They and Republicans in Congress think they’ve finally come up with a way to eliminate one of the most popular and necessary programs in the federal government
in all fairness i dont think they care at all. just as happy 4 u 2 crawl into a hole and die. if they cant exploit u 4 cheap labor ur just an overhead 2 b cut
...indeed. They were the ones, who 16 years ago brought up the term "death panels" to scare people with, when the ACA was being discussed.
However this is proof that they will actually be the ones to implement them.
it seem every time they mistakenly point fingers at the "other party" doing something bad (like election rigging, or planing to indoctrinate our kids) they have absolutely no issue with doing it themselves.
They so basically telegraph their intents almost like a megalomaniac villain in a comic book, but so many people seem blissfully unaware of it.
No they want you to hurry up and die. Sorry to be so blunt. They hate all of us. My expectation is Trumps admin will blow up in less than a year. A group of demons cannot work or rule together. They hate each other more than they hate us.
Your post is so right And, by the way, I like the way you put it into words. This takes us back centuries when the middle and bottom had no say in anything. They did what they were told or they were eliminated. Or completely cast aside and the compassion level with these extremely wealthy humans is below the below
This is why Peter Thiel and the other Accelerationists call it 'Neofeudalism' - only without Govts, as they are to be placed be replaced by billionaire CEOs
I wonder how these idiots plan on actually governing. Everything like court cases. Will there be judges? Police? Speed limits. Food Protection. Right down to local politics can a person park their car on the front yard, will we have to pick up dog crap cause we certainly caint pick up theirs.
Muskrat might have to cocoon himself with his children to shield himself better from all the angry seniors. Seniors don't have much to lose. One child on his shoulders probably won't be enough to keep him safe, the coward.
Musk, Thiel, Pete Peterson, Goldman Sachs et al, don't want to eliminate SS, they just want to get their grubby hands on the Trust Fund and FICA payments.that they can gin the stock market and rake in billions in commissions.
For many people, private insurance has been a rip off. Look at what is happening now with house insurance. People who have paid insurance for decades are having their policies cancelled.
Look at the "advantage" plans for Medicare. Last time I looked, the coverage was 98% identical fo what Medicare covers. All the advantage plans offer is increased cost, and someone to have to check that you are getting appropriate tests now and then. They cater to corporations with young healthy workers, not the old and retired. The retired are left to discover original Medicare, and find their own doctors, and pay more for what the advantage plans, and Medicare don't cover.
Don't even look at life insurance. A favorite tactic is to go into business. Start a lot of policies, then go out of business, after collecting for decades.
The billionairess want SS and Medicare gone so they can create more scamming insurance companies.
That first shot in the back of a CEO of the stingiest medical insurance Giant was horrible, but real, desperate and ugly, from a young man who. even though middle class and educated, had strong feelings about that CEO and company, and trying to get the attention of the entitled class, Yes , it's class warfare. No, Americans will not put up with tyranny for long.
You are so right, Laurie! Americans simply will not stand for anyone to try and control every aspect of their lives. We simply aren't gullible that way! I do believe the muskrat, orange man and his MAGA sycophants will soon discover that true patriotic Americans will not simply roll over and take it!
He's seen as a hero by people from both left & right. Maybe the spell will be broken that billionaires have cast to divide us, cause us to attack each other & divert our attention from the real perpetrators of our misery, the greedy billionaires themselves.
Daniel, I agree with you completely, only to add that it's an entire cabinet full of oligarchs' ass kissers looking to put us worn out working class into the ditch so they can replace us with the next generation of suckers. Nobody with a spine should take this bullshit lying down. The professor just clued us as regards the class confrontation which is looming between the haves and have nots, and the haves don't have a leg to stand on. Without actual producers in the economy, they are nothing. Their railroad job into high office will turn to their ultimate defeat. Useless fucking bastards! To muskrat - all the gold in the Chinese vaults can't buy you love, fucker!
And when the Magas find out they are going to be pissed as well, but we need them to win this fight if they wake up and realize how much they've been played by tRump.
I read that 30%-35% of the population are Evangelicals. Suppose half of them vote, and I read 80% of Evangelicals voted for Trump, based only on Abortion. I don't know, but maybe that means 12% of the voters voted for Trump based on abortion. They didn't care about any other issue enough to change their vote. Even a few percent of the voters would be enough to push Trump to win.
That is why the founders sought to separate church from state. But, unfortunately here in the good ol USA, we have a sizeable population that prefers the dark ages of theocracy.
They should have used their brains and learned before they created this monster and his government of rich sex predators. Now they have made sure that they entire world suffers Trump because if their uneducated unkind hateful choices. Maga and everyone involved will go down in history as vilified as slave traders and owners have. Shame on them! Being stupid can’t be an excuse when you are offered so much information in so many platforms and you choose to vote in pathetic selfish ways.
You poor baby. Everything that’s gone wrong in your life is someone else’s fault. It’s not in anyway because you went through your life, entitled and made poor choices, now is it?
Wtf? This is an educated discussion and your ignorant childish taunting shows us all who you are and you are exactly what’s wrong with America. Enjoy the pain that Trumps going to force upon you!
MAGA will react with fury if Social Security & Medicare are cut or eliminated. Lots of disabled veterans, disabled seniors & poor depend on this $ as their only income.
It's hard for the poor to react with fury. If most don't have $400 saved for a family emergency, how can they bring pressure on the elite? The only way I can see them doing it is stop buying stuff. Of course since they are probably buying only necessities, what are the poor supposed to cut out? I'm perplexed. How did the serfs and the slaves ever get any kind of standing in society?
They are unteachable. US should either give them their own territory or sterilize them. Or to be kinder make passing a test of intelligence and awareness a requirement to vote. They would fail en masse
Exactly! Trump is about to screw his voters over in every aspect of their life and when they realize it they should turn. They were not bright enough to see through his campaign of hate and division and clearly didn’t do one iota of research but when Trump takes their money and coverage away they might wake up and stand up. At this point he should be afraid of them because he created them and spent the last three years with them so he should know how volatile they are. And armed. He thinks he can just run amuck with power and now spends all of his time with his male billionaire cronies. Insulated from reality. If anyone read history they’d know from all revolutions including French and Russian that the wealthy cannot beat the angry populace. The mobs will kill you no matter how much money you have so all the greed will not be for nothing, it will be their undoing . America will return to the good path but Maga made certain it will be the painful difficult way not the kind smooth one that Democrats offered.
Robert would you attempt to clarify something for us please.
I recently passed the insurance license exam. A few of the questions on the exam were on social security. This is where I learned that it seems there has already been a cut or change to the income calculation for SS entitlement monthly. Instead of counting all of one's income over the course of one's working history, SS now only counts the most recent 20 quarters of income (5 years). I was shocked and know I didn't hear anything in the press about this horrific change. Imagine how many seniors don't know about it and have spent the last 5 working at Walmart part time until they hit 65 and expect to collect from the program they think takes into account their highest earning years and what they paid into it.
When was this change made? Many people, like myself, went thru the great recession having been laid off, bringing earnings down significantly, (many never fully recovered) but this feels like what we paid in just was just stolen by the SSA! I would appreciate your comments on this matter. Many thanks!
Absolutely! If Trump is president, he will certainly use the new immunity clause to make himself dictator for life. Why doesn't Biden at least use it to lock up Trump and his cronies? What are we missing?
paulahik: You and people who argue similarly have to stop expecting a pig to grow wings and fly away. Biden and the democrats DON'T WANT TO HELP YOU! They are content with the Elon and the rest of the incoming Republicans. They will just wait quietly for you to hand them power and money again and then it will be their turn again. When people screw you over and over and over and refuse to help, STOP PLEADING WITH THEM! Biden will not save you nor will his Democrat pals. Get rid of them and replace them with people who are motivated to help the working class or else just give up and prepare to die. There are good people who do not respond to wealth and power - plenty of them. Ralph Nader, Amy Goodman, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and a long list after them. Why do you keep voting for Dems and Repubs and hoping for a change? You are the problem! If seventy million people had voted for Jill Stein instead of Kamala Harris, this would be a different country right now. But you are enthusiastically brainwashed into the two-party system and you wonder why nothing ever changes.
Your condemnation of Democrats is wrong. Virtually all of the laws passed that make life better for most Americans were passed, or at least supported, by Democrats.
The Green Party is for me. I'm sick to think 44k+ people died in Palestine while American corporations making machinery for that war have lined the pockets of these billionaires. 44,000+ dead people because we sent the weapons for Netanyahu to kill them.
The statements by the overwhelming majority of commenters here (and apparently Dr. Reich) demonstrate that most do not understand what Social Security is or how it’s funded or its purpose. As you emphasize, it is not an entitlement.
Pretty astonishing since most people who read and comment this Substack are more politically interested than the general public is at large.
Well, not quite. Most lower income people will take more out of SS than they paid in, even accounting for accrued interest and prematurely deceased people forfeiting what they paid in. So there is a welfare aspect to SS.
What you get out of social security depends on how long you worked and what you put into it. The formula is too complicated to explain here.
However, I found this:
"The pattern of redistribution that occurs through Social Security is complicated because lifetime taxes and benefits are influenced by the different mortality rates of people in different demographic groups, by differences in marital status, and by variations in the earnings levels of secondary earners in married couples, among other factors. Thus the income-related redistribution that occurs because of the progressive benefit formula is partially offset by the longer life expectancies of higher income individuals and by the larger spouse-and-survivor benefits received by the spouses of higher earners."
Dale, good post. Have you called the WH (see Google) to relay your msg? We all need to be speaking out, at the very least. I think there's an email WH link.
Andy, please get your facts straight, Checkout how many older women live in poverty? Many were not allowed to work when younger, Division and blaming only make the problem worse, This is about a few rich Robber Barren types against all the rest of us, no matter our age. You may enjoy reading Letters from an American
You are right, Linda. If and when Trump‘s putrid gang begin messing with our Social Security, Medicare, etc.these entitlements will become our commonality.We will fight tooth and nail to defend and retain them. Trump and his would be authoritarian minions Easily forget that they work for us, not the other way around.
Really Ilene? What weapons are you going to use for that fighting. When the National Guard starts firing real bullets into your protesting crowd are you going to clog up their guns with flowers? The soldiers and the police are their main weapons, and they will unquestioningly (even if reluctantly) take their orders from upstairs and crack heads. We have plenty of prisons and detention centers in this country - we've made sure of that. The racism that permeates this country can easily be transmuted into hatred for "lazy folks who think they are entitled". They prepared the way by using that word entitlements. And "welfare queens". Of course it never bothered anyone that the rich never do any real, productive work but collect plenty of cash. The road has been paved and lined with barbed wire. Fight back indeed!!!
