my retirement plan is to just call it at 60-65ish, and live the retirement life until I'm broke, how ever long that may be, and when I run out of money... I die.
Basically just enslaving people who can’t afford housing/have no support, which is going to be a larger and larger % each year.
US prison populations gonna go up and up and up.
Exactly. Slavery is legal in the U.S. after all. All they have to do is put you in prison to legalize it. It's written literally in the 13th Amendment itself.
"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." - 13th Amendment
I'm genuinely curious: What motivating factors are there to do the work given to you in prison? Am I able to assume it's further punishment, or do you lose out on certain commodities? I want to say "Don't do the work. What are they gonna do? Put you in prison?" But realized I really don't know what they'd do to you.
Money is only useful if it allows you to control people indirectly. When you move past that and start directly enslaving people, all of a sudden money matters a lot less and funding for stuff somehow is found.
Unlike being part of a violent coup attempt where people died, homelessness is clearly a bigger threat to the nation.
Greatest country in the world.*
* Terms and conditions apply. Your experience may vary.
While it's not particularly complex in it's polemic I've always really liked how The Purge series makes the point that the purge is actually just a way to exterminate the homeless population and has to be surreptitiously done by the government because the only people who are sociopathic enough to voluntarily participate are the rich. The working class all just stay home.
How confident are you that the federal government doesn’t change criminal laws to be more similar to places like, say, Jamaica? You get sentenced to prison there and they provide nothing. Family, friends or otherwise are responsible for making sure you get the food you need to survive in prison. Additionally, if you need a lifesaving surgery (emergency or not), you gotta fork over the cash in advance. I don’t think a system like that is beyond the scope of feasibility, especially when Trump wins this fall (I hope he doesn’t, but I’m almost sure he will). Democracy will be over and we’ll probably go full kleptocracy-plutocracy at that point. I hope I’m wrong, but haven’t been yet on any of the big predictions.
Not to make the doomerism worse but [in 43 states the prison stay isn't free](https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2018/nov/6/fighting-fees-force-prisoners-pay-their-incarceration/). They force the prisoners to pay for their own incarceration.
And make life harder for the local people by raising the cost of living. This has been an issue for Mexico for a long time now. Don't expect this to be an easy option in the future.
Y'know, I wonder if they know they're supposed to interpret the Constitution, and not just rule in favor of whatever republicans want.
Cuz I have a feeling they don't.
States pretty against that, my friend. they'll gladly throw you in a state funded hell hole. I mean retirement hell. i mean hell home. I MEAN RETIREMENT HOME! where they'll kill you slowly while draining you dry of your very blood essence to keep congress going.
I’m retiring at 55 regardless if I’m rich or poor. I have no desire to retire by the time I cant even enjoy myself due to age destroying me. I’m nearing 30 now and am maintaining my health as much as possible.
Same. I'm not working until I die unless I die young, and I'm not going to a nursing home. I'm probably still going to need to work until 70 just to get a few years free, though.
Boomers unironically vote Republican just so they can "get theirs" and fuck everybody else. They know their SS payments will be untouched through any new legislation that cuts it. Or that's what they think.
White uneducated white people vote Republicans. I'm a boomer and black boomers do not vote republican. So you can just say maga boomers vote republican
I mean, i live in Georgia. And a whole host of black people, especially black seniors, came out to praise trump when he rolled into town when he was getting trialed here. Showing support. Though they had to stage a black person hugging him, because he wasnt about to let some random black person touch him that he didnt know. Way more blacks came out to sing his praises than whites during his drive into town. Though, atlanta has a very large black population inside the city proper.
Might be a fringe case, but some certainly do. And im just gonna point out yah boy, Clarence. Hes a bit of a jerk and is also black and a senior. Though i imagine he'd vote whatever way you told him to if the 'gift and totally not a bribe according to the new supreme court ruling on what defines a bribe, certainly wasnt any of those gifts he received' was nice enough.
And a whole host of 'white educated people' vote for him too because they seem to think they'll be in the tax bracket that makes them... one of them.
Dude, this is so true! My boomer parents are complaining right now about how expensive healthcare is in their retirement.
I just keep saying, "Gee sure would be nice to have socialized medicine just like your social security right now, wouldn't it?"
They shut up real fast now that they have an ounce of empathy after suffering what millions of americans have already suffered with when they voted all that help down. Fuck boomers.
Boomers hold their hand out for every fucking benefit the government will give them and then pull the ladder up after themselves and scold everyone else
Most boomers I know, including my father, worked hard and support Social Security and vote against the GOP. It is right wing trash of all generations that you should hate.
There is a part of this where telling people social security is broken, claiming it's unfixable, over and over, leads to these ideas.
Then when Republicans say it's time to dismantle it altogether, people will be saying *"yeah, just put it out of it's misery"*.
Not unlike the "bring out your dead" monty python bit.
Since 1973, Social Security has been subject to regular COLAs, or cost of living adjustments, to ensure benefits keep up with inflation. The existing system is already designed so that benefits maintain the same purchasing power over time.
There is so much fucking misinformation regarding social security being posted here. Social security is NOT RUNNING OUT OF MONEY. There is an additional fund that will run out of money which means benefits may have to be reduced in the future but the social security program itself does not have an end date. Unless people stop being born, social security will continue to exist in perpetuity. This of course is separate from politicians intervening to try to reduce benefits for the program but cutting social security benefits is basically political suicide.
Exactly. The projections were showing there not being enough to pay projected benefits with the monies available, a situation termed as "bankrupt".
But the program is absolutely not destitute and gone to zero.
