary/ Police/ Legal system

and

Security- Military/ Police/ Fire brigade/ Civil defence & disaster relief

Would there be any other State functions in Jets Utopia?

Depends which branch of govt you are talking about, Dear. The Feds should control ONLY the security and diplomatic relations of the country. That would include national defense against both foreign and domestic jerkwads via military forces, control and regulation of immigration (because this affects security), disaster relief (also a security issue), and the maintenance of national parks and the private vendor popcorn and hot dog stands therein. I would demand beer and wine vendors also.

The judiciary is a separate branch and the feds will have no sway over it.

Congress. Well, what a farce that's turned out to be. Bunch of windbags lining their pockets with taxpayer money. Ha! Alan Grayson charged the people $73,000 to send out his me-me-me promo campaign vid to the constituents in his riding. You are fired!

State govts would control, upon explicit approval of residents, education, big jails, DLs, energy, water, sewage, electricity, and the filling of potholes in state highways, all with non-union labour.

Local govts would oversee local spats, police forces, fire brigades, Independence Day fireworks and Christmas decorations.

Anybody who disagrees gets shot.

Social Security Disability is insolvent. Oh, excuse me: it's on the "verge." It's only going down from here.

--
Social Security disability on verge of insolvency

By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER
August 22, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) — Laid-off workers and aging baby boomers are flooding Social Security's disability program with benefit claims, pushing the financially strapped system toward the brink of insolvency.

Applications are up nearly 50 percent over a decade ago as people with disabilities lose their jobs and can't find new ones in an economy that has shed nearly 7 million jobs.

The stampede for benefits is adding to a growing backlog of applicants — many wait two years or more before their cases are resolved — and worsening the financial problems of a program that's been running in the red for years.

Entire: Social Security disability on verge of insolvency - Yahoo! News

Yes indeedy - the genie is well and truly out of the proverbial bottle. Calling a spade a spade here. Yes, SS is worse than a Ponzi scheme.

Social Security: Worse Than a Ponzi Scheme? | Verum Serum

I bet you recieve more socialist money than most all other members here. That GI bill is socialist in my view. Are there any companies that offer that after a few years of service? Socialism comes in many forms. All government jobs are socialist jobs. Libraries, roads, the post office, and all the rest is socialist too. VA benefits = socialism. Hypocrisy or ignorance is alive and well in the grand old party.

^ Same same for the GI hospitals. GI medical benefits cost $67 billion a year. All public sector workers are in the same camp as the welfare class in my view. They don't carry their own weight. Most are union scum as well!!

Originally Posted by Hampsha

I bet you recieve more socialist money than most all other members here. That GI bill is socialist in my view. Are there any companies that offer that after a few years of service? Socialism comes in many forms. All government jobs are socialist jobs. Libraries, roads, the post office, and all the rest is socialist too. VA benefits = socialism. Hypocrisy or ignorance is alive and well in the grand old party.

B.S.

I received the GI Bill after 4 long years in the Military. I earned it. Same with SS. Paid into it for >50 years so now, bud, it's time to collect on my 'investment'...

Originally Posted by Jet Gorgon

They should just cut SS. Lower taxes and let folks invest for retirement. If they don't invest, tough titty. Welfare? Cut that, too. Church charity worked in the past. Do muslims take care of their own? Lots of benevolent societies around, too. Food banks, clothing depots. Lots of free stuff for folks.

Easy for you to say.
I'm with Boon Mee and have been paying into SS all my life.
Now I hope to start collecting it back in a few more years.

I remember times when I really needed that money, yet had no choice and the politicians continuing to tell me it was for my own good.

I get the feeling that you are either younger and have not put so much into it, or are not eligible.

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

I received the GI Bill after 4 long years in the Military. I earned it.

First of all a year is a year, not longer or shorter.

Received it: YES, Earned it: BE SERIOUS

Who deserves lifelong health care for standing around for 4 years, except maybe a congressman or some other useless political twat.