The boomers are the reason these people have power and wealth inequality is so bad in the first place. If they didn't sell out to the rich in the 80s and destroy all the unions America would be a much better place today. As far as I am concerned the entire generation is uniquely selfish and fucked over their kids and grandkids by pulling up the ladder of workers rights and a fair economy behind them. Credit scores didn't even exist until the 80s. Whether you personally got rich fucking over your kids is irrelevent, the reality is most boomers did and we are all living the consequences of their selfish choices.
I'm flabbergasted by your comment! You obviously need educating. Zuckerberg, Gates, Bezos, Musk, Ramaswamy, Vance are not boomers but they claim only they have the answers because they have the money. Wish all their money was taken away from them so they could experience living in the real world so they would know what it's like to live on a fixed income, decide which meds they can or cannot afford or how they are going to eat the rest of the month on the $25 in their account. I don't call it selfish choices on boomers parts, I call it selfish choices on the part of the entitled that have far more than they need to live a comfortable life.
Anytime we blame other groups like boomers or immigrants for our financial woes we’ve fallen into their trap. They win by dividing and conquering. Management owns the system, and even they are motivated by incentives like wealth maximization and shareholder value that don’t serve us. Separate the people from the problem. Stop the blame. Social Security need not be hard to fix if we focus on the problem and what we want instead of our image of the enemy.
That's unfair. The gradual increase in economic inequality started when Reagan was elected and has systematically progressed ever since. But most people were not paying attention until the situation got really bad. Sort of like putting a frog in cold water and gradually warming it up until the frog is cooked.
Andy, the Congress sets the rules for the tax rates. THEY, and whichever POTUS signed the bill slashing tax rates on billionaires & wealthy are to blame. WE boomers were working our asses off to pay the rent, buy food, make car pmts -- not on $100,000 cars. A five year old Toyota.
Andy, not piling on, but I am a Boomer who worked all my life, paid into SS like most. I can't make blanket stmts "boomers sold us out to the rich" -- what exactly do you mean? Boomers I know also worked their tails off, mortgage, had kids ($125k per kid from birth to age 18). Tried to pay for kids & college. Some worked two jobs.
WTH? Sold out to the rich? I'm a boomer who worked for a livng and was always pro-union, not anti. Quit generalising. I'm tired of being blamed for stuff I didn't do and had no control over. And the Boomers I knew and worked with worked damn hard--we were nurse's aides and worked damn hard for what we were paid. So go find someone else to blame.
Diana, I am not sure Muskrat and Ramaswampy are Boomers. Trump surely is, but, Boomers have a lot at stake in Social Security because most Boomers are now eligible for at least first level Social Security. Trump knows he will be taken care of by someone even if he loses his money or ends up sentenced some day (as he should have been 3 years ago). Muskrat and Ramaswampy just don't care because they can fleece more corporations out of their money as he tried to do Tesla and others of his owned companies. I can't see either of them caring a bit about anything related to money or the suffering ditching Social Security and Medicare would be. That trio were all raised to care about no one but themselves and they learned the lessons well. Hate and indifference are powerful and can drive some real damage and pain, and that is what they have in mind for this nation. It is unfortunate that we will have to depend mostly on Republicans if they are to be stopped. We know, in general, Republicans care nothing for people who are not just like themselves, or perhaps themselves. That is truly unfortunate!
Ok. Then I apologise for coming down on you as hard as I did. I'm a Boomer who worked as a CNA,cashier, and housecleaner and I'm tired of people blaming all of us. Just know, please. that a lot of us were not wealthy. Again, I apologise.
Andy, it was not just Boomers who voted for Trumplandia. Racism, misogyny, classism, fear of everyone not themselves, homo/transphobia are not exclusive to Boomers or any other group; they are present everywhere in this country because we never directly address them and tell people that what they are doing and saying is wrong, and mean it. So, fools like Ron DeSantis want to be sure little white kiddies don't feel uncomfortable learning that their ancestors were hateful sometimes even killers, often slave owners, destroyers of Native culture, abusers of women, rapers of enslaved women, traffickers in children and others. I have no clue what DeSantis's ancestors' life was like in Italy nor if they came to this country "the right way," but he joined the racists, misogynists, and the rest as he grew and certainly as he entered politics. Was he all of those things while training in the Ivy League? (I suspect yes.) So, now, he is being considered for Sec. of Defense when Hegseth is knocked off the podium. I am pretty sure he is just as anti everyone who is not rich, white, and male as Hegseth but just doesn't spew it as often. He did manipulate FL legislators to pass all kinds of appalling bills which of course, he had to sign into law. He changed the percent of the vote that was needed to ditch the appalling FL abortion ban to 60% and would have worked out something to keep it from being dropped even if 60% had voted for it. I do wonder if the creeps in Trump's entourage who attended Ivy League schools learned and developed their current disgusting hateful positions at those schools or just learned how to manipulate people for the ssake of power they can take, I mean steal through lies, cheating, and other techniques. I am hoping those schools will more carefully consider those they let in, no matter how rich their families are.
Jaime, I understand it was a lot of young men who went for Trump and Kump. I don't know what they thought they were going to get from him, but they went against their own interests, just like so many whiny men. They don't realize or maybe they do and don't care, but Trump and his servants care nothing for those young men unless they can use them to do harm to others, which is a possibility. I don't get it.
Amen to that! Because I didn't know I could get medicare (long story), I applied and found I was eligible for Social secuity and Medicare. But I'm saddled with a penalty I will have to pay til the end. I could see a few years, but a lifetime? Between those two, my Soc. security isn't much but I'm glad to have it.
p.s. My Social Security repayment of money I paid in leaves me in the "Poverty" income-wise. Sincerely, why do you think boomers are greedy,? I thinks it's important to have civil conversations to better understand each other.
Now quite. GenZ will be more fucked! Why is that? Because the billionaires, who usually get that way over time and age, don't have enough money or power. So the younger generations suffer more and more, with every passing year.
If you want justice, you must work to end wealth inequality. Can anyone say the the $300 Billion that Musk owns is his due to his exceptional good work? Or is it due to his ability to pull off one con after another? I read that not only did Tesla benefit from the tax rebates for EV's, but also for gettin money from the other non EV car companies for carbon credits. Tesla made billions from these government programs paid for by the citizens.
And what does he do now? Dance like a retard at Trump rallies, and seek to gut Medicare and Social Security, for the benefit of multi-billionaires.
Not sure how boomers are complicit in this. We were born at a time that places us within a time to collect Social Security. No one of any age should have to forfeit Social Security! It's a separate tax for a specific purpose! Bailing out billionaires is not one of them, and Andy, you are just as entitled to those benefits as anyone else.
Jennifer, Trumplandia cares nothing for people with disabilities or any other difference or pretty much anything else except accumulating money and power for themselves. We are all "hangers on" or refuse for them to toss out with their garbage. Trump himself tried to tell his voters that, but they let their racism, misogyny, homo/transphobia, classism, and whatever else lets people think people who are not them are not worth paying attention to, sway their vote, and now Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and anything else that won't bring Muskrat and Ramaswampy richer willbe on the chopping block. Those guys won't feel the pain at all because in addition to joyfully causing the pain, they have empathy for no one, just like their boss Toddler-Trump. Yep, our leaders are toddler-men whose emotional age is truly about 3-1/2 years.
Worse, thing is trump was allowed to breed. What did he teach his children.. to hate the poor and less fortunate? to despise older folks? Funny thing is trumps father and grand father came from Germany and somehow were allowed in, and they did NOT have the legal papers necessary. HIs NIECE wrote a book about the trump family IT was an EYE OPENER!
I suspect that most of those women did not open their legs willingly unless they believed whatever ridiculous lie, he told them about his feelings towards them or the rewards he was going to offer them for compliance.
The rich and members of the GOP have done a lot of broadcasting. The Trumpster and his kin will blame Democrats for the problems we'll confront. We'll learn!
Jennifer, just looked up on Google. 67.9 million Americans get SS under its various programs. This includes payments to our disabled community. Does donconvict REALLY wanna see a march of seniors with walkers, disabled folks in wheelchairs?? This is OUR
Sorry, Teri, but a march of seniors? Mango man would happily sic the Guard or his personal militia on such a march, and laugh all the way to his next cheeseburger. He couldn't care less about the optics. That much is quite obvious.
I know, they don’t care which says it all as money and power are more important than the people. If they try to steal Seniors like myself and many others that worked and paid into Medicare and Social Security, or are disabled
Apparently, they don't care who they anger. They are hell-bent on doing what they want to do and could care less about the people and the lives it will affect! Unless our elected representatives are willing to stand up for the people they are supposed to represent this could get shoved down our throats! What will they do with all the elderly and disabled people who currently exist because of Social Security? The name should tell them something...SOCIAL SECURITY! It doesn't affect them so they just don't care. This will be the administration of the rich! The average American means nothing to them (except when they steal their vote)!
Don’t forget the millennials hanging on by a thread pissing away half their wages hoping maybe that one day they might be able to collect some of that back when they can’t work anymore or become disabled. It’s like the one part of taxes I’m OKAY with giving away, and of course it’s the one they’re ready to do away with.
I’m ready with a pitchfork and a torch if they try to piss away all of Social Security. Why arent there people marching in protest already?
If we default, benefits will be reduced, but there still will be 83% funding.
Republicans are in denial that there are seperate trust funds, For our generation, benefits do not come from the general funds, are not really part of the budget.
At least we have been able to get something. Consider folks in their 50's who are fully insured. They will get no (zero) returns for their contributions.
Ha. These monsters don’t care about grandmothers or anyone else in the least. I’ll betthey would sooner sell her to their version of Soylent Green machine. to feed their insatiable greed.
People have to have money to buy what corp.s are selling. If they remove social security and medicare, millions of seniors will have to be supported by their adult children or other family members. That in turn means those people supporting the seniors in their family will have much less money to spend. Much less money to spend means the economy will take a
Wonderful people like our local barbers and hair stylists are terrified of being cut out of their social security. It’s just so immoral for everyone in the bottom up through the middle to pay more. Those at the top must step up and do their share. Especially when they have imbibed in our blessings of democracy such as unfettered capitalism.
Which is why everyone should demand they give us back that money in full. They are reneguing on their promise and should have to pay us back every cent we put in.
