Liberal Forum

The current budget proposed by the Republican Study Committee, which represents 80 percent of House Republicans, calls for $1.5 trillion in cuts to Social Security benefits over the next 10 years.  It would reduce benefits for seniors and raise the retirement age to 69, which would especially hurt low-income retirees.

https://www.budget.senate.gov/chairman/ ... -cbo-finds

jerrab » 05 Aug 2025, 2:28 pm » wrote: ↑

05 Aug 2025, 2:28 pm

The current budget proposed by the Republican Study Committee, which represents 80 percent of House Republicans, calls for $1.5 trillion in cuts to Social Security benefits over the next 10 years.  It would reduce benefits for seniors and raise the retirement age to 69, which would especially hurt low-income retirees.

Why would we need cuts in benefits..... we're only $38 Trillion in debt?

 

jerrab » 05 Aug 2025, 2:28 pm » wrote: ↑

05 Aug 2025, 2:28 pm

The current budget proposed by the Republican Study Committee, which represents 80 percent of House Republicans, calls for $1.5 trillion in cuts to Social Security benefits over the next 10 years.  It would reduce benefits for seniors and raise the retirement age to 69, which would especially hurt low-income retirees.

Isn't this just the prediction coming true?
Social Security is going broke...

Gee, where have I heard that before?
It's been so long that I forgot.   

Must be Trump's fault.

DeezerShoove » 05 Aug 2025, 4:06 pm » wrote: ↑

05 Aug 2025, 4:06 pm

Isn't this just the prediction coming true?
Social Security is going broke...

Gee, where have I heard that before?
It's been so long that I forgot.   

Must be Trump's fault.

raising the cap is the answer

---------------------------------------------------

• Increased revenue for Social Security: Removing or raising the cap would mean higher earners contribute more to the program, which could help address the long-term funding shortfall. For example, eliminating the cap altogether, while also providing benefit credits for those earnings, could raise an additional $3.2 trillion over 10 years.
• Improve

there is no tax for social security for money over 176,000/// way too low-----------

$176,100
Key Takeaways. The Social Security tax is calculated as a percentage of gross earnings, up to a certain limit. Every year, the government sets a limit on the amount of your earnings that can be taxed for Social Security. That limit in 2025 is $176,100.

https://www.pgpf.org/article/social-sec ... -revenues/

DeezerShoove » 05 Aug 2025, 4:06 pm » wrote: ↑

05 Aug 2025, 4:06 pm

Isn't this just the prediction coming true?
Social Security is going broke...

Gee, where have I heard that before?
It's been so long that I forgot.   

Must be Trump's fault.

Many Rich Americans Have Already Paid Their 2025 Social Security TaxesJanuary 2, 2025
In The News
Forbes: Many Rich Americans Have Already Paid Their 2025 Social Security TaxesShortly After Midnight On New Year’s Eve, 229 Americans Have Already Paid Their Social Security Tax

http://larson.house.gov/media-center/in ... rity-taxes

163 Million Americans Pay Social Security Tax All Year Long
In contrast, over 164 million workers (about 94% of us) pay Social Security taxes all year long. The point is a lot of income escapes the Social Security system; and the escaping income is that from the wealthiest Americans.

If federal policy makers raised the cap on the maximum earnings subject to Social Security taxes, and included more income — interest, business receipts, capital gains — in the definition of earnings (like Medicare does), we could close the solvency gap. Taxing the expanded base could more than pay for promised Social Security benefits for 35 years and there would even be some money to eliminate poverty among all Social Security recipients.

A Primer On Social Security Finances
The payroll tax for Social Security Old Age and Survivors’ benefits is 12.4% (statutorily split between employees and employers) and is assessed on earnings up to the earnings maximum (which increases every year). In 2025 the cap is $176,100. In 2023 (the most recent figures) about 176 million Americans and their employers contributed $1.1 trillion (see Table 5) to the Old Age, Survivors, and Disability system in 2023.

 

//////////////The bad news is that recently House Republicans advocated cutting Social Security benefits by (about 8%) by raising the full retirement age to 69 and President-elect Donald Trump’s only Social Security proposal would drain Social Security of revenue by $23 billion, according to a report by the thorough Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

The Social Security Trustees wrote in the last actuarial report, lawmakers have all the options laid before them to eliminate Social Security’s long-term financing shortfalls and raise benefits: “Taking action sooner rather than later will allow consideration of a broader range of solutions.”

