The only comment I can think to make is: If only. Trying to convince Congress to tax the wealthy on their true incomes is like Sisyphus pushing that boulder up a mountain. He never quite makes it. Sorry to sound like the sour grape in the bunch, but right now that's the reality of todays political environment.
So you say, but the future is where we must look towards as the whole program is based on the future economic situations, such a brilliant safety net !
Our CURRENT Congress lacks the integrity to raise any kind of tax on the wealthy and would rather further impoverish retirees and hard working Americans. However, We The People need to prevail this November and elect honest representatives. If those elected members cannot or will not work for our benefit, then they shall be replaced with some who will. Also, we desperately need to clean up this corrupt administration! That’s “job one” for the new year.
And let's not forget that in addition to having paid into SS for the whole of our working lives, we retired folks drawing a pittance of our money back have to pay income tax on said pensiion, on a quarterly basis. Thanks, if I'm not mistaken, to Saint Reagan, on whose watch the slide into oligarchy began.
Yup it started with Raygun, it was more important to spend stupid millions on the star wars missile defense system that was such a spectacular waste of tax dollars that we now need a golden dome missile defense system. Who needs social security when we can have defense systems that nobody will remember in 30 years? I need social security, not testosterone testing for the military.
As I pointed out above, didn't start with the dreaded R. And BTW, the Biden State Dept. was run by neocons (pro-unipolar econ empire enforced militarily) trained by vile VP Dick Cheney. Bloated defense spending also justified by D members of Congress as bringing jobs to their districts. Of course those nice, big contractor campaign donations don't affect anything.
The D party likes that narrative. But not so. The Ds began going neolib (anti-New Deal, pro-corporate) in the late '70s, probably related to the '71 Powell Memo.
The current "No Kings" rallies imply if Trump gone, we'd have D paradise. Why isn't the slogan "No Oligarchs and No Plutocrats'? Reality is we nobodies are supposed to meekly accept a 'choice' between elite D and 20%er PMC oligarchy or R 1%er and megacorp plutocracy. A dual aspect uniparty, both sides same sponsors. .
The cap on income for the FICA deduction is outdated. ALL income should qualify for FICA deduction, whether it is salary or capital gains. No more free rides for the wealthy.
Eliminate the cap from what it is now $184,500 to UNLIMITED........ Do NOT buy the BS being sold by the right and the billionaires that nothing can be done. They want to get their GREEDY hands on that money (YOUR MONEY) so THEY can scam the (YOU) America people!! Check out socialsecurityworks.org. the partrioticmillionaires.org. Watch the Frontline show "The Retirement Gamble". Get the book "Burned By Billionaires: How Concentrated Wealth and Power are Ruining Our Lives and Planet" by Chuck Collins. And pay attention to ALL the underhanded damage being done by this Regime to undermine SS. "Trump Accounts" are an underhanded way to undercut SS, Ted Cruz even admitted it. Deporting Immigrants undermines SS, because immigrants pay INTO SS but get NOTHING out of SS unless they become citizens and work enough quarters to qualify. The heads of the SS board are ALL Trump lackeys....how do you think they are going to rule??? The right wing media keeps telling everyone that SS is running out of money and will not be there for future generations - more LIES! This is ALL part of the Republican plan to DESTROY and ELIMINATE SS!! ANOTHER reason to NOT vote for any Republican anywhere in America. Vote for Democrats or Independents who will FIGHT FOR Social Security!!!
All of my paying in to Social Security years l listened to the Republican rhetoric about the money flowing around this highly successful economic safety net. I am pleased that my fears haven't happened but the GOP keep gaslighting US to try to hide their money grabbing schemes and Projects. The current felon USA President has just signed off on millions of acres of our National Parks and Federal Lands in a paperwork shuffle aimed to bypass Congress and send the legality of the sales to the extraction corporations to S.C.O.T.U.S. Another grift coming from these oath breaking officials. Taxing the millions, billions and trillions level of income is employing the most successful economic structure of economic fairness the government has. Certainly the Majority would agree!
"There you go again" Jim - talking sense. Thanks for pointing out the easy math of the problem and a simple solution. Raise the official retirement age and remove the cap!