If any of them are cut, I think this country (on both sides of the isle) will go ballistic in a way never seen before. I’m 56 and I’ve paid into them from my very first job as a papergirl at 10 yrs old. They will literally be stealing MY MONEY, b/c they “borrowed” it in the early 2000’s. I think the cap is WAYYY too low. I currently benefit from the cap and would fall into the group that has to pay more if it’s moved to $250K. I’m ok with it, but why cap there? If they’re not going to remove the cap, then at least move it up to $5-10 million. It pains me to have more money taken, but the person making $5-10M isn’t even gonna feel it. Maybe they have to but a smaller mansion or yacht. Boo hoo. Lord help us.
In their blind sightedness, they foolishly believed that he would‘ fix’ everything and that they would be safe. Then again, "When you are dead, you do not know you are dead. It's only painful & difficult for others. The same applies when you are stupid." — Ricky Gervais
Those who bought that line needed to ask for his definition of "fix"! His followers have been, and continue to be, blind sided by his scamming "entertainment."
I am a senior, and I voted blue! People who have been paying attention are not surprised by this. No thanks to those of you who thought TFG was just talking. Yes, he was, and you should have believed our former -and future-orange Fuhrer.
Me too, I have had it with all of them I don’t want my Social Security and Medicare I paid into for many years taken away. The Republicans just fine with it, either way it, it’s called stealing from Seniors
You'd think it'd get through. I don't know how many "human interest" long-form news stories I've read about rural Trumpers who are on the phone all day, smoking cigarettes, to get themselves or their children or spouse paid for by SSDI, but there are a LOT.
You’ve got to stop blaming a particular age group. It’s offensive as well as not accurate. Statistically, people over 60 watch Fox News far less than people who are say, 45 and under. Stop blaming baby boomers. We do not appreciate it. 😈😡🤬
"seniors and people who voted for the Cheetoh Benito"
Those two groups are not equivalent. One does not automatically become a MAGAT upon reaching some advanced age.
I, age 71, regret that the Democratic Party is the only viable option to the left of the Republican Party. Both parties are beholden to Big Money, which keeps legislation tilted in favor of great wealth.
I'm just happy I paid off my mortgage when a Biden program reduced my student loan payment by 50%! (It was from what I managed to save for paying off my student loan!) I may freeze in the dark as I starve to death, but at least it won't be under the Broad St bridge or a freeway overpass! (My annuity will pay the taxes & insurance - barely! I'll not hold my breath on even having my federal pension anymore.)
Recalling what? The bank can't recall a paid off loan, while my student loan was automatically refinanced under a new servicer and the servicer can't do much if I continue making payments. What can they do? Add more charges to the loan? At that, I'd still be able to declare hardship not of my own doing.
If they pull something like that, I'll wager more than just insurance CEOs will be in a mad rush to delete their LinkedIn profiles! After all, what would execution be to the dispossessed. Y'd at least be indoors with 3 hots and a cot until the damn ceremony!
Rebecca, the utter insanity and brutal backstabbing imo will come first. Trying to get back forgiven money -- they will be fucking up so much other stuff I wouldn't think this will be on their radar. If by some miracle DZK got a letter in three years asking for money back, well, mail doesn't always reach its destination. If they cut the federal work force, who will look at forgiven loans, and mail a letter years later? Who will follow up? I'd 💤 sleep very soundly if I were DKZ. 🌞
Teresa, the plans are already in the works. Muskrat and Ramaswamy already think they are smarter than everyone else, even Trump who probably doesn't know they think that. How do we interfere with this hostile takeover of our government. I bet most of the people who voted for an ignorant white toddler-man didn't think about the extra prices they will pay, their loss of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Maybe they were just so wrapped up in their own racism, misogyny, fear of others not like them that they just couldn't see themselves voting for an intelligent, creative, caring, very competent woman who just happened to be non-white, so they whined about the economy, held their nose, and voted for this insanity. Thanks foolish white Republicans and others for putting in rich powermongers who absolutely hate you and everyone else who is not rich white, and male, and they don't like those guys much either. Good show America!!
I"m one 74 year old who is plenty mad! They are also hurting THEIR OWN base of people who were stupid enough to actually VOTE the idiots into office, and they voted them into office and NOW those idiots want to TAKE AWAY the ONLY MEDICAL INSURANCE RETIREES have!! (Both Dem and Rep!!!) WHAT kind of CRAZY IS THAT???
Isn't it interesting how much money today's American Oligarchs will pay in order to avoid paying ANY taxes? We need to brace ourselves - now that these "swamp creatures" are succeeding at "eliminating the swamp." Yikes!!!
Agree, Teresa! My Social Security, like many others, is the only income I have. If they succeed in cutting our SS, I guarantee, there will be Hell to pay‼️‼️ There’ll be rioting in the streets, protests, the likes of which Elmo, Vivek, and DonOld have never seen before in this country! Mad Seniors Indeed!😡
But....what will we angry seniors do? What CAN we do? I don’t think we scare mango man in the least. With control of Congress, SCOTUS, and of course, the DoJ, what recourse do we the people have? We don't even know if there will be elections in two years' time.
Denise, let's ALL google phone #s & email, snail mail for both Senators + our DC House Rep. Keep info handy. Contact WH too. Today we ALL contact to say SS is REPAYMENT, *NOT AN ENTITLEMENT*. Urge our DC folks to fight back hard on SS for OUR MONEY WE PAID IN for retirement, pmts to disabled folks, minor children whose wage earning parent died. "IF NOT US, WHO? IF NOT TODAY, WHEN?*
Most seniors have children and grandchildren. They will not tolerate seeing their parents and grandparents unable to pay for basics. And they will not want to assume financial responsibility either. It’s time to lean on other kinds of resources. View this as a whole family crisis. It is.
Give me a break. The GOP has been openly trying to dismantle these programs for decades, but seniors keep voting for them, anyway. Anyone with a basic literacy knew that Cheeto and his swamp rats were going to gut SS and Medicare immediately.
Remember former House Rep Paul Ryan from 10-15 yrs ago? It was widely reported, and he CONFIRMED, that his "dream" as far back as college, was to end SS "entitlements". Let's ALL use "Social Security REPAYMENTS" 100 PERCENT OF THE TIME GOING FORWARD.
Teresa, pls join SS recipients: Call your two Senators and HOUSE Rep. Call the WH. 67.9 million get SS & Medicare. Every day, phone a different local office of your DC people. Go to Google and use their "contact me" email. Fax, call WH to demand Biden trump proof SS + Medicare.
Typical, Democrats accuse others of what Democrats want and are planning to do. I’d rather support DOGE than the lying Democrats that helped bloat our government with unthinking sycophants. Where’s the BS button?
And this is just part of the plan that also includes removal of science-based health care policy, environmental protections, workplace safety standards, infrastructure, food safety regulations, ad nauseum
Why do we put up with this shit? There are way fucking more of US than there are of THEM. I’d be terrified if I were one of THEM right about now because it seems like Americans are FINALLY beginning to wake up to the indisputable fact that they are being fucked over by a very limited number of rich shitheads. If Orange Anus Mouth follows through with his plans, there will be an astonishing backlash against the rich. (I think…I hope…)
Carol, for some reason today my outlook is 🌞🌞. Am happily listening to the birds.
Today I am realizing feeling zen, writing, emailing, calling Senators + DC Rep over SOCIAL SECURITY REPAYMENTS is Job One. It's scary, but WE WILL GET THRU THIS!! We must DO SOMETHING every day.
Sounds like they want to inflict assisted suicide for all of us. Is that their plan? With mass deportations and killing us off, who will be left to wipe their asses?
we retirees paid in for Social Security, IMHO if Muskie and Vivak and Trump try to get rid of it, the whole country will be after them with pitchforks and loaded weapons of all kinds. The Supreme Court should knock those twits down to size; and kick Musk/Vivek off anything to do with our economy. Those billionaires don't give a rat's ... posterior... about us.
Instead of weapons, let's go after them with infectious mosquitos & drone drop into ____ (the obvious place). We can bet on whether rumpus, & his cronies will get Zika, malaria, dengue, encephalitis... We'll call it Operation muskito.
Jane - While I won’t hold my breath for the SC to do anything the people wanting to take away our rights ought to pay a little more attention to what just happened in Syria to the people in power.
Possibilities - I think that some/most will if their rights and freedoms are stripped away from them. But I hope that it doesn’t come to that. It might just start with figuring out how to fight their policies and if words don’t work…who knows.
@Jane Sibley, I agree these boys are stirring a hornets nest. They are new to politics. Desperate people will act desperately. Remember the Town Halls preceding the creation of Obama Care?
Unfortunately only the elite rich can afford the run for congress. I was shocked at this year's general election that there were only unchallenged republicans running for congress across nearly all districts! (Im in GA).
The Supreme Court is effectively corrupt. The immunity decision violated the foundations on which our Republic was based. They will continue to support Trump 100%, and do even further damage.
I agree. If they want civil unrest, that’ll do it. We need a total shut down of the country. No one work for a week. There are more of us than them and they’d never admit it but they depend on us “little people”. Musk said in an interview that he believes unions create a lord and peasant society. No…taking away every essential government program , shutting down the Department of Labor, stopping overtime pay and outlawing unions, Will in fact bring back 12 hour work days, force children to work, low wages, no healthcare, no workplace protections and safety measures. We will be back in the Gilded Age of Lords and Peasants. This is what the megalomaniac has in store for us peasants. They only want power and more and more money. Money is their God of choice.
Price of fuvking eggs and the flooded zone of disinformation is why people voted. But I also believe muskrat did something nefarious in swing states that shifted the “win”.
I’ve been told by Trump loyalists that under Dump our country was safer globally and the economy was stronger. I called it total BS! I showed them data that proved those claims wrong. They said that data isn’t factual. I sent them economic reports that proved he was the worst president. They don’t care that you’re shoving facts in their faces, they deny. I guess it’s only factual if it’s coming from Fox, X, or Joe Rogan. The lot I was having a conversation with truly believes that January 6 was a day of peaceful protest and the capital police allowed them in. I asked where they saw that and it was Fox. Drunk on disinformation.
As much as I hate the idea of losing SS, Medicare & Medicaid, it may be the one thing that shakes the MAGAs out of their trance. It would force them to face reality. Only then could we Americans fight unified against one common enemy. It might be the only thing that would work.
In the U.S., Social Security is treated as taxable income. The theory, I believe, is we have not previously paid income taxes on the Social Security we receive. The monies we pay into the Social Security Fund while working are pre-income tax monies. So, we pay the tax on those funds when they are received after retirement. The easy fix for Social Security is to greatly increase the cap on the amount of income taxed for the Social Security Fund. The result would be that wealthier people would pay a more proportionate share into the Fund which will support it at least until wages are brought up to earlier Fund expectations.