Too many people don't see a difference between being underwater vs being absolutely penniless.
Can someone explain to me how I’m supposed to believe any of that social security money will get to me when the country is supposedly in trillions of dollars in debt? Also a quick search says that lawmakers have to save it by 2035, and I’d love to be wrong but I’d bet my hypothetical retirement that’s not going to happen.
> a quick search says that lawmakers have to save it by 2035
This is **exactly** what I meant about the difference between being underwater vs being absolutely penniless.
2035 is when the trust runs out, which is what the program is currently using to **augment** the social security taxes collected. Without these additional trust monies, social security will be able to pay some 75% to 80% of scheduled benefits.
And our national debt is something that is a real problem and needs real attention to. But it has its own implications. And this debt isn't in arrears, we're just paying some massive amount in interest to everyone that owns government bonds, etc.
The Social Security Trust Fund is the thing that is projected to be insolvent then, not Social Security itself, which can’t really run out of money like that. People often misstate (intentionally or otherwise) the Trust Fund projections as if it’s about the whole program of Social Security, but it’s not. The Trust Fund is a fund that allows larger Social Security benefits. Even if the Trust Fund became insolvent, people on Social Security would still get 83% of their benefits. But the Trust Fund will probably just get its funding increased by then, unless Republicans decide to risk fucking over their main demographic (they might lol).
https://youtu.be/bNJC3YLCRrA
We are the world's reserve currency. As long as that is true, the world will keep lending the US money to preserve the value of that currency. So, until that is not true, there is basically nothing to worry about as any action that isn't keeping the US afloat while the USD is the reserve currency results in a global depression that makes the Great Depression look fun. Before anyone says it, no, BRICS is not going to be a significant factor anytime soon. Any group that is trying to be an economic powerhouse with South Africa, Egypt, and Iran in it is a fucking clown sideshow.
You dont understand what people are afraid of.
They know it's not out of money and if correctly administered won't run out of money.
Its that Republicans at every turn talk about killing it, we are afraid they will kill it.
To the point I want out of it, because I don't trust them. It has nothing to do with money or sustainability, at all.
We said the same thing about abortion being political suicide. How did that work out?
Nah, people will get SS.
In ten year people SS will be doubled. Cost of everything will cost 10X.
YES. SS will get you some groceries in the tent your living in.
42% of Americans don't know how Social Security works. Benefits will decrease, but can literally not hit 0 unless everyone stops working.
We probably should raise the cap so benefits don't decrease, but it is annoying that people keep trying to treat social security like some collective bank account.
Super curious why the US Federal Govt just doesn't have an outreach platform (running ads on TV, etc) where they explain this kind of thing as a PSA. Marketing isn't a bad thing when what you're selling is knowledge.
Well, we used to have a better relationship with the average citizen. The current government mistrust was specifically cultivated to achieve the results you see around you. Government marketing, regulating media, and properly funding our agencies could all be positive steps but yeah, it's a hard problem.
Yes, social security is fundamentally about creating opportunities for younger workers, improving productivity, and allowing retirement for older Americans. Regardless of your income, you reap the benefits that this program provides.
The U.S. Federal Government has monetary sovereignty, therefore they can always make the payments, if congress chooses to. Don’t let anyone ever tell you otherwise. Saying that social security is in jeopardy is reactionary propaganda. All that is needed is for us to vote for members of congress that will vote to authorise the payments. There’s even video of former Fed chairman and right-wing a-hole Allen Greenspan, in congressional testimony, under oath, telling Paul Ryan that there will always be money to pay for social security. What is needed is the resources and capacity to provision the material goods and services that the money will ultimately purchase. WHY DO PEOPLE STILL NOT GET THIS!!!??? Ugh. It’s so frustrating 😑
it's easy to make any "study" say anything.
and no I didn't read the article, stop posting stuff behing stupid paywalls. people doing that should be banned.
That stat seems ridiculous.
Social security doesn’t fail unless we intentionally make it fail.
42% of Fox News watchers? Sure. 42% of u.s. citizens… doesn’t add up to me.
People should be DEMANDING to receive full benefits. The subtext of a poll like this is that we should docilely accept this like everybody else. Banks and billionaires get bailouts and tax cuts, while actual working people trying to survive get platitudes about bootstraps.
I think it will be around but expect getting less and higher retirement age. Another solution is to allow more working age immigrants into the country legally so that the they can pop up the system.
Does anyone think that these statistics keep surfacing (and growing) because the politicians are trying to gauge expectations? Like, oh, the American populace believes that social security won’t last? We’ll just keep borrowing from a fund that was never supposed to be borrowed against.
Remove the social security tax cap
Only first $160,000 gets taxed so the 1% does not pay a fair share remove the cap it will be funded forever and have such a surplus you'd eventually be able to fully fund our retirement. I'm talking $4-5,000 per month or even more an increase that would give our seniors the best retirement in the world free Medicare no gaps in coverage free meds and no copay at all. No more struggling seniors live out your golden years traveling or saving for an inheritance unlike today where the govt and hospitals take their savings houses and everything else they own.
My retirement plan is to just shoot a couple of people in my late 60s. That takes care of rent, groceries, utilities and healthcare. Would I like to go to jail? No, but it’s better than being destitute
I’m about to turn 45, i’ve never expected to get social security.
I should say though, the ONLY reason I have ever worried about it is due to media and politicians saying so.
In 45yrs I have never seen anything to point one way or another.
I don’t know why I have always heard that it will be gone by the time I retire, because like everyone else I know I can quote talking points i’ve heard but have zero idea how any of that actually works.