Social Security was the outgrowth of a need to support our retired senior citizens.A society that respects and sustains our seniors and most needy is a humane society and one that I want to be part of.Let's raise the benefits for our elders not reduce them.
A legacy of the New Deal. The rest disowned when the neolib Ds took over the party. Look at what's called the 2nd Bill of Rights or the Economic Bill of Rights, FDR's State of the Union speech 1944. A right to a job, decent pay for workers and income for farmers, housing, medical care, education, and Social Security. The neolib Ds' corporate sponsors would have apoplexy were the Ds to back that now.
Dead-on as usual, Jim. You know, I've met few middle-class Republicans/conservatives/wing-nuts, whatever, who fail to rail against the "creeping socialism" in our society. Yet when I ask them if they return each of their received Social Security checks to the government in protest of the fact that the program (including payments to themselves) is socialistic, why, they mutter awful things under their breath and usually walk away.
Don't forget about the fact that when the Soc Sec tax was first passed, it applied to almost 90% of income. Today, it only covers less than 50%. If it was increased to the original level, not only would there be enough to pay benefits forever but the benefit amount could be increased and the tax itself could be lowered. More money to retirees and less taxes for the working population.
Yet right now, drooling Don is being made up and injected with drugs to appear on TV whining and crying that more money is needed for HIS FAULTED failure as so called president, and tying OUR HANDS UP SO WE CAN’T VOTE NORMALLY! The lying bastard needs his syphilis swollen horrible eyes full of pus squeezed out on live tv, onto his yellow tie!! Blast his tiny nostrils, too!
Remove the cap on income; make it ALL pay into the trust fund.
YES!
The only comment I can think to make is: If only. Trying to convince Congress to tax the wealthy on their true incomes is like Sisyphus pushing that boulder up a mountain. He never quite makes it. Sorry to sound like the sour grape in the bunch, but right now that's the reality of todays political environment.
Right on, Jeff … same as it’s ever been. 😖
So you say, but the future is where we must look towards as the whole program is based on the future economic situations, such a brilliant safety net !
Our CURRENT Congress lacks the integrity to raise any kind of tax on the wealthy and would rather further impoverish retirees and hard working Americans. However, We The People need to prevail this November and elect honest representatives. If those elected members cannot or will not work for our benefit, then they shall be replaced with some who will. Also, we desperately need to clean up this corrupt administration! That’s “job one” for the new year.
Even worse for us. We deliver the benefit of our labor upward, then get flattened by the economic downturns.
And let's not forget that in addition to having paid into SS for the whole of our working lives, we retired folks drawing a pittance of our money back have to pay income tax on said pensiion, on a quarterly basis. Thanks, if I'm not mistaken, to Saint Reagan, on whose watch the slide into oligarchy began.
Yup, it started with Raygun
Yup it started with Raygun, it was more important to spend stupid millions on the star wars missile defense system that was such a spectacular waste of tax dollars that we now need a golden dome missile defense system. Who needs social security when we can have defense systems that nobody will remember in 30 years? I need social security, not testosterone testing for the military.
As I pointed out above, didn't start with the dreaded R. And BTW, the Biden State Dept. was run by neocons (pro-unipolar econ empire enforced militarily) trained by vile VP Dick Cheney. Bloated defense spending also justified by D members of Congress as bringing jobs to their districts. Of course those nice, big contractor campaign donations don't affect anything.
The D party likes that narrative. But not so. The Ds began going neolib (anti-New Deal, pro-corporate) in the late '70s, probably related to the '71 Powell Memo.
The current "No Kings" rallies imply if Trump gone, we'd have D paradise. Why isn't the slogan "No Oligarchs and No Plutocrats'? Reality is we nobodies are supposed to meekly accept a 'choice' between elite D and 20%er PMC oligarchy or R 1%er and megacorp plutocracy. A dual aspect uniparty, both sides same sponsors. .
Tell it, Hightower! We retired seniors demand this! 😡
They’re coming for our Medicare too, and Medicaid (which many low-income seniors rely on as well).