I’ve been asking why there is a cap on income for SS tax? If I make 50K a year, I pay SS tax on that amount. If I make $500,000 a year I only pay SS tax up to $168,000. WHY? Again the wealthy don’t pay their fair share. Additionally, all the folks making billions don’t pay their share of taxes and get government tax cuts. Seems fair?????
Yes the reform should take anyone making over $300k off of SS, (but the still must pay in). and while we are at it, take the cap off of it. SS stops deducting once you hit like $168,000. Why wasn't the cap removed 20 years ago when it was announced SS would go belly up? So all these years the billionaires didn't even pitch in to SS after the first $168k!
There are consequences to eliminating the middle class. They should pay in and not get to take benefits if they are a top tier earner.
No means testing. But if other income exceeds a certain amount, the SS $ received is taxable income. More a nuisance at lower income levels (safetynet level) than a fix for high level income (or billionaire level) receiving SS $
Yes, it is based on your prior year’s taxes. If income is above a set amount, some or all of your OAS(Old Age Security) is not paid out. In Canada OAS is paid to all over 65 that are within that income limit and has nothing to do with whether or not you worked or how much you made. So a person who never worked outside the home would still receive OAS. It’s about $700 a month. In addition we have the CPP(Canada Pension Plan) which is paid into by workers and their employers. Self-employed can choose to pay into it. There is a maximum payment per year and a maximum payout per year, according to the number of years worked.
Imagine that-- they thought to cover their elders --even if they didn't pay in! What a concept! They also don't have to pay thru the nose for healthcare. The US pays 6 times what people in other countries pay for healthcare.
They are committing crimes against humanity. They are planning mass murder. No lives matter to these cold blooded, money worshipping republican traitors: their motto is I’ve got mine, so FU. They all must be accountable. They all need to be in prison, penniless.
Cyrano, I donated to Jon Ossoff when he ran for office from CA. Good man! Two weeks ago, I began getting two emails per week asking for donations. He's been on at least two MSNBC shown (Lawrence and ?) as a guest, pretty much asking for money. Unsubscribed to him. This is crazy. We need govt funded campaigns, life in prison fuckery rules, and a two month campaign.
I’m 68. I retired at 62 because I was RIF’d from my job. Tried for months to get another job but no one hires someone who is 62. So forced to “retire”. Not exactly on my bingo card. I’m very fortunate as I was able to move in with my daughter and son-in-law otherwise I would have had no where to go. Even though I have been paying into social security since I was 15 the monthly amount I get just covers trying to pay off my debt. If I lose that I will have to declare bankruptcy. Just a boomer living the American Dream. Never owned a home and now I’m not sure how I’m going to continue.
A lot of businesses and even entire industries like travel could go under if millions of seniors become impoverished. They will become dependent on others, so it isn’t only seniors and the disabled who would be affected. In fact, it could tank the economy.
I don’t understand why that is not even thought about? If people have no money coming in, how do we spend any money or pay taxes? This is crazy and kind of an oxymoron? If we have no money coming in, we cannot buy. Doesn’t this kill the economy ?
I know, right? Yes, it WOULD kill the economy! It would impoverish millions of people and affect their families as well, as Amy noted above. It would also tank a lot of industries that depend on older people who have money to spend. I have read that, before Social Security, many seniors lived in poverty and most had to live with their children. This is not just an issue for seniors and there needs to be HUGE pushback on this! 'Social Security Works' is a good organization... I donate to them when I can.
Lori Mills, do what's called a "constructive bankruptcy" ....if you own nothing except a car for example, just stop paying for the credit card debt. The debt collectors can't touch your retirement benefits (if you have any), so that's protected in your bank account (times two, of your monthly allotment. Eg. You only get $1000.00/month, then $2000.00 is protected from garnishment).....Then, you save all that $$$ you were paying to the credit card debt. They can file small claims suits etc. but, you don't even have to show up because you're effectively "judgment proof"......Filing a bankruptcy is VERY expensive. If you're a senior citizen just getting by, this is something to consider when you don't own anything or don't have a huge stock portfolio etc. yes, your credit rating will tank, but who cares??? Better the credit rating tanking than your life.
This is NOT legal advice nor intended to be legal advice. (Just have to include this)
You can contact the local Bar Association and ask for pro bono legal advice regarding bankruptcy etc. etc.
Ooh Dianne, excellent point!! Double check, but imo Diane is right. Only the IRS can garnish SS money! Make sure not to add other sources of $ to your SS direct deposit ($ gifts, part time work). Keep that in cash, not in b
any bank acct. F your credit rating if you are fighting for your financial well being. 🏆
We need to spread the word that what we have now is not really capitalism, not as envisioned by Adam Smith. I have heard it called 'predatory capitalism' or 'disaster capitalism', or 'end-stage' capitalism.... but in any case, we need to do to 'capitalism' what the right has done to 'socialism'.
Sorry to hear that. You are not alone. Im 58, was laid off right before the 2008 crash. I applied for over 600 jobs. We went through my entire 401k. (While the thieving banks got bailed out)! I eventually had to start my own biz. I was hacked so badly by the Franchise i unfortunately signed with, that I had to close the doors (10 years in biz). They are still hacking me, the cyber protections from state or Fed are non-existent for citizens in the US. Meanwhile European citizens have great data protections! They are keeping me from working! Only to now find out they are only counting the most recent 20 quarters of income for the SS entitlement!
Lori, find out if you qualify for Medicaid. Different income qualifications by state. You could get the 20 percent not covered by Medicare if your red state Gov hasn't refused the funded program. If you don't qualify, ask for a review of special programs you might fit into. If you get a "no special programs", ASK FOR A SUPERVISOR. CA Medicaid has "hundreds of programs". Medicaid may offer food stamps, drug coverage for drugs Part D won't cover. It might pay your Medicare money monthly premium. Call asap. Hope those of us with benefits will be harder to disenroll.
It will be interesting to see Trump step on this third rail. So does “MAGA” equate to bringing back the pre New Deal economy of “Everyman for himself”? I don’t see Republicans holding power if that’s the direction they want to go. AARP members will be in the streets with pitchforks.
When they start complaining, I intend to listen and appear sympathetic; ask them what they intend to do; how they will survive. Then, go home and maybe at least feel some personal satisfaction.
A third of the total deficit of 240 years in just 4 all so that the richest could become even richer. Those mf’rs will learn the hard way that you can’t take it with you.
Unelected billionaire that weren’t even born in the US can’t change anything about Social Security or Medicare. They are not discretionary programs so they get paid no matter what. Congress has tried to mess with them numerous times in the past and have never had the votes to change anything and they won’t now either. All this is just BS talk for their MAGA base.
Start by canceling all of Musk’s government contracts. Billions saved there. Tax the wealthy their fair share. Take cap off social security. Congress needs to pay back the trillions that they stole.
You are forgetting that this is corruption and authoritarianism. “Having the votes” will means something entirely different soon. And the Orange One will use Executive Authority for everything and no one will stop him. All 3 branches will be corrupt. You can’t depend on checks & balances when they no longer exist. I hope they would not have the votes to ruin SS, but frankly, if Musk comes up with a written plan, Trump can just rubber stamp it and tell Congress to do the same. Dictators don’t even bother to pretend they need to do have a vote at all.
Do u realize right now they are only basing SS checks on last 20 quarters income and not your entire working life? That is a major cut for me, since i was laid off in the recession debacle. My best earnings were before the crash! Imagine how many seniors took a Walmart job for their last few years before retirement expecting that their highest earning years would ensure their retirement!!
Right but since the oligarchs are going to be in charge we will suffer since they have no idea what it is like to be “normal” as their normal is not ours!
I’m guessing that Daniel Solomon’s “Bond. George Bond” comment was several things: A touch of well-timed wit; lighthearted humor; respect& appreciation for the enviable attributes&reputation of the legendary fictional MI6 intelligence officer James Bond; an honorable tribute to the late great actor Sean Connery (who initially dropped the mic when he introduced himself as ‘Bond. James. Bond’ in “Dr. No”), and to the other Bond actors who did the line (and meta-message) justice.
If they want to cut Social Security and Medicare they should think about paying everyone back with interest for everything people have been paying in to social security and Medicare from their paychecks.
I am embarrassed to say I have a Tesla. My pet name for it has always been my MuskRat. To paraphrase Reagan, “I am a billionaire and I am here to help.” The 10 scariest words in the English language.
I bought it 2 years ago before Musk was as extreme as now. I don’t see I gain anything by selling. So then someone else is driving it…where is the net gain to society? Plus for me it’s a great car (Tesla 3).
When enough of them pile up with no buyers, that will be a message. I understand you love your car. As mentioned I've seen others go through this exact process. With all due respect there are other alternatives.
I cannot believe how naïve all the comments are. Don’t you get it? This is happening! They are the law now. Nothing is, nor will it ever be the same again. tRump and Musk can shit all over everything we hold dear and laugh all the way to their banks! They own the world because we gave them the keys to the kingdom!
CAS, no, "we" didn't give them the keys to the kingdom. They TOOK them via their bought and paid for legislators. They tricked the low information voters into voting for the duplicitous politicians who are solely backed by the uber wealthy in society. Some of us TRIED every single voting cycle to remedy the problem... but it's hard when you have a combination of extreme gerrymandering and voter stupidity in the mix. So kindly don't include all of us in a sweeping generality phrase like "we"..... I know you meant well here, I'm not reprimanding, I'm just stressing the importance of how words/phrases matter.
“We” in my comment referred to the election outcome. Whether or not the election was free and fair ( gerrymandering and mega millions, did make a difference, but all were allowed to happen right under our very noses while Democrats still held a majority in the House and we had a Democrat in the White House). Now, post election and pre-inauguration, we are already seeing the tippy-top of the extremely ludicrous fascist behavior we can expect from the next tRump administration. Whether or not ‘we’ are for or again’ the direction the direction our government is headed, the time to stay the course is past. ‘We’ lost. ‘They’ won.
Thank you Robert if they try to steal from Seniors like me they will have a lot of mad Seniors like myself
Add in the millions of disabled people like my husband and myself, and that's a LOT of very angry people.
Same! I was rendered disabled in my early 20s and I'll be DAMNED if two MENTALLY disabled man-children will kill me off!
I'm almost 82. My husband is 96, and can barely walk. Do these selfish A holes expect people like us to find a job if they take our Social Security?