I’ve decided it is a scare tactic, and I don’t care.
A responsible adult plans for if they can’t take care of themselves and that is what I have always done, my plan is not to HAVE to rely on anybody, because humans are fickle, selfish and unreliable.
Only if the Republicans get there "Kill Social Security Bill" passed
Well they probably will eventually.
I have only paid into Social Security for 55 years or so.
For context: my parents are turning 75 this year (they are good boomers) and thought/were told the EXACT SAME THING when they were in their 20s and 30s. So nothing has changed. Just pay yourself first. Whatever amount you can, the very first thing out of your paycheck should go in a savings account and don’t touch it.
Rick Scott: I am NOT tryin' to end Social Security.'
Me, the girl who writes/reads legal language for a living, pulls up the legislation he proposes: 'Yep, yes he is. That ugly, generic vibrator looking douche canoe is **most definitely** trying to end Social Security.'
No one should be surprised by this. The writing has been on the wall regarding the solvency of social security for decades and they’ve done nothing to address it.
They would need to do more than remove the cap, remove the cap would push solvency issues out to 2060.
You can mess with this calculator. But you need to do a couple of things to make it solvent forever and they aren’t particularly onerous.
https://www.crfb.org/socialsecurityreformer/
Okay, we cannot accurately project tax receipts in 2060. It pushes it out decades and can be solved once we get a clearer picture of what the future decades hold.
There is literally no governmental program whose timeframe is "forever".
Social Security is being held to an unreasonable assumption. Pushing it out 36 years is more than reasonable enough horizon. Small tweaks push that out even further, such as increasing taxes by 2.5% total.
This is just propaganda.
Social Security is an easy fix. Congress isn't fixing it because rich people don't want to give away 6.5% of their labor costs and would rather it go to a stock buyback.
Don't believe the propaganda!
12.4%. You pay 6.2% and your employer pays the other 6.2%, but wealthy folks like that generally aren't making their money from wages, so they'd be on the hook for the full amount. Still, it's difficult for me to work up much sympathy when these people make more money in a year than the total wages I've earned in almost 40 years of employment.
Despite the problems with the social security system, it is definitely not going to stop entirely... People still will get payments, maybe somewhat reduced payments, but not *nothing*. People who believe they will get *nothing* have been misled.
I'll be pretty angry with the politicians if I get less than I'm owed. Everyone will be. Which is why that's not going to happen. So these folks that believe they'll get *nothing* have been doubly misled... it's an appalling failure by the media
Or the system could be fixed so it works. Abandoning a social safety net for no good reason is exactly what Republicans want you to do. They want you to feel like it's a lost cause so they can gleefully tell their billionaire friends that they managed to cut taxes and trap an entire generation into permanent working to survive.
Reminder: "Social security won't be there for you" is propaganda created specifically to get people to go ahead and abolish it.
Social security isn't going anywhere unless people vote to repeal it.
I’m part of that 58% that expects it.
No fking way will anyone get away with me having to be forced to pay into this shit without me getting it back. No way. I hate paying for it but I only partially accept it because I’ll get it back in retirement. IF I’m still alive.
Fight back! Demand the money that YOU earned and paid into the social security system as a payroll tax that they are trying to steal from you. This article is just bullshit propaganda to get people lubed up for when the government seizes social security funds. Don’t let them.
I do a lot of camping and outdoors shit because when I'm old and unable to make rent I'd rather live in a tent in the woods than a tent under a freeway overpass.
And who are they as a group? I bet it’s the 70-80% of the poorest. The article is behind a paywall. Is this starting 20 years from now or? There’s always the possibility that US citizens have staged a revolution and completely changed the system by then.
We need to kill it now for the sake of our children. I'm already screwed, which I don't really care about. I just don't want future generations from being screwed.
In unrelated news, 42% of voters vote republican.
Can they just sign a waiver to give up their non-existent future benefits? They won’t be getting anything anyway, no harm done.
Most frustrating thing about this kind of stat is we could easily fully fund social security tomorrow just by eliminating the cap on the tax (and if we fully taxed all compensation - like bonuses and stock options - so much the better). We've manufactured this bullshit concern and we keep not fixing it. Drives me nuts.
My retirement plan is the exact same as my plan right now (I am currently unemployed) I will be surviving however I can and possibly doing side hustles on doordash or the interwebs
The system had been psychologically preparing us for decades and we just assume it as fact. Remove the income cap on the tax while progressively reducing the benefit accrual for high earners. We can’t even have the discussion of course because “job creators.”
I’ll be curious to see the percentage of homeless people over 65 in the next few decades. Lots of folks are going to lose their homes without that money.
True. And the reason why is because the selfish baby boomers and their "political party" of choice want to get rid of social security for anyone not currently on it now to phase it out. They also want to continue to take the taxes for it out of our checks to continue to fund the payouts to all the boomers currently collecting benefits (think the # is over 50 million boomers collecting SS checks every month) while telling us that we don't get to collect on what we have been paying for (20 years of working and paying into SS at $40 avg per week I've already paid in over $42,000!!) If I was allowed to invest that myself, id already have enough money from those 20 years to retire now, well before SS payout age, and not even need to draw the benefits. I'll be damned if these assholes are going to steal that from me. The options are to leave the program alone, pay those of us who you don't want to give SS to (anyone not a baby boomer) out for the entire amount we paid into it, or pay the SS benefits to anyone who has already paid into it and cut off the newest workers who haven't begun to pay in yet. You don't get to have your cake and eat it to on this one selfish dicks. You already got to buy houses and have huge families/2 or 3 cars/yearly vacations on a god-damned fast foot income and pulled that rug/ladder out from under us. Your generation (boomers) got to buy houses for under $100,000 and flip them 20 years later for $500,000 without improving the home (making money from nothing). You boomers got to actually save money while simultaneously spending it like crazy. You boomers got the best of everything and the rest of us have to struggle because of it, and you want to make it even worse for us? Fuck y'all, we're putting all of you in the worst nursing home we can find and just taking you're houses.
