Damn, right wing media is already starting the drum beat to cut SS and Medicare.
This is from the rw fish wrap in Jacksonville preparing the ground for the repugs theft of the century.
https://www.jacksonville.com/zz/news/20200422/social-security-and-medicare-funds-at-risk-even-before-virus
Turbineguy
(37,206 posts)isn't killing enough people.
efhmc
(14,709 posts)not SS. During the best of times, it is an unpopular vote and now even more so.
brewens
(13,393 posts)now I would think. Or about to before long. No doubt that will be some who would have gone along with cuts recently, but it's them now too. Not a good move to mess with it.
Midnight Writer
(21,546 posts)Perhaps in a lame duck session.
"What have you got to lose?" mentality.
lark
(23,003 posts)They know they can't run on that, but they 100% will cut it if they can.
think if they try this, as long as Democrats are elected, they will undo that. Along with a lot of other asinine things repugs have done.
still_one
(91,945 posts)customerserviceguy
(25,183 posts)if it didn't hate my ad blocker.
The biggest threat to Social Security and Medicaid is from the fact that payroll taxes paid into those systems are way, way down right now. I expect the next Trustees report to show that the funds will go broke in the next couple of years. That will either require a politically risky fix, or we just watch benefits being slashed.
whathehell
(28,968 posts)SheltieLover
(57,073 posts)scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)dhill926
(16,234 posts)this is long overdue...
customerserviceguy
(25,183 posts)it will take a combination of things. And raising the cap while keeping the rest of the law intact creates another problem, it raises the maximum benefit. I'd hate to see a CEO who got paid megabucks for running a company into the ground having a $10K per month Social Security benefit as their golden parachute. Perhaps another payment bracket needs to be figured out, right now, there are three of them, all cascading downwards as the benefit amount goes up.
It will probably take at least a one percent raise in both employer and employee FICA rates to save the system, as well as broadening the amounts of income subject to FICA taxes. And we may have to switch to chained CPI, as well.
These changes will not be popular, nor were the changes in the eighties. But, in the negotiations that took place when both parties made bipartisanship work for the good of the country, that's what saved Social Security for another thirty-five years. I don't think we can expect that kind of cooperation these days, and stalemate will be the result, pushing us closer to the edge.
at140
(6,110 posts)The national debt is just a bit more than a years GDP at $25 Trillion. This is the right time to double it because interest rates are near zero.
whathehell
(28,968 posts)I'd say their timing is WAY off
SheltieLover
(57,073 posts)sprinkleeninow
(20,133 posts)he returned home with tail between legs
SeattleVet
(5,468 posts)He's been harping on this for the couple of weeks or so, and his supporters are too dense to realize that he's not talking about income tax withholding rates. What he is talking about is Social Security, Medicare, and Unemployment payroll taxes - the right's underhanded way of starving these programs through defunding.
Any time he says 'payroll tax', realize that he's talking about these programs, and not income taxes - and the media has been totally negligent in telling people what the phrase actually means.
If his supporters (the "keep your government out of my Medicare" group) knew this, support for him and this idiot idea would evaporate.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)george war bush. Look up the trust fund reports if you don't believe it, and that was before CV19 and massive unemployment.
We've been kicking the can down the road, but the day of reckoning is coming. I suspect the article is right that the current economic issues move the date sooner.
Obama tried to initiate discussion on the issue, but was bashed by the so-called "progressives."
We better damn hope Democrats are in office when the can can't be kicked anymore.
And, please spare us that "remove the cap" junk. The cap will get raised some, but it's not going to be removed, primarily because the 16% additional tax on the wealthy that represents is going to be needed to pay for healthcare, education, child care, deficit/debt reduction, infrastructure, college debt reduction, etc. Simply raising the cap ain't gonna to solve the problem because benefits for those over the cap increase too, and the money is needed elsewhere.
______________
A few comments from Trustees' Report Summary:
"The Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund, which pays retirement and survivors benefits, will be able to pay scheduled benefits on a timely basis until 2034, the same as reported last year. At that time, the funds reserves will become depleted and continuing tax income will be sufficient to pay 76 percent of scheduled benefits."
"The Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust Fund, which pays Medicare Part A inpatient hospital expenses, will be able to pay scheduled benefits until 2026, the same as reported last year. At that time, the funds reserves will become depleted and continuing total pro-gram income will be sufficient to pay 90 percent of total scheduled benefits.
"The Supplemental Medical Insurance (SMI) Trust Fund has two accounts: Part B, which pays for physician and outpatient services, and Part D, which covers prescription drug benefits. SMI is adequately financed into the indefinite future because current law provides financing from general revenues and beneficiary premiums each year to meet the next years expected costs. Due to these funding provisions, the rapid growth of SMI costs will place steadily increasing demands on both taxpayers and beneficiaries."
https://www.ssa.gov/oact/trsum/
lark
(23,003 posts)Make all income subject to social security, including that of vulture capitalists ike Romney, as well as income tax. No cap. This is also an employment opportunity because the IRS would need to hire a fleet of tax attorneys to scrutinize the cheating returns of the oligarchs. If we can break their backs and somehow win this election despite drumps' 500 billion reelection fund, this needs to be one of Biden's first order of business as president, after traitorous repugs have bankrupted us for the rich.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)Some people will keep saying tax the rich, which will be part of the solution, but not the whole solution. So, we'll go into the 2030s and face an automatic 24% cut to Social Security Benefits. Hopefully, somebody with some sense will be elected to Congress and as Prez to get something done before then.
BeckyDem
(8,361 posts)appalachiablue
(41,052 posts)lark
(23,003 posts)Raise the cap to $1,000,000. and SS would be in good shape.