To answer your question, yes,
in all fairness i dont think they care at all. just as happy 4 u 2 crawl into a hole and die. if they cant exploit u 4 cheap labor ur just an overhead 2 b cut
...indeed. They were the ones, who 16 years ago brought up the term "death panels" to scare people with, when the ACA was being discussed.
However this is proof that they will actually be the ones to implement them.
it seem every time they mistakenly point fingers at the "other party" doing something bad (like election rigging, or planing to indoctrinate our kids) they have absolutely no issue with doing it themselves.
They so basically telegraph their intents almost like a megalomaniac villain in a comic book, but so many people seem blissfully unaware of it.
Exactly
No they want you to hurry up and die. Sorry to be so blunt. They hate all of us. My expectation is Trumps admin will blow up in less than a year. A group of demons cannot work or rule together. They hate each other more than they hate us.
That's what I'm praying for and counting on!
If I was a praying person, I would pray this be true every night.
I am sorry Karen, but Americans (regardless of age or health) are dead last on their give-a-fvck list.
Your post is so right And, by the way, I like the way you put it into words. This takes us back centuries when the middle and bottom had no say in anything. They did what they were told or they were eliminated. Or completely cast aside and the compassion level with these extremely wealthy humans is below the below
This is why Peter Thiel and the other Accelerationists call it 'Neofeudalism' - only without Govts, as they are to be placed be replaced by billionaire CEOs
I wonder how these idiots plan on actually governing. Everything like court cases. Will there be judges? Police? Speed limits. Food Protection. Right down to local politics can a person park their car on the front yard, will we have to pick up dog crap cause we certainly caint pick up theirs.
Muskrat might have to cocoon himself with his children to shield himself better from all the angry seniors. Seniors don't have much to lose. One child on his shoulders probably won't be enough to keep him safe, the coward.
Wonder if our wealth community is feeling the uprising happening.
Musk, Thiel, Pete Peterson, Goldman Sachs et al, don't want to eliminate SS, they just want to get their grubby hands on the Trust Fund and FICA payments.that they can gin the stock market and rake in billions in commissions.
For many people, private insurance has been a rip off. Look at what is happening now with house insurance. People who have paid insurance for decades are having their policies cancelled.
Look at the "advantage" plans for Medicare. Last time I looked, the coverage was 98% identical fo what Medicare covers. All the advantage plans offer is increased cost, and someone to have to check that you are getting appropriate tests now and then. They cater to corporations with young healthy workers, not the old and retired. The retired are left to discover original Medicare, and find their own doctors, and pay more for what the advantage plans, and Medicare don't cover.
Don't even look at life insurance. A favorite tactic is to go into business. Start a lot of policies, then go out of business, after collecting for decades.
The billionairess want SS and Medicare gone so they can create more scamming insurance companies.
Republican politicians do not want people to collect on their Social Security. They'd rather people just work until they die
That first shot in the back of a CEO of the stingiest medical insurance Giant was horrible, but real, desperate and ugly, from a young man who. even though middle class and educated, had strong feelings about that CEO and company, and trying to get the attention of the entitled class, Yes , it's class warfare. No, Americans will not put up with tyranny for long.
You are so right, Laurie! Americans simply will not stand for anyone to try and control every aspect of their lives. We simply aren't gullible that way! I do believe the muskrat, orange man and his MAGA sycophants will soon discover that true patriotic Americans will not simply roll over and take it!
The shooter, Mangione, is the new Robin Hood!
He's seen as a hero by people from both left & right. Maybe the spell will be broken that billionaires have cast to divide us, cause us to attack each other & divert our attention from the real perpetrators of our misery, the greedy billionaires themselves.
as warren buffet said years ago - yes its class warfare and my class won
I don’t think it was horrible unless cleaning out a clogged sewer is horrible.
I hope not. 😉
Poor people own guns too.
NOW they will put a ban on guns after an aristocrat was shot. Mother than that, school kids don’t matter.
But if you have a 3D printer…
Paula, it would be just like him to hide behind his children when we go after him with pitchforks!
He'd have to hide behind his grandchildren. A shooter would probably take out his children too.
Daniel, I agree with you completely, only to add that it's an entire cabinet full of oligarchs' ass kissers looking to put us worn out working class into the ditch so they can replace us with the next generation of suckers. Nobody with a spine should take this bullshit lying down. The professor just clued us as regards the class confrontation which is looming between the haves and have nots, and the haves don't have a leg to stand on. Without actual producers in the economy, they are nothing. Their railroad job into high office will turn to their ultimate defeat. Useless fucking bastards! To muskrat - all the gold in the Chinese vaults can't buy you love, fucker!
I know, and do understand
And when the Magas find out they are going to be pissed as well, but we need them to win this fight if they wake up and realize how much they've been played by tRump.
They weirdly tend to think they mean everyone else and not them.
Been waiting for ten years for them to wake up. Doubt its going to happen.
Really, From what little I've seen, they seem stuck in their faith, and unwilling to ackowledge the obvious.
Dear Andy; There are lots of MAGAs who'll get the message ... after learning more. Try thinking with optimism ... involved with a fight.
I read that 30%-35% of the population are Evangelicals. Suppose half of them vote, and I read 80% of Evangelicals voted for Trump, based only on Abortion. I don't know, but maybe that means 12% of the voters voted for Trump based on abortion. They didn't care about any other issue enough to change their vote. Even a few percent of the voters would be enough to push Trump to win.
That is why the founders sought to separate church from state. But, unfortunately here in the good ol USA, we have a sizeable population that prefers the dark ages of theocracy.
I've read the bible critically, Jesus never said dick about abortion.
Hopefully, a lot of the evangelical people are on SS n Medicare. If they are n voted for Trump. I hope they go hungry!
They should have used their brains and learned before they created this monster and his government of rich sex predators. Now they have made sure that they entire world suffers Trump because if their uneducated unkind hateful choices. Maga and everyone involved will go down in history as vilified as slave traders and owners have. Shame on them! Being stupid can’t be an excuse when you are offered so much information in so many platforms and you choose to vote in pathetic selfish ways.
I've been waiting for 50.
Tell it.
You poor baby. Everything that’s gone wrong in your life is someone else’s fault. It’s not in anyway because you went through your life, entitled and made poor choices, now is it?
Wtf? This is an educated discussion and your ignorant childish taunting shows us all who you are and you are exactly what’s wrong with America. Enjoy the pain that Trumps going to force upon you!
That's a big "if," David. More than likely, drumpf will tell the MAGAs that it's all the Dems' fault, and they'll believe him 100%.
Yep. Best response to David's post. Trvmp loves the poorly educated, which is about to be ANYONE depending on public education.
MAGA will react with fury if Social Security & Medicare are cut or eliminated. Lots of disabled veterans, disabled seniors & poor depend on this $ as their only income.
It's hard for the poor to react with fury. If most don't have $400 saved for a family emergency, how can they bring pressure on the elite? The only way I can see them doing it is stop buying stuff. Of course since they are probably buying only necessities, what are the poor supposed to cut out? I'm perplexed. How did the serfs and the slaves ever get any kind of standing in society?
How do we teach the MAGAs? They seem impervious to any kind of reliable news.
They are unteachable. US should either give them their own territory or sterilize them. Or to be kinder make passing a test of intelligence and awareness a requirement to vote. They would fail en masse
Firebomb Fox news headquarters?
Exactly! Trump is about to screw his voters over in every aspect of their life and when they realize it they should turn. They were not bright enough to see through his campaign of hate and division and clearly didn’t do one iota of research but when Trump takes their money and coverage away they might wake up and stand up. At this point he should be afraid of them because he created them and spent the last three years with them so he should know how volatile they are. And armed. He thinks he can just run amuck with power and now spends all of his time with his male billionaire cronies. Insulated from reality. If anyone read history they’d know from all revolutions including French and Russian that the wealthy cannot beat the angry populace. The mobs will kill you no matter how much money you have so all the greed will not be for nothing, it will be their undoing . America will return to the good path but Maga made certain it will be the painful difficult way not the kind smooth one that Democrats offered.
Robert would you attempt to clarify something for us please.
I recently passed the insurance license exam. A few of the questions on the exam were on social security. This is where I learned that it seems there has already been a cut or change to the income calculation for SS entitlement monthly. Instead of counting all of one's income over the course of one's working history, SS now only counts the most recent 20 quarters of income (5 years). I was shocked and know I didn't hear anything in the press about this horrific change. Imagine how many seniors don't know about it and have spent the last 5 working at Walmart part time until they hit 65 and expect to collect from the program they think takes into account their highest earning years and what they paid into it.
When was this change made? Many people, like myself, went thru the great recession having been laid off, bringing earnings down significantly, (many never fully recovered) but this feels like what we paid in just was just stolen by the SSA! I would appreciate your comments on this matter. Many thanks!
If you are in pay status, I don't think they can cut you off completely.
But they've tried many times to cut the amout. Tried to induce default of the disability trust fund. Here's a paper I published. https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/naalj/vol36/iss1/4/
The amount I get wouldn't even pay the rent if I lived by myself. I have to have roommates.
Absolutely! If Trump is president, he will certainly use the new immunity clause to make himself dictator for life. Why doesn't Biden at least use it to lock up Trump and his cronies? What are we missing?
Biden cannot legally do that. His Justice Dept did not act early enough to indict Trump and put him on trial. Trump effectively ran out the clock.
I completely agree.
paulahik: You and people who argue similarly have to stop expecting a pig to grow wings and fly away. Biden and the democrats DON'T WANT TO HELP YOU! They are content with the Elon and the rest of the incoming Republicans. They will just wait quietly for you to hand them power and money again and then it will be their turn again. When people screw you over and over and over and refuse to help, STOP PLEADING WITH THEM! Biden will not save you nor will his Democrat pals. Get rid of them and replace them with people who are motivated to help the working class or else just give up and prepare to die. There are good people who do not respond to wealth and power - plenty of them. Ralph Nader, Amy Goodman, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and a long list after them. Why do you keep voting for Dems and Repubs and hoping for a change? You are the problem! If seventy million people had voted for Jill Stein instead of Kamala Harris, this would be a different country right now. But you are enthusiastically brainwashed into the two-party system and you wonder why nothing ever changes.
Your condemnation of Democrats is wrong. Virtually all of the laws passed that make life better for most Americans were passed, or at least supported, by Democrats.
Jill Stein is a Russian asset and the reason Trump won in 2016. Stein has nothing to offer.
The Green Party is for me. I'm sick to think 44k+ people died in Palestine while American corporations making machinery for that war have lined the pockets of these billionaires. 44,000+ dead people because we sent the weapons for Netanyahu to kill them.