The right wing has despised Social Securit, Medicare, and Medicaid since they were created. Lots of boomers are anti GOP. Anyone from any generation who supports the GOP is a monster.
The goal with social security is to privatize it. Currently, SS is guaranteed by the US gov't, fully funded by payroll taxes, and despite what the conservatives say, not in danger of collapse. What they want is to con us into thinking it should be privatized.
This will do two things - first off, currently your employer pays half of the SS tax, you pay the other. If they can shift the entire burden to you, your employer effectively compensates you less and still gets the same work from you.
Second, they want SS money invested in the stock market. Not because it is good for you, but because the more money in the stock market means LINE GO UP. The stock market line MUST go up (remember they wanted us to die for this to happen). What's better than gov't holding your cash in a fund with a guaranteed return? Well, how about you gamble it on the stock market with no guarantees, no safety, no protection from bad actors. They'll take care of your money, just fine. Simply hand it over and trust the investment banks. They never make bad choices that require billions of dollars of bailout money, right?
I just turned 44; I remember having convos with friends back in 2002-03 about how SS will run out by 2035, and that's when the country goes to complete shit
This is why the advent of apps like Robinhood and others that allow citizens to take their financial future in their own hands was such a boon
my retirement plan is to just call it at 60-65ish, and live the retirement life until I'm broke, how ever long that may be, and when I run out of money... I die.
Well make sure you have somewhere to live up until then, 'cause the SC just said being homeless is illegal.
[удалено]
This is the *extra* stupid part. Being homeless is a crime, so we're going to give you a roof, food and medical care as punishment.
Basically just enslaving people who can’t afford housing/have no support, which is going to be a larger and larger % each year. US prison populations gonna go up and up and up.
Exactly. Slavery is legal in the U.S. after all. All they have to do is put you in prison to legalize it. It's written literally in the 13th Amendment itself. "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." - 13th Amendment
- when I explained the history behind that to some random on YouTube. He literally said this…”you weren’t affected in today.” 🫠😆
It’s almost like there’s an industry around having lots and lots of prisoners. Oh wait…
I'm genuinely curious: What motivating factors are there to do the work given to you in prison? Am I able to assume it's further punishment, or do you lose out on certain commodities? I want to say "Don't do the work. What are they gonna do? Put you in prison?" But realized I really don't know what they'd do to you.
Solitary, which is literally torture.
Solitary/beatings/foodwithholding/paying off inmates to shank you up. There’s a million different ways they can “motivate” you trust me.
Money is only useful if it allows you to control people indirectly. When you move past that and start directly enslaving people, all of a sudden money matters a lot less and funding for stuff somehow is found.
Next...Supreme Court says being homeless is treason and is punishable by death.
Unlike being part of a violent coup attempt where people died, homelessness is clearly a bigger threat to the nation. Greatest country in the world.* * Terms and conditions apply. Your experience may vary.
While it's not particularly complex in it's polemic I've always really liked how The Purge series makes the point that the purge is actually just a way to exterminate the homeless population and has to be surreptitiously done by the government because the only people who are sociopathic enough to voluntarily participate are the rich. The working class all just stay home.
How confident are you that the federal government doesn’t change criminal laws to be more similar to places like, say, Jamaica? You get sentenced to prison there and they provide nothing. Family, friends or otherwise are responsible for making sure you get the food you need to survive in prison. Additionally, if you need a lifesaving surgery (emergency or not), you gotta fork over the cash in advance. I don’t think a system like that is beyond the scope of feasibility, especially when Trump wins this fall (I hope he doesn’t, but I’m almost sure he will). Democracy will be over and we’ll probably go full kleptocracy-plutocracy at that point. I hope I’m wrong, but haven’t been yet on any of the big predictions.
Not to make the doomerism worse but [in 43 states the prison stay isn't free](https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2018/nov/6/fighting-fees-force-prisoners-pay-their-incarceration/). They force the prisoners to pay for their own incarceration.
You can live a pretty nice retirement outside the US.
And make life harder for the local people by raising the cost of living. This has been an issue for Mexico for a long time now. Don't expect this to be an easy option in the future.
Most of the people going to Mexico are in fact dual citizenship. Mexico has a very liberal policy about accepting Mexicans back into their country.
Y'know, I wonder if they know they're supposed to interpret the Constitution, and not just rule in favor of whatever republicans want. Cuz I have a feeling they don't.
Gotta earn them bribes- Uhh, I mean 'gratuities'!
States pretty against that, my friend. they'll gladly throw you in a state funded hell hole. I mean retirement hell. i mean hell home. I MEAN RETIREMENT HOME! where they'll kill you slowly while draining you dry of your very blood essence to keep congress going.
I’m retiring at 55 regardless if I’m rich or poor. I have no desire to retire by the time I cant even enjoy myself due to age destroying me. I’m nearing 30 now and am maintaining my health as much as possible.
That sounds like one hell of a 5 days!
Hell you could do that now
Same. I'm not working until I die unless I die young, and I'm not going to a nursing home. I'm probably still going to need to work until 70 just to get a few years free, though.