I suppose he earned it because it was part of the pay/benefit package

Originally Posted by Lorenzo

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

I received the GI Bill after 4 long years in the Military. I earned it.

First of all a year is a year, not longer or shorter.

Received it: YES, Earned it: BE SERIOUS

Who deserves lifelong health care for standing around for 4 years, except maybe a congressman or some other useless political twat.

WTF, over?

Who gets this so-called 'lifelong health benefit", eh? You seen any VA Hospitals in Thailand lately?

Besides which the 'standing around' part also included a tour in that lovely SE Asian country where Charley was attempting to shorten my life...

Why "cutting spending" or even controlling it or keeping it from rising is a farce and will not happen.

Social Security, Medicare report card on tap
By Jeanne Sahadi @CNNMoney April 20, 2012

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Critical to reining in the United States' long-term debt will be finding ways to control the burgeoning costs of Medicare and Social Security, both of which will face serious funding shortfalls over the next two decades.
On Monday, the trustees of those programs will offer their annual update on just when those shortfalls will occur.

Experts said they expect the trustees' conclusions to be similar to their findings last year.

Then again, "It's like trying to predict elections. You never know," said Don Fuerst, senior pension fellow at the American Academy of Actuaries.

Last year, the trustees projected Social Security could pay promised benefits in full through 2036, after which the program could only afford to pay 77% of them.

Social Security has already begun paying out more in benefits than it takes in from workers' payroll taxes.

But the difference has been made up for with interest paid by the Treasury on the $2.6 trillion that the federal government owes the program. That debt represents the amount of extra revenue paid into the system over the years that Uncle Sam borrowed and spent.

Social Security, Medicare report card on tap - Apr. 20, 2012

When will the SS Trust Fund be exhausted? Sooner than we think. According to the latest trustees’ report for Social Security released last Monday, Social Security’s combined trust funds will be exhausted by 2033 — three years earlier than last year’s projections, and seven years earlier than projections made in 2006. This means that by 2033, Social Security benefits would have to be slashed significantly. Sounds bad, right? Well, it gets worse.

If history is our guide, this trend of more and more pessimistic predictions is likely to continue. Check out this chart:




Looks pretty grim. Gotta stop handing out freebies to one & all and support just those folks who've paid into the system.

^ Exhausting sooner than expected? Yup. Don't worry. They will figure this out. The government will do something. When? We don't know. "In the future." It's going to be OK. Obama cut the SS tax. The good thing about this is that he probably knows it's broke. Might as well give a cut in taxes before the election year.

It's only.....$20 Trillion dollars.

Social Security Hole Overwhelms Taxes, Cuts

Now that health care is off the front burner, it’s time to fix Social Security. Social Security’s trustees say the system needs only “modest changes.” In fact, the system is desperately broke.

The proof is buried deep in the trustees’ own 2012 report in a complex table, numbered IV.B6. The system’s actuaries prepare the report’s tables. But what the trustees make of them is up to the trustees. Clearly this year, as in others, the trustees ignored table IV.B6. How else could they have come up with their blase statement that Congress should address Social Security’s finances “in a timely way”?
Table IV.B6 is a long-run balance sheet for Social Security. It shows that the system’s $88.9 trillion in liabilities exceed its $68.4 trillion in assets by $20.5 trillion.

Entire: Social Security Hole Overwhelms Taxes, Cuts - Bloomberg

Social Security could easily be fixed immediately by cancelling the cost-of-living (inflation) adjustments and paying the same dollar amount every year. Inflation would then allow the pay-as-you-go model to work. Never happen though, because the elderly are a very powerful voting block.

At least they don't hand over shed loads of cash to people who have never paid a penny into the system, at least i don't think they do, unlike back in the UK. Social Security is now running at 22 MILLION Pounds an hour. A ridiculous sum of money and all paid for by the stupid British tax payer.