Trump is constitutionally ineligible for office as are his accomplices still in Congress. Enforce the Constitution!
The 2024 election was almost surely rigged for Trump by Putin, Musk, Thiel, etc. Investigate it & require recounts or audits!
Show me what in the Constitution makes Trump ineligible.
As always, it will be the millennials who get fucked the hardest by the greedy boomers.
Greedy boomers? My income is about 35,000/year. I can just get by. I'm 77 years old, and paid into SS all my working life.
I'm 68, worked for 35 years, paid into SS for retirement.
SOCIAL SECURITY IS REPAYMENT, NOT AN ENTITLEMENT. Pass it on.
BRAVO, Teri!
The statements by the overwhelming majority of commenters here (and apparently Dr. Reich) demonstrate that most do not understand what Social Security is or how it’s funded or its purpose. As you emphasize, it is not an entitlement.
Pretty astonishing since most people who read and comment this Substack are more politically interested than the general public is at large.
Well, not quite. Most lower income people will take more out of SS than they paid in, even accounting for accrued interest and prematurely deceased people forfeiting what they paid in. So there is a welfare aspect to SS.
What you get out of social security depends on how long you worked and what you put into it. The formula is too complicated to explain here.
However, I found this:
"The pattern of redistribution that occurs through Social Security is complicated because lifetime taxes and benefits are influenced by the different mortality rates of people in different demographic groups, by differences in marital status, and by variations in the earnings levels of secondary earners in married couples, among other factors. Thus the income-related redistribution that occurs because of the progressive benefit formula is partially offset by the longer life expectancies of higher income individuals and by the larger spouse-and-survivor benefits received by the spouses of higher earners."
https://www.nber.org/digest/mar02/does-social-security-redistribute-low-income-groups
Robert, your respected sources please? I've never heard that kind of stmt before.
Please describe the authority that Biden has to stop Drumpf, dale, and explain from where this authority derives.
Dale, good post. Have you called the WH (see Google) to relay your msg? We all need to be speaking out, at the very least. I think there's an email WH link.
Andy, please get your facts straight, Checkout how many older women live in poverty? Many were not allowed to work when younger, Division and blaming only make the problem worse, This is about a few rich Robber Barren types against all the rest of us, no matter our age. You may enjoy reading Letters from an American
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/december-4-2024?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=20533&post_id=152604206&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=f14pb&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
As Dr king reminded us, democracy thrives through addition, not subtraction, Finding what we have in common is a better way to build a future,
You are right, Linda. If and when Trump‘s putrid gang begin messing with our Social Security, Medicare, etc.these entitlements will become our commonality.We will fight tooth and nail to defend and retain them. Trump and his would be authoritarian minions Easily forget that they work for us, not the other way around.
Really Ilene? What weapons are you going to use for that fighting. When the National Guard starts firing real bullets into your protesting crowd are you going to clog up their guns with flowers? The soldiers and the police are their main weapons, and they will unquestioningly (even if reluctantly) take their orders from upstairs and crack heads. We have plenty of prisons and detention centers in this country - we've made sure of that. The racism that permeates this country can easily be transmuted into hatred for "lazy folks who think they are entitled". They prepared the way by using that word entitlements. And "welfare queens". Of course it never bothered anyone that the rich never do any real, productive work but collect plenty of cash. The road has been paved and lined with barbed wire. Fight back indeed!!!
The boomers are the reason these people have power and wealth inequality is so bad in the first place. If they didn't sell out to the rich in the 80s and destroy all the unions America would be a much better place today. As far as I am concerned the entire generation is uniquely selfish and fucked over their kids and grandkids by pulling up the ladder of workers rights and a fair economy behind them. Credit scores didn't even exist until the 80s. Whether you personally got rich fucking over your kids is irrelevent, the reality is most boomers did and we are all living the consequences of their selfish choices.
I'm flabbergasted by your comment! You obviously need educating. Zuckerberg, Gates, Bezos, Musk, Ramaswamy, Vance are not boomers but they claim only they have the answers because they have the money. Wish all their money was taken away from them so they could experience living in the real world so they would know what it's like to live on a fixed income, decide which meds they can or cannot afford or how they are going to eat the rest of the month on the $25 in their account. I don't call it selfish choices on boomers parts, I call it selfish choices on the part of the entitled that have far more than they need to live a comfortable life.
Anytime we blame other groups like boomers or immigrants for our financial woes we’ve fallen into their trap. They win by dividing and conquering. Management owns the system, and even they are motivated by incentives like wealth maximization and shareholder value that don’t serve us. Separate the people from the problem. Stop the blame. Social Security need not be hard to fix if we focus on the problem and what we want instead of our image of the enemy.
That's unfair. The gradual increase in economic inequality started when Reagan was elected and has systematically progressed ever since. But most people were not paying attention until the situation got really bad. Sort of like putting a frog in cold water and gradually warming it up until the frog is cooked.
What assign comments.
How old are u Andy, 5?
Little fella, greed has a biochemistry that not even you “kids” can control. But I digress…
The assign part is: Ronald Reagan wasn’t a boomer, and
Conservatives come in all age groups, they have larger fear centers (amygdala).
Eat your own? LOL!
you a clown?
Signed, Boomer Jim
Andy, the Congress sets the rules for the tax rates. THEY, and whichever POTUS signed the bill slashing tax rates on billionaires & wealthy are to blame. WE boomers were working our asses off to pay the rent, buy food, make car pmts -- not on $100,000 cars. A five year old Toyota.
Andy, not piling on, but I am a Boomer who worked all my life, paid into SS like most. I can't make blanket stmts "boomers sold us out to the rich" -- what exactly do you mean? Boomers I know also worked their tails off, mortgage, had kids ($125k per kid from birth to age 18). Tried to pay for kids & college. Some worked two jobs.
WTH? Sold out to the rich? I'm a boomer who worked for a livng and was always pro-union, not anti. Quit generalising. I'm tired of being blamed for stuff I didn't do and had no control over. And the Boomers I knew and worked with worked damn hard--we were nurse's aides and worked damn hard for what we were paid. So go find someone else to blame.
Not boomers, just rich, entitled old men!
Diana, I am not sure Muskrat and Ramaswampy are Boomers. Trump surely is, but, Boomers have a lot at stake in Social Security because most Boomers are now eligible for at least first level Social Security. Trump knows he will be taken care of by someone even if he loses his money or ends up sentenced some day (as he should have been 3 years ago). Muskrat and Ramaswampy just don't care because they can fleece more corporations out of their money as he tried to do Tesla and others of his owned companies. I can't see either of them caring a bit about anything related to money or the suffering ditching Social Security and Medicare would be. That trio were all raised to care about no one but themselves and they learned the lessons well. Hate and indifference are powerful and can drive some real damage and pain, and that is what they have in mind for this nation. It is unfortunate that we will have to depend mostly on Republicans if they are to be stopped. We know, in general, Republicans care nothing for people who are not just like themselves, or perhaps themselves. That is truly unfortunate!
Should be obvious I am referring to the rich. The working poor arent hurting anyone for profit.
Oops, Andy, posted before reading thread. I agree, the working poor need attention and better paying jobs.
Ok. Then I apologise for coming down on you as hard as I did. I'm a Boomer who worked as a CNA,cashier, and housecleaner and I'm tired of people blaming all of us. Just know, please. that a lot of us were not wealthy. Again, I apologise.
Andy, it was not just Boomers who voted for Trumplandia. Racism, misogyny, classism, fear of everyone not themselves, homo/transphobia are not exclusive to Boomers or any other group; they are present everywhere in this country because we never directly address them and tell people that what they are doing and saying is wrong, and mean it. So, fools like Ron DeSantis want to be sure little white kiddies don't feel uncomfortable learning that their ancestors were hateful sometimes even killers, often slave owners, destroyers of Native culture, abusers of women, rapers of enslaved women, traffickers in children and others. I have no clue what DeSantis's ancestors' life was like in Italy nor if they came to this country "the right way," but he joined the racists, misogynists, and the rest as he grew and certainly as he entered politics. Was he all of those things while training in the Ivy League? (I suspect yes.) So, now, he is being considered for Sec. of Defense when Hegseth is knocked off the podium. I am pretty sure he is just as anti everyone who is not rich, white, and male as Hegseth but just doesn't spew it as often. He did manipulate FL legislators to pass all kinds of appalling bills which of course, he had to sign into law. He changed the percent of the vote that was needed to ditch the appalling FL abortion ban to 60% and would have worked out something to keep it from being dropped even if 60% had voted for it. I do wonder if the creeps in Trump's entourage who attended Ivy League schools learned and developed their current disgusting hateful positions at those schools or just learned how to manipulate people for the ssake of power they can take, I mean steal through lies, cheating, and other techniques. I am hoping those schools will more carefully consider those they let in, no matter how rich their families are.
Actually, as I understand it, it was senior citizens who cast the most votes for Kamala. They wised up to Trump unlike the younger generations.
Jaime, I understand it was a lot of young men who went for Trump and Kump. I don't know what they thought they were going to get from him, but they went against their own interests, just like so many whiny men. They don't realize or maybe they do and don't care, but Trump and his servants care nothing for those young men unless they can use them to do harm to others, which is a possibility. I don't get it.
I worked very hard all my life and paid into Social Security! It is not an entitlement! It is my damn money!
Amen to that! Because I didn't know I could get medicare (long story), I applied and found I was eligible for Social secuity and Medicare. But I'm saddled with a penalty I will have to pay til the end. I could see a few years, but a lifetime? Between those two, my Soc. security isn't much but I'm glad to have it.
p.s. My Social Security repayment of money I paid in leaves me in the "Poverty" income-wise. Sincerely, why do you think boomers are greedy,? I thinks it's important to have civil conversations to better understand each other.
Save you grievance for the people who deserve it … those that want to tear down our society and install a dictatorship i.e. Trump and company.
Being old(er) and living in poverty is no one's definition of "greedy". Well, except you. So says this aging boomer.
You got that right.
Now quite. GenZ will be more fucked! Why is that? Because the billionaires, who usually get that way over time and age, don't have enough money or power. So the younger generations suffer more and more, with every passing year.
If you want justice, you must work to end wealth inequality. Can anyone say the the $300 Billion that Musk owns is his due to his exceptional good work? Or is it due to his ability to pull off one con after another? I read that not only did Tesla benefit from the tax rebates for EV's, but also for gettin money from the other non EV car companies for carbon credits. Tesla made billions from these government programs paid for by the citizens.