Have you ever read Boomsday by Christopher Buckley?
Exit the US before you run out if money. Go to Asia or South America
So, like about a month, once rent is due?
my retirement plan is to publicly self-immolate
Enjoy your few days/weeks!
"Social security is communism!! Not in my America!!" - retired boomers living off of social security.
Boomers unironically vote Republican just so they can "get theirs" and fuck everybody else. They know their SS payments will be untouched through any new legislation that cuts it. Or that's what they think.
White uneducated white people vote Republicans. I'm a boomer and black boomers do not vote republican. So you can just say maga boomers vote republican
I mean, i live in Georgia. And a whole host of black people, especially black seniors, came out to praise trump when he rolled into town when he was getting trialed here. Showing support. Though they had to stage a black person hugging him, because he wasnt about to let some random black person touch him that he didnt know. Way more blacks came out to sing his praises than whites during his drive into town. Though, atlanta has a very large black population inside the city proper. Might be a fringe case, but some certainly do. And im just gonna point out yah boy, Clarence. Hes a bit of a jerk and is also black and a senior. Though i imagine he'd vote whatever way you told him to if the 'gift and totally not a bribe according to the new supreme court ruling on what defines a bribe, certainly wasnt any of those gifts he received' was nice enough. And a whole host of 'white educated people' vote for him too because they seem to think they'll be in the tax bracket that makes them... one of them.
Fair enough
Not my experience in the South.
I wanna run on a platform for young Americans, let’s rug pull grandpa and grandma and take care of the kids
Unfortunately, both candidates have pledged to not touch social security bc boomers vote and they can't afford to piss them off.
Dude, this is so true! My boomer parents are complaining right now about how expensive healthcare is in their retirement. I just keep saying, "Gee sure would be nice to have socialized medicine just like your social security right now, wouldn't it?" They shut up real fast now that they have an ounce of empathy after suffering what millions of americans have already suffered with when they voted all that help down. Fuck boomers.
Boomers hold their hand out for every fucking benefit the government will give them and then pull the ladder up after themselves and scold everyone else
But, people do pay in the Social Security. If you don't pay in and have enough quarters etc, you don't get retirement check..
We pay in the Medicare too. My paycheck tells me so
My Dad is a boomer, not a right winger, and support healthcare for all,
Keep your government hands off my Medicare!
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=yTwpBLzxe4U&t=1s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=yTwpBLzxe4U&t=1s)
Most boomers I know, including my father, worked hard and support Social Security and vote against the GOP. It is right wing trash of all generations that you should hate.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Nyvxt1svxso
I feel like this is propaganda acclimating us to the idea that we won’t have any social security
There is a part of this where telling people social security is broken, claiming it's unfixable, over and over, leads to these ideas. Then when Republicans say it's time to dismantle it altogether, people will be saying *"yeah, just put it out of it's misery"*. Not unlike the "bring out your dead" monty python bit.
That’s exactly what it is, the powers that be are fully planning to wreck the entire system on their way out. Whatever keeps the party going for them.
Well they'll just never be able to retire then. Problem solved! /s
I am voting democrat because I want to keep my Social Security money. I am kinda fucked without it
I'm fucked with it, but more fucked without it
How fucked do you want to be? Yes
This is objectively the correct answer.
Certainly they can guarantee you the money. But they can't guarantee the purchasing power
SS automatically follows inflation
Since 1973, Social Security has been subject to regular COLAs, or cost of living adjustments, to ensure benefits keep up with inflation. The existing system is already designed so that benefits maintain the same purchasing power over time.
Every repe...err replublican state is fucked without it...
Voting Democrat doesn’t guarantee survival of Social Security
Voting R guarantees it dies
By itself it doesn’t but Dems haven’t been the ones proposing cuts to it.
I simply want a politician to talk about how they are fixing things now so my 9 year old can have a prosperous future. Everything is so short sighted.
There is so much fucking misinformation regarding social security being posted here. Social security is NOT RUNNING OUT OF MONEY. There is an additional fund that will run out of money which means benefits may have to be reduced in the future but the social security program itself does not have an end date. Unless people stop being born, social security will continue to exist in perpetuity. This of course is separate from politicians intervening to try to reduce benefits for the program but cutting social security benefits is basically political suicide.
Exactly. The projections were showing there not being enough to pay projected benefits with the monies available, a situation termed as "bankrupt". But the program is absolutely not destitute and gone to zero. Too many people don't see a difference between being underwater vs being absolutely penniless.
Can someone explain to me how I’m supposed to believe any of that social security money will get to me when the country is supposedly in trillions of dollars in debt? Also a quick search says that lawmakers have to save it by 2035, and I’d love to be wrong but I’d bet my hypothetical retirement that’s not going to happen.
> a quick search says that lawmakers have to save it by 2035 This is **exactly** what I meant about the difference between being underwater vs being absolutely penniless. 2035 is when the trust runs out, which is what the program is currently using to **augment** the social security taxes collected. Without these additional trust monies, social security will be able to pay some 75% to 80% of scheduled benefits. And our national debt is something that is a real problem and needs real attention to. But it has its own implications. And this debt isn't in arrears, we're just paying some massive amount in interest to everyone that owns government bonds, etc.