The quickest and most effective action to fix Social Security just might be to ask the small fraction of the highest-income Americans, like Elon Musk and other wealthy CEOs, to pay all year long.

Teresa Ghilarducci, Ph.D. (U.C. Berkeley), joined The New School during the 2008 financial crisis after 25 years at Notre Dame. Her latest book, Work, Retire, Repeat: The Uncertainty of Retirement in the New Economy, challenges the notion that working in old age is feasible and beneficial. Rescuing Retirement, co-authored with Tony James, offers a bipartisan solution to the retirement crisis. Teresa serves as a Board Member for the Health Care Trust for Steelworkers of Goodyear Tire and has been a trustee for the UAW Retiree Trust and Indiana Public Employees Retirement System. She frequently testifies in Congress and appears in major media.//////////////////////////////////

RebelGator » 05 Aug 2025, 3:52 pm » wrote: ↑

05 Aug 2025, 3:52 pm

Why would we need cuts in benefits..... we're only $38 Trillion in debt?

  cut payments in social security, raise the retirement age 

but give people that make over $50, 000, 000 a year a tax break

yup … that’s how you fix it   

DeezerShoove » 05 Aug 2025, 4:06 pm » wrote: ↑

05 Aug 2025, 4:06 pm

Isn't this just the prediction coming true?
Social Security is going broke...

Gee, where have I heard that before?
It's been so long that I forgot.   

Must be Trump's fault.

it will be trumps fault if he does not order raising the cap on social security tax

jerrab » 05 Aug 2025, 5:06 pm » wrote: ↑

05 Aug 2025, 5:06 pm

Many Rich Americans Have Already Paid Their 2025 Social Security TaxesJanuary 2, 2025
In The News
Forbes: Many Rich Americans Have Already Paid Their 2025 Social Security TaxesShortly After Midnight On New Year’s Eve, 229 Americans Have Already Paid Their Social Security Tax

http://larson.house.gov/media-center/in ... rity-taxes

And lots of folks NEVER reach the limit one time in their lifetime.
I always wondered about the ethics/moral dilemma of not paying rich people what they have contributed over their lifespan into SS.
If it's going broke and we're paying for illegitimate disabilities/hardship pay/etc anyway, why not set a limit for payouts to people who really don't need a measly few thousand per month?

RebelGator » 05 Aug 2025, 3:52 pm » wrote: ↑

05 Aug 2025, 3:52 pm

Why would we need cuts in benefits..... we're only $38 Trillion in debt?

Because Supply Side Hucksters keep piling up the deficits.

Maybe you should stop enabling them.
 

Mrkelly » 05 Aug 2025, 5:21 pm » wrote: ↑

05 Aug 2025, 5:21 pm

  cut payments in social security, raise the retirement age 

but give people that make over $50, 000, 000 a year a tax break

yup … that’s how you fix it 

Sure, they get a tax break..... instead of paying $10 million a year, they get to pay $7.5 million a year.

What do you pay?

RebelGator » 05 Aug 2025, 6:46 pm » wrote: ↑

05 Aug 2025, 6:46 pm

Sure, they get a tax break..... instead of paying $10 million a year, they get to pay $7.5 million a year.

What do you pay?

A higher percentage than they do

DeezerShoove » 05 Aug 2025, 4:06 pm » wrote: ↑

05 Aug 2025, 4:06 pm

Isn't this just the prediction coming true?
Social Security is going broke...

Gee, where have I heard that before?
It's been so long that I forgot.   

Must be Trump's fault.

Trump?

Don't be silly....he's immune from accountability. 
 

RebelGator » 05 Aug 2025, 6:46 pm » wrote: ↑

05 Aug 2025, 6:46 pm

Sure, they get a tax break..... instead of paying $10 million a year, they get to pay $7.5 million a year.

What do you pay?

What were Grifty and The Mitten paying in federal income tax, Bootspittle?

Mrkelly » 05 Aug 2025, 6:47 pm » wrote: ↑

05 Aug 2025, 6:47 pm

A higher percentage than they do

So it boils down to envy and jealousy. 

Blackvegetable » 05 Aug 2025, 6:49 pm » wrote: ↑

05 Aug 2025, 6:49 pm

What were Grifty and The Mitten paying in federal income tax, Bootspittle?

Around 13,000,000 times what you pay, get on rKelly's pity wagon.