And what does he do now? Dance like a retard at Trump rallies, and seek to gut Medicare and Social Security, for the benefit of multi-billionaires.
Not sure how boomers are complicit in this. We were born at a time that places us within a time to collect Social Security. No one of any age should have to forfeit Social Security! It's a separate tax for a specific purpose! Bailing out billionaires is not one of them, and Andy, you are just as entitled to those benefits as anyone else.
SOME greedy boomers. A VERY FEW greedy boomers. So why did Gen Z vote for Mango Mussolini, who is only interested in himself?
Or at all.
"Musk & Vivek were not voted for in this country , the is the Narrative that needs to be shouted everyday"
Musk & Vivek were not voted for in this country , the is the Narrative that needs to be shouted everyday
Jennifer, Trumplandia cares nothing for people with disabilities or any other difference or pretty much anything else except accumulating money and power for themselves. We are all "hangers on" or refuse for them to toss out with their garbage. Trump himself tried to tell his voters that, but they let their racism, misogyny, homo/transphobia, classism, and whatever else lets people think people who are not them are not worth paying attention to, sway their vote, and now Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and anything else that won't bring Muskrat and Ramaswampy richer willbe on the chopping block. Those guys won't feel the pain at all because in addition to joyfully causing the pain, they have empathy for no one, just like their boss Toddler-Trump. Yep, our leaders are toddler-men whose emotional age is truly about 3-1/2 years.
Worse, thing is trump was allowed to breed. What did he teach his children.. to hate the poor and less fortunate? to despise older folks? Funny thing is trumps father and grand father came from Germany and somehow were allowed in, and they did NOT have the legal papers necessary. HIs NIECE wrote a book about the trump family IT was an EYE OPENER!
It baffles me to this day that any woman would open her legs to that disgusting slug. 🤮🤮🤮
I suspect that most of those women did not open their legs willingly unless they believed whatever ridiculous lie, he told them about his feelings towards them or the rewards he was going to offer them for compliance.
Sorry! Can't hear you over all the barfing!
Just kidding! You're right. A lot of those women who did do it willingly have low self-esteem. It's really sad.
Ugh, ugh, ugh,ugh, ugh, ugghhhhh! Trump is DISGUSTING AS ALL GET OUT, childish, hideously unattractive voice and manner of speaking and all!!!
What makes me even sadder is not knowing how many of those women ended up with UTI’s or VD from that piece of filth.
Problem is, many, if not most, of those angry people VOTED FOR TRUMP. They voted against their own best interests. Perplexing, ain't it?
The rich and members of the GOP have done a lot of broadcasting. The Trumpster and his kin will blame Democrats for the problems we'll confront. We'll learn!
Jennifer, just looked up on Google. 67.9 million Americans get SS under its various programs. This includes payments to our disabled community. Does donconvict REALLY wanna see a march of seniors with walkers, disabled folks in wheelchairs?? This is OUR
money WE PAID IN VIA DEDUCTIONS in paychecks.
Sorry, Teri, but a march of seniors? Mango man would happily sic the Guard or his personal militia on such a march, and laugh all the way to his next cheeseburger. He couldn't care less about the optics. That much is quite obvious.
I know, they don’t care which says it all as money and power are more important than the people. If they try to steal Seniors like myself and many others that worked and paid into Medicare and Social Security, or are disabled
Apparently, they don't care who they anger. They are hell-bent on doing what they want to do and could care less about the people and the lives it will affect! Unless our elected representatives are willing to stand up for the people they are supposed to represent this could get shoved down our throats! What will they do with all the elderly and disabled people who currently exist because of Social Security? The name should tell them something...SOCIAL SECURITY! It doesn't affect them so they just don't care. This will be the administration of the rich! The average American means nothing to them (except when they steal their vote)!
Angry? OK, but to what end? Unless it manifests in a way that threatens them, they don't care. Unfortunately, they are well insulated against our ire.
Angel is an emotion that people will feel if their only income and healthcare are taken away. Some will act on it, and some won't. 🤷
*anger is
Don’t forget the millennials hanging on by a thread pissing away half their wages hoping maybe that one day they might be able to collect some of that back when they can’t work anymore or become disabled. It’s like the one part of taxes I’m OKAY with giving away, and of course it’s the one they’re ready to do away with.
I’m ready with a pitchfork and a torch if they try to piss away all of Social Security. Why arent there people marching in protest already?
And?
If we default, benefits will be reduced, but there still will be 83% funding.
Republicans are in denial that there are seperate trust funds, For our generation, benefits do not come from the general funds, are not really part of the budget.
At least we have been able to get something. Consider folks in their 50's who are fully insured. They will get no (zero) returns for their contributions.
Yup! That’s me! Also now I’m worried about supporting my parents if they lose their SS and Medicare! Like seriously!!!!!!!
And Trumpists will have this problem too. Just wait until they find out they're going to have to support Grandma.
A lot of trump supporters are grandma and grandpa. I don't see how they still follow him after he worked so hard to unalive them with Covid.
Right, this will affect everyone!
I keep remindin' you. It's the culture. Hate Trumps logic.
We lost becaue of Russian psyops. Attacks the amygdala. 99% voted against their own economic and physical health.
👆👆🎯
Ha. These monsters don’t care about grandmothers or anyone else in the least. I’ll betthey would sooner sell her to their version of Soylent Green machine. to feed their insatiable greed.
🥲
Better start turnin' out that cornpone in the General Mills bakery at $10/hr, Meemaw, or we're cuttin you loose on an icefloe.
So the billionaires are coming to take our social security? Pitchfork time I think.
Maybe this will finally wake-up the MAGA supporter’s! You think 🤔
That's us, too. I'm 54, he's 51.
They won't
I bet some of them will wake up ... even if through their children.
People have to have money to buy what corp.s are selling. If they remove social security and medicare, millions of seniors will have to be supported by their adult children or other family members. That in turn means those people supporting the seniors in their family will have much less money to spend. Much less money to spend means the economy will take a
hit.
Wonderful people like our local barbers and hair stylists are terrified of being cut out of their social security. It’s just so immoral for everyone in the bottom up through the middle to pay more. Those at the top must step up and do their share. Especially when they have imbibed in our blessings of democracy such as unfettered capitalism.
Which is why everyone should demand they give us back that money in full. They are reneguing on their promise and should have to pay us back every cent we put in.
Yes!!!!!
😢😭😭😢🤬
If any of them are cut, I think this country (on both sides of the isle) will go ballistic in a way never seen before. I’m 56 and I’ve paid into them from my very first job as a papergirl at 10 yrs old. They will literally be stealing MY MONEY, b/c they “borrowed” it in the early 2000’s. I think the cap is WAYYY too low. I currently benefit from the cap and would fall into the group that has to pay more if it’s moved to $250K. I’m ok with it, but why cap there? If they’re not going to remove the cap, then at least move it up to $5-10 million. It pains me to have more money taken, but the person making $5-10M isn’t even gonna feel it. Maybe they have to but a smaller mansion or yacht. Boo hoo. Lord help us.
If only seniors and people who voted for the Cheetoh Benito had considered things like this.
In their blind sightedness, they foolishly believed that he would‘ fix’ everything and that they would be safe. Then again, "When you are dead, you do not know you are dead. It's only painful & difficult for others. The same applies when you are stupid." — Ricky Gervais
Those who bought that line needed to ask for his definition of "fix"! His followers have been, and continue to be, blind sided by his scamming "entertainment."
I am a senior, and I voted blue! People who have been paying attention are not surprised by this. No thanks to those of you who thought TFG was just talking. Yes, he was, and you should have believed our former -and future-orange Fuhrer.
Me too!!
Me too, I have had it with all of them I don’t want my Social Security and Medicare I paid into for many years taken away. The Republicans just fine with it, either way it, it’s called stealing from Seniors
I meant to say they are just fine with this
Thank you Susan
Can’t wait until MAGA starts complaining. I knew this was on the table a long time ago!
Trump voters don't believe it will happen to them. It's very weird.
You'd think it'd get through. I don't know how many "human interest" long-form news stories I've read about rural Trumpers who are on the phone all day, smoking cigarettes, to get themselves or their children or spouse paid for by SSDI, but there are a LOT.
Wayne, I did consider this which is why I voted Blue!
You’ve got to stop blaming a particular age group. It’s offensive as well as not accurate. Statistically, people over 60 watch Fox News far less than people who are say, 45 and under. Stop blaming baby boomers. We do not appreciate it. 😈😡🤬
"seniors and people who voted for the Cheetoh Benito"
Those two groups are not equivalent. One does not automatically become a MAGAT upon reaching some advanced age.
I, age 71, regret that the Democratic Party is the only viable option to the left of the Republican Party. Both parties are beholden to Big Money, which keeps legislation tilted in favor of great wealth.
I'm just happy I paid off my mortgage when a Biden program reduced my student loan payment by 50%! (It was from what I managed to save for paying off my student loan!) I may freeze in the dark as I starve to death, but at least it won't be under the Broad St bridge or a freeway overpass! (My annuity will pay the taxes & insurance - barely! I'll not hold my breath on even having my federal pension anymore.)
You know there is talk of recalling that and making you pay it still.
Recalling what? The bank can't recall a paid off loan, while my student loan was automatically refinanced under a new servicer and the servicer can't do much if I continue making payments. What can they do? Add more charges to the loan? At that, I'd still be able to declare hardship not of my own doing.
Well like many things the new administration is proposing it may just not be logistically possible.
If they pull something like that, I'll wager more than just insurance CEOs will be in a mad rush to delete their LinkedIn profiles! After all, what would execution be to the dispossessed. Y'd at least be indoors with 3 hots and a cot until the damn ceremony!
They couldn't fight their way out of a wet paper bag.
Rebecca, the utter insanity and brutal backstabbing imo will come first. Trying to get back forgiven money -- they will be fucking up so much other stuff I wouldn't think this will be on their radar. If by some miracle DZK got a letter in three years asking for money back, well, mail doesn't always reach its destination. If they cut the federal work force, who will look at forgiven loans, and mail a letter years later? Who will follow up? I'd 💤 sleep very soundly if I were DKZ. 🌞
I agree with you.
Teresa, the plans are already in the works. Muskrat and Ramaswamy already think they are smarter than everyone else, even Trump who probably doesn't know they think that. How do we interfere with this hostile takeover of our government. I bet most of the people who voted for an ignorant white toddler-man didn't think about the extra prices they will pay, their loss of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Maybe they were just so wrapped up in their own racism, misogyny, fear of others not like them that they just couldn't see themselves voting for an intelligent, creative, caring, very competent woman who just happened to be non-white, so they whined about the economy, held their nose, and voted for this insanity. Thanks foolish white Republicans and others for putting in rich powermongers who absolutely hate you and everyone else who is not rich white, and male, and they don't like those guys much either. Good show America!!