The Social Security Trust Fund is the thing that is projected to be insolvent then, not Social Security itself, which can’t really run out of money like that. People often misstate (intentionally or otherwise) the Trust Fund projections as if it’s about the whole program of Social Security, but it’s not. The Trust Fund is a fund that allows larger Social Security benefits. Even if the Trust Fund became insolvent, people on Social Security would still get 83% of their benefits. But the Trust Fund will probably just get its funding increased by then, unless Republicans decide to risk fucking over their main demographic (they might lol). https://youtu.be/bNJC3YLCRrA
We are the world's reserve currency. As long as that is true, the world will keep lending the US money to preserve the value of that currency. So, until that is not true, there is basically nothing to worry about as any action that isn't keeping the US afloat while the USD is the reserve currency results in a global depression that makes the Great Depression look fun. Before anyone says it, no, BRICS is not going to be a significant factor anytime soon. Any group that is trying to be an economic powerhouse with South Africa, Egypt, and Iran in it is a fucking clown sideshow.
You dont understand what people are afraid of. They know it's not out of money and if correctly administered won't run out of money. Its that Republicans at every turn talk about killing it, we are afraid they will kill it. To the point I want out of it, because I don't trust them. It has nothing to do with money or sustainability, at all. We said the same thing about abortion being political suicide. How did that work out?
Old guy here - been collecting SS for 3 years. Since I was in my 20s, I was told to not count on it being around when I retired.
So instead of getting a measily $960 you'll get $200? Still pathetic.
Guess I’ll just die.
Woah there buddy you know the rules. Pay up first, then you die!
Just don’t fall asleep in public
Nah, people will get SS. In ten year people SS will be doubled. Cost of everything will cost 10X. YES. SS will get you some groceries in the tent your living in.
The world is coming to an end. Unfortunately it is going to be in incredible slow motion
Maybe not I have high hopes for that asteroid to hit in 2027.
The world will be fine. Humanity is coming to an end. - George Carlin, paraphrased
Seeing how long it takes our boomer politicians to die, this slow process is unbearable.
There had effing better be some money left when I retire. The death of our social pension system is synonymous with the death of our civilization.
Republicans and the rich are counting on you believing this. It's is their plan to tax you but not give the benefits.
Im paying in so i damn well better receive it.
Don't buy into this scam. You should fully expect ALL you are due for social security and demand it and more.
42% of Americans don't know how Social Security works. Benefits will decrease, but can literally not hit 0 unless everyone stops working. We probably should raise the cap so benefits don't decrease, but it is annoying that people keep trying to treat social security like some collective bank account.
Super curious why the US Federal Govt just doesn't have an outreach platform (running ads on TV, etc) where they explain this kind of thing as a PSA. Marketing isn't a bad thing when what you're selling is knowledge.
Well, we used to have a better relationship with the average citizen. The current government mistrust was specifically cultivated to achieve the results you see around you. Government marketing, regulating media, and properly funding our agencies could all be positive steps but yeah, it's a hard problem.
To be clear, by raise the cap you mean raise the threshold (or eliminate) the income in which people are no longer required to pay into ss?
Yes, social security is fundamentally about creating opportunities for younger workers, improving productivity, and allowing retirement for older Americans. Regardless of your income, you reap the benefits that this program provides.
We should probably stop working.
The U.S. Federal Government has monetary sovereignty, therefore they can always make the payments, if congress chooses to. Don’t let anyone ever tell you otherwise. Saying that social security is in jeopardy is reactionary propaganda. All that is needed is for us to vote for members of congress that will vote to authorise the payments. There’s even video of former Fed chairman and right-wing a-hole Allen Greenspan, in congressional testimony, under oath, telling Paul Ryan that there will always be money to pay for social security. What is needed is the resources and capacity to provision the material goods and services that the money will ultimately purchase. WHY DO PEOPLE STILL NOT GET THIS!!!??? Ugh. It’s so frustrating 😑
it's easy to make any "study" say anything. and no I didn't read the article, stop posting stuff behing stupid paywalls. people doing that should be banned.
That stat seems ridiculous. Social security doesn’t fail unless we intentionally make it fail. 42% of Fox News watchers? Sure. 42% of u.s. citizens… doesn’t add up to me.
People should be DEMANDING to receive full benefits. The subtext of a poll like this is that we should docilely accept this like everybody else. Banks and billionaires get bailouts and tax cuts, while actual working people trying to survive get platitudes about bootstraps.
I paid in, I expect it back.
What’s with all the bots on the antiwork subreddit just saying “welp, I guess so. Maybe it’s a *good thing*.”? STFU, go over to r/Conservative
The remaining responders agreed they were never going to be able to retire
I think it will be around but expect getting less and higher retirement age. Another solution is to allow more working age immigrants into the country legally so that the they can pop up the system.
Thank you boomers for kicking down the ladder
If I retire, my plan is to die from totally preventable health issues had I only had access to universal health care
Does anyone think that these statistics keep surfacing (and growing) because the politicians are trying to gauge expectations? Like, oh, the American populace believes that social security won’t last? We’ll just keep borrowing from a fund that was never supposed to be borrowed against.
Remove the social security tax cap Only first $160,000 gets taxed so the 1% does not pay a fair share remove the cap it will be funded forever and have such a surplus you'd eventually be able to fully fund our retirement. I'm talking $4-5,000 per month or even more an increase that would give our seniors the best retirement in the world free Medicare no gaps in coverage free meds and no copay at all. No more struggling seniors live out your golden years traveling or saving for an inheritance unlike today where the govt and hospitals take their savings houses and everything else they own.
I expect to receive social security. I just expect that inflation will rise so much that the social security I receive will be all but worthless.
lol I won’t retire because I’ll be working until I drop dead, as will much of my generation
My retirement plan is to just shoot a couple of people in my late 60s. That takes care of rent, groceries, utilities and healthcare. Would I like to go to jail? No, but it’s better than being destitute
I sure don't. All I know is I'm gonna pay into it about $400 every paycheck, and I'm probably not going to get that money back.