A) raise the cap to $500,000,000 a year & also tax capital gains over a certain amount
B) the republican pols have been stealing our $$$ from Social Security for decades
The cap on income for the FICA deduction is outdated. ALL income should qualify for FICA deduction, whether it is salary or capital gains. No more free rides for the wealthy.
Eliminate the cap from what it is now $184,500 to UNLIMITED........ Do NOT buy the BS being sold by the right and the billionaires that nothing can be done. They want to get their GREEDY hands on that money (YOUR MONEY) so THEY can scam the (YOU) America people!! Check out socialsecurityworks.org. the partrioticmillionaires.org. Watch the Frontline show "The Retirement Gamble". Get the book "Burned By Billionaires: How Concentrated Wealth and Power are Ruining Our Lives and Planet" by Chuck Collins. And pay attention to ALL the underhanded damage being done by this Regime to undermine SS. "Trump Accounts" are an underhanded way to undercut SS, Ted Cruz even admitted it. Deporting Immigrants undermines SS, because immigrants pay INTO SS but get NOTHING out of SS unless they become citizens and work enough quarters to qualify. The heads of the SS board are ALL Trump lackeys....how do you think they are going to rule??? The right wing media keeps telling everyone that SS is running out of money and will not be there for future generations - more LIES! This is ALL part of the Republican plan to DESTROY and ELIMINATE SS!! ANOTHER reason to NOT vote for any Republican anywhere in America. Vote for Democrats or Independents who will FIGHT FOR Social Security!!!
All of my paying in to Social Security years l listened to the Republican rhetoric about the money flowing around this highly successful economic safety net. I am pleased that my fears haven't happened but the GOP keep gaslighting US to try to hide their money grabbing schemes and Projects. The current felon USA President has just signed off on millions of acres of our National Parks and Federal Lands in a paperwork shuffle aimed to bypass Congress and send the legality of the sales to the extraction corporations to S.C.O.T.U.S. Another grift coming from these oath breaking officials. Taxing the millions, billions and trillions level of income is employing the most successful economic structure of economic fairness the government has. Certainly the Majority would agree!
Check out Jim and Will Pattiz 'More Than Just Parks'
patrioticmillionaires.org
"There you go again" Jim - talking sense. Thanks for pointing out the easy math of the problem and a simple solution. Raise the official retirement age and remove the cap!
thanks for making this so clear!!
Social Security was the outgrowth of a need to support our retired senior citizens.A society that respects and sustains our seniors and most needy is a humane society and one that I want to be part of.Let's raise the benefits for our elders not reduce them.
A legacy of the New Deal. The rest disowned when the neolib Ds took over the party. Look at what's called the 2nd Bill of Rights or the Economic Bill of Rights, FDR's State of the Union speech 1944. A right to a job, decent pay for workers and income for farmers, housing, medical care, education, and Social Security. The neolib Ds' corporate sponsors would have apoplexy were the Ds to back that now.
Is anyone in congress on board?
When I write/call my congressman and senator, what’s the most effective way to phrase the request? I live in a red part of Florida.
After studying the evolution of the Universe through the discoveries of Albert Einstein, I believe in your work as well.
Dead-on as usual, Jim. You know, I've met few middle-class Republicans/conservatives/wing-nuts, whatever, who fail to rail against the "creeping socialism" in our society. Yet when I ask them if they return each of their received Social Security checks to the government in protest of the fact that the program (including payments to themselves) is socialistic, why, they mutter awful things under their breath and usually walk away.
Don't forget about the fact that when the Soc Sec tax was first passed, it applied to almost 90% of income. Today, it only covers less than 50%. If it was increased to the original level, not only would there be enough to pay benefits forever but the benefit amount could be increased and the tax itself could be lowered. More money to retirees and less taxes for the working population.
Yet right now, drooling Don is being made up and injected with drugs to appear on TV whining and crying that more money is needed for HIS FAULTED failure as so called president, and tying OUR HANDS UP SO WE CAN’T VOTE NORMALLY! The lying bastard needs his syphilis swollen horrible eyes full of pus squeezed out on live tv, onto his yellow tie!! Blast his tiny nostrils, too!