I"m one 74 year old who is plenty mad! They are also hurting THEIR OWN base of people who were stupid enough to actually VOTE the idiots into office, and they voted them into office and NOW those idiots want to TAKE AWAY the ONLY MEDICAL INSURANCE RETIREES have!! (Both Dem and Rep!!!) WHAT kind of CRAZY IS THAT???
Isn't it interesting how much money today's American Oligarchs will pay in order to avoid paying ANY taxes? We need to brace ourselves - now that these "swamp creatures" are succeeding at "eliminating the swamp." Yikes!!!
Not just mad, FIGHTING mad!
Agree, Teresa! My Social Security, like many others, is the only income I have. If they succeed in cutting our SS, I guarantee, there will be Hell to pay‼️‼️ There’ll be rioting in the streets, protests, the likes of which Elmo, Vivek, and DonOld have never seen before in this country! Mad Seniors Indeed!😡
But....what will we angry seniors do? What CAN we do? I don’t think we scare mango man in the least. With control of Congress, SCOTUS, and of course, the DoJ, what recourse do we the people have? We don't even know if there will be elections in two years' time.
Denise, let's ALL google phone #s & email, snail mail for both Senators + our DC House Rep. Keep info handy. Contact WH too. Today we ALL contact to say SS is REPAYMENT, *NOT AN ENTITLEMENT*. Urge our DC folks to fight back hard on SS for OUR MONEY WE PAID IN for retirement, pmts to disabled folks, minor children whose wage earning parent died. "IF NOT US, WHO? IF NOT TODAY, WHEN?*
Most seniors have children and grandchildren. They will not tolerate seeing their parents and grandparents unable to pay for basics. And they will not want to assume financial responsibility either. It’s time to lean on other kinds of resources. View this as a whole family crisis. It is.
WE can kill him, simple as that!
But does it matter to those who have no heart?
Give me a break. The GOP has been openly trying to dismantle these programs for decades, but seniors keep voting for them, anyway. Anyone with a basic literacy knew that Cheeto and his swamp rats were going to gut SS and Medicare immediately.
Remember former House Rep Paul Ryan from 10-15 yrs ago? It was widely reported, and he CONFIRMED, that his "dream" as far back as college, was to end SS "entitlements". Let's ALL use "Social Security REPAYMENTS" 100 PERCENT OF THE TIME GOING FORWARD.
And (P)Rick Scott announced they wanted to end it, and renew every five years when it expired.
They won’t give a sh * t
Teresa, pls join SS recipients: Call your two Senators and HOUSE Rep. Call the WH. 67.9 million get SS & Medicare. Every day, phone a different local office of your DC people. Go to Google and use their "contact me" email. Fax, call WH to demand Biden trump proof SS + Medicare.
WH Comment Line: 202-456-1111
WH Email: President@WhiteHouse.Gov
WH FAX: 202-456-2461
Snail mail is very delayed due to off-site mail security
Pls repost! 🛑 No one Is Coming To Save Us 🛑. We MUST ACT TOGETHER DAILY!
Typical, Democrats accuse others of what Democrats want and are planning to do. I’d rather support DOGE than the lying Democrats that helped bloat our government with unthinking sycophants. Where’s the BS button?
Your wrong no thank you to your comment, I have had it with their plan
It's a typical, votes against their own self-interest type.
Sadly, being mad will not help us. We need to act , 2026 elections are our chance. Do not give up,resist!!
And this is just part of the plan that also includes removal of science-based health care policy, environmental protections, workplace safety standards, infrastructure, food safety regulations, ad nauseum
Terrifying.
Taxes are for the little people “ - Hemsley
Persons with money don’t Go into the military ; don’t go to Jail, and guess what don’t pay very much in taxes…
Workers pay 40% Warren Buffet pays 17 % in total taxes - Warren Buffet
Why do we put up with this shit? There are way fucking more of US than there are of THEM. I’d be terrified if I were one of THEM right about now because it seems like Americans are FINALLY beginning to wake up to the indisputable fact that they are being fucked over by a very limited number of rich shitheads. If Orange Anus Mouth follows through with his plans, there will be an astonishing backlash against the rich. (I think…I hope…)
Needs to be changed!
Looks remarkably like a plan to drastically reduce the U.S. population by slow & indirect means, doesn't it?
It really does look that way but doesn’t jibe with the fervor to force women to give birth all costs. What are they thinking!?
That’s all horseshit to get votes from the performative “Christians.”
Slavery needs more slaves
Carol, for some reason today my outlook is 🌞🌞. Am happily listening to the birds.
Today I am realizing feeling zen, writing, emailing, calling Senators + DC Rep over SOCIAL SECURITY REPAYMENTS is Job One. It's scary, but WE WILL GET THRU THIS!! We must DO SOMETHING every day.
Just the hard working poor
You mean, like..."death panels"?????
Sounds like they want to inflict assisted suicide for all of us. Is that their plan? With mass deportations and killing us off, who will be left to wipe their asses?
Assets
we retirees paid in for Social Security, IMHO if Muskie and Vivak and Trump try to get rid of it, the whole country will be after them with pitchforks and loaded weapons of all kinds. The Supreme Court should knock those twits down to size; and kick Musk/Vivek off anything to do with our economy. Those billionaires don't give a rat's ... posterior... about us.
You'd better include SCOTUS in the group you are going after. They don't want to help anyone but themselves like the rest of the incoming thugs.
Do not expect any Justice from this gang in black robes.
Instead of weapons, let's go after them with infectious mosquitos & drone drop into ____ (the obvious place). We can bet on whether rumpus, & his cronies will get Zika, malaria, dengue, encephalitis... We'll call it Operation muskito.
Jane - While I won’t hold my breath for the SC to do anything the people wanting to take away our rights ought to pay a little more attention to what just happened in Syria to the people in power.
Do you really think Americans will fight back like that? The maga run billionaires corruption runs deep in the core
Elections for Congress etc in two years. Start planning now!
We don't need maga to fight back! WE fight back.
Sorry my comment was not clear. WE have to fight the maga billionaire agenda.
Possibilities - I think that some/most will if their rights and freedoms are stripped away from them. But I hope that it doesn’t come to that. It might just start with figuring out how to fight their policies and if words don’t work…who knows.
@Jane Sibley, I agree these boys are stirring a hornets nest. They are new to politics. Desperate people will act desperately. Remember the Town Halls preceding the creation of Obama Care?
Plan now to work hard to elect good people to Congress and state leaders in 2026! We have two years!!!
Unfortunately only the elite rich can afford the run for congress. I was shocked at this year's general election that there were only unchallenged republicans running for congress across nearly all districts! (Im in GA).
The Supreme Court is effectively corrupt. The immunity decision violated the foundations on which our Republic was based. They will continue to support Trump 100%, and do even further damage.
Almost all that is left is for Trump to shoot someone on Fifth Avenue..as he bragged he could do..with no punishment.
We are all paying in, not just retirees. This should anger everyone with a paycheck.
The SCOTUS is full with supporters of the Republican wet dreams that want to strip SS from the middle class so they would have to work until death.
If they want a civilian uprising, this will do it. There is no way normal people can live w/o any of these services. This makes me extremely angry.
There will be a war if they take our living away
I’m literally at the ready, pitchforks and torches at hand.
I agree. If they want civil unrest, that’ll do it. We need a total shut down of the country. No one work for a week. There are more of us than them and they’d never admit it but they depend on us “little people”. Musk said in an interview that he believes unions create a lord and peasant society. No…taking away every essential government program , shutting down the Department of Labor, stopping overtime pay and outlawing unions, Will in fact bring back 12 hour work days, force children to work, low wages, no healthcare, no workplace protections and safety measures. We will be back in the Gilded Age of Lords and Peasants. This is what the megalomaniac has in store for us peasants. They only want power and more and more money. Money is their God of choice.
Leslie, BRAVO!! 🏆🏆. WHEN WE FIGHT, WE WIN! DO SOMETHING EVERY DAY TO #Resist
Kill the Dumpster! Kill the demented yam! Kill the orange toupee! KILL Trumple Stiltskin! Kill it DEADER than DEAD!
Why did so many people vote for these criminals?
Price of fuvking eggs and the flooded zone of disinformation is why people voted. But I also believe muskrat did something nefarious in swing states that shifted the “win”.
I believe it was muskrat and Putin!
Spot on!!
Agreed!!
I’ve been told by Trump loyalists that under Dump our country was safer globally and the economy was stronger. I called it total BS! I showed them data that proved those claims wrong. They said that data isn’t factual. I sent them economic reports that proved he was the worst president. They don’t care that you’re shoving facts in their faces, they deny. I guess it’s only factual if it’s coming from Fox, X, or Joe Rogan. The lot I was having a conversation with truly believes that January 6 was a day of peaceful protest and the capital police allowed them in. I asked where they saw that and it was Fox. Drunk on disinformation.
As much as I hate the idea of losing SS, Medicare & Medicaid, it may be the one thing that shakes the MAGAs out of their trance. It would force them to face reality. Only then could we Americans fight unified against one common enemy. It might be the only thing that would work.
Stupidity!!! Trump loves the uneducated. His win sure proved that to be true. Although I know many highly educated people that still voted for him.
Some rich folks voted “Trump” because it was more important to protect and fortify their personal portfolios thru promised Trump tax cuts.
Others voted for Trump cause deep down they couldn’t get past their old school misogyny and racism.
TR, let's get to DC contacting!! Make them hear us.
Me too.
Warren Buffet has also questioned why he and all the other wealthy retirees still get Social Security benefits! He thinks that is also crazy!
I agree 100% with Warren Buffet.
you have to apply for benefits. They have the choice not to apply for them. I personally don't care if Buffet collects. He's not an a$$ about it.
He's been pretty chill and brings up good points.
Besides, he doesn’t get diddly compared to what he still makes as head of his corporate enterprises.
In the U.S., Social Security is treated as taxable income. The theory, I believe, is we have not previously paid income taxes on the Social Security we receive. The monies we pay into the Social Security Fund while working are pre-income tax monies. So, we pay the tax on those funds when they are received after retirement. The easy fix for Social Security is to greatly increase the cap on the amount of income taxed for the Social Security Fund. The result would be that wealthier people would pay a more proportionate share into the Fund which will support it at least until wages are brought up to earlier Fund expectations.
Why not eliminate the cap