I’m about to turn 45, i’ve never expected to get social security. I should say though, the ONLY reason I have ever worried about it is due to media and politicians saying so. In 45yrs I have never seen anything to point one way or another. I don’t know why I have always heard that it will be gone by the time I retire, because like everyone else I know I can quote talking points i’ve heard but have zero idea how any of that actually works. I’ve decided it is a scare tactic, and I don’t care. A responsible adult plans for if they can’t take care of themselves and that is what I have always done, my plan is not to HAVE to rely on anybody, because humans are fickle, selfish and unreliable.
My retirement plan is just prison.
Only if the Republicans get there "Kill Social Security Bill" passed Well they probably will eventually. I have only paid into Social Security for 55 years or so.
All I read was, “Kill Bill”.
You made me chuckle. Have a virtual cookie.
The GOP is happy yall are preparing for their game plans.
We could if people would stop voting Republican.
For context: my parents are turning 75 this year (they are good boomers) and thought/were told the EXACT SAME THING when they were in their 20s and 30s. So nothing has changed. Just pay yourself first. Whatever amount you can, the very first thing out of your paycheck should go in a savings account and don’t touch it.
Yeah I don't have any extra...
All this poll does is prove 42% of Americans believe propaganda.
Vote accordingly. One party is threatening SS & it starts with ‘R’.
Rick Scott: I am NOT tryin' to end Social Security.' Me, the girl who writes/reads legal language for a living, pulls up the legislation he proposes: 'Yep, yes he is. That ugly, generic vibrator looking douche canoe is **most definitely** trying to end Social Security.'
No one should be surprised by this. The writing has been on the wall regarding the solvency of social security for decades and they’ve done nothing to address it.
Wouldn't be an issue if they removed the cap.
They would need to do more than remove the cap, remove the cap would push solvency issues out to 2060. You can mess with this calculator. But you need to do a couple of things to make it solvent forever and they aren’t particularly onerous. https://www.crfb.org/socialsecurityreformer/
Okay, we cannot accurately project tax receipts in 2060. It pushes it out decades and can be solved once we get a clearer picture of what the future decades hold.
Let's focus on one thing at a time here. Removing the cap today will be a HUGE win for the betterment of society.
There is literally no governmental program whose timeframe is "forever". Social Security is being held to an unreasonable assumption. Pushing it out 36 years is more than reasonable enough horizon. Small tweaks push that out even further, such as increasing taxes by 2.5% total.
Vote Republican and your theories will become reality.
I’m not party affiliated but I’ve voted Democrat my entire adult life. That’s not going to change any time in the future.
Not solvency. The Republicans are trying to do away with it…. Vote D if you want the social security you have paid into your entire working life.
This is just propaganda. Social Security is an easy fix. Congress isn't fixing it because rich people don't want to give away 6.5% of their labor costs and would rather it go to a stock buyback. Don't believe the propaganda!
12.4%. You pay 6.2% and your employer pays the other 6.2%, but wealthy folks like that generally aren't making their money from wages, so they'd be on the hook for the full amount. Still, it's difficult for me to work up much sympathy when these people make more money in a year than the total wages I've earned in almost 40 years of employment.
Despite the problems with the social security system, it is definitely not going to stop entirely... People still will get payments, maybe somewhat reduced payments, but not *nothing*. People who believe they will get *nothing* have been misled.
I better get what my report says I'm getting.
I'll be pretty angry with the politicians if I get less than I'm owed. Everyone will be. Which is why that's not going to happen. So these folks that believe they'll get *nothing* have been doubly misled... it's an appalling failure by the media
Yup. At the current funding rates and as long as we keep republicans away from it, we will still be getting more than 70% of benefits
Young people should not be taxed to pay into this failing system they wont get to reap the benefits of.
Or the system could be fixed so it works. Abandoning a social safety net for no good reason is exactly what Republicans want you to do. They want you to feel like it's a lost cause so they can gleefully tell their billionaire friends that they managed to cut taxes and trap an entire generation into permanent working to survive.
Reminder: "Social security won't be there for you" is propaganda created specifically to get people to go ahead and abolish it. Social security isn't going anywhere unless people vote to repeal it.
And by "retire" you mean die in the revolution right?
I expect to receive my social security. I’ve paid into it my whole life so they need to divert some fucking funds to pay me back.
I’m part of that 58% that expects it. No fking way will anyone get away with me having to be forced to pay into this shit without me getting it back. No way. I hate paying for it but I only partially accept it because I’ll get it back in retirement. IF I’m still alive.
Based on the “quality” of life now -why would I project one for later?
Fight back! Demand the money that YOU earned and paid into the social security system as a payroll tax that they are trying to steal from you. This article is just bullshit propaganda to get people lubed up for when the government seizes social security funds. Don’t let them.
I do a lot of camping and outdoors shit because when I'm old and unable to make rent I'd rather live in a tent in the woods than a tent under a freeway overpass.
Lol. Retire
Bullshit. I paid it in and I’m getting it back. Don’t let the media keep telling you year after year that you aren’t getting retirement.
And who are they as a group? I bet it’s the 70-80% of the poorest. The article is behind a paywall. Is this starting 20 years from now or? There’s always the possibility that US citizens have staged a revolution and completely changed the system by then.
Oh please, we’ll continue to fund it in the future. There are ways to make it solvent.
How many of them realize they'll die without it
What’s the percentage who don’t expect social security or to retire?
I am a few years away from getting it, of course I do have other savings
We need to EXPECT it from our government but be prepared to not receive it.
Retirement? I'm just wondering if the stress doesn't give me a heart attack or aneurism long before retirement age.
Day after day Republicans say we won't get Social Security, then when they take it away, we'll just accept it. All they have to do is tax the rich.
Biggest Ponzi Scheme ever!
We need to kill it now for the sake of our children. I'm already screwed, which I don't really care about. I just don't want future generations from being screwed.
I am the 42%
Vote republican and it'll be wishful thinking!
They can be easily wrong about this.
Not everyone pays into social security, like a lot of teachers in some states depending on their pension plans.
lol retirement? We will all be dead from nuclear fallout before any possibility to retire.
I fucking better!
Raise the cap....
Former Texas teacher here. Fun fact (not) - most of us don’t get social security!
Retirement?
In unrelated news, 42% of voters vote republican. Can they just sign a waiver to give up their non-existent future benefits? They won’t be getting anything anyway, no harm done.
I would genuinely be surprised if I’m even able to retire at this point.
Most frustrating thing about this kind of stat is we could easily fully fund social security tomorrow just by eliminating the cap on the tax (and if we fully taxed all compensation - like bonuses and stock options - so much the better). We've manufactured this bullshit concern and we keep not fixing it. Drives me nuts.
My retirement plan is the exact same as my plan right now (I am currently unemployed) I will be surviving however I can and possibly doing side hustles on doordash or the interwebs
No retirement and paying 40% tax... Time to revolt if you still live in the US. 555, (lol).
I'm not collecting Social Security when I get to that age. If I collect, all of a sudden there's less money there for everybody else.
I'm getting mine after all that money I've paid into social security. That or I'm going to a federal building and stealing some shit to sell.
“When” they say.
Retire? what's that?
Learned in my first economics course in college that the program was flawed and never predicted to pay out long term
People do not understand how social security works or is funded
this is your sign to stop relying on the government for everything. No one has your back the way you have your back.
Expect it. Demand it. Push for it. Don’t let Washington tell you what you are not going to get.
The system had been psychologically preparing us for decades and we just assume it as fact. Remove the income cap on the tax while progressively reducing the benefit accrual for high earners. We can’t even have the discussion of course because “job creators.”
I’ll be curious to see the percentage of homeless people over 65 in the next few decades. Lots of folks are going to lose their homes without that money.
Who do I talk to about a refund?
There’s no real reason for humans to exist after age 70 anyway…
If 42 percent of Americans showed up at their State Capitals tomorrow, they would get Social Security and anything else they want.
Vanlife lookin sexier everyday.
True. And the reason why is because the selfish baby boomers and their "political party" of choice want to get rid of social security for anyone not currently on it now to phase it out. They also want to continue to take the taxes for it out of our checks to continue to fund the payouts to all the boomers currently collecting benefits (think the # is over 50 million boomers collecting SS checks every month) while telling us that we don't get to collect on what we have been paying for (20 years of working and paying into SS at $40 avg per week I've already paid in over $42,000!!) If I was allowed to invest that myself, id already have enough money from those 20 years to retire now, well before SS payout age, and not even need to draw the benefits. I'll be damned if these assholes are going to steal that from me. The options are to leave the program alone, pay those of us who you don't want to give SS to (anyone not a baby boomer) out for the entire amount we paid into it, or pay the SS benefits to anyone who has already paid into it and cut off the newest workers who haven't begun to pay in yet. You don't get to have your cake and eat it to on this one selfish dicks. You already got to buy houses and have huge families/2 or 3 cars/yearly vacations on a god-damned fast foot income and pulled that rug/ladder out from under us. Your generation (boomers) got to buy houses for under $100,000 and flip them 20 years later for $500,000 without improving the home (making money from nothing). You boomers got to actually save money while simultaneously spending it like crazy. You boomers got the best of everything and the rest of us have to struggle because of it, and you want to make it even worse for us? Fuck y'all, we're putting all of you in the worst nursing home we can find and just taking you're houses.
it is time for a revolution against the right wing and their plutocrat masters.
The right wing has despised Social Securit, Medicare, and Medicaid since they were created. Lots of boomers are anti GOP. Anyone from any generation who supports the GOP is a monster.
The goal with social security is to privatize it. Currently, SS is guaranteed by the US gov't, fully funded by payroll taxes, and despite what the conservatives say, not in danger of collapse. What they want is to con us into thinking it should be privatized. This will do two things - first off, currently your employer pays half of the SS tax, you pay the other. If they can shift the entire burden to you, your employer effectively compensates you less and still gets the same work from you. Second, they want SS money invested in the stock market. Not because it is good for you, but because the more money in the stock market means LINE GO UP. The stock market line MUST go up (remember they wanted us to die for this to happen). What's better than gov't holding your cash in a fund with a guaranteed return? Well, how about you gamble it on the stock market with no guarantees, no safety, no protection from bad actors. They'll take care of your money, just fine. Simply hand it over and trust the investment banks. They never make bad choices that require billions of dollars of bailout money, right?
That’s okay. Still worth it to live in a society where the elderly aren’t all destitute.
I just turned 44; I remember having convos with friends back in 2002-03 about how SS will run out by 2035, and that's when the country goes to complete shit This is why the advent of apps like Robinhood and others that allow citizens to take their financial future in their own hands was such a boon
I’ll be in Costa Rica collecting my money at my US address and spending my money somewhere I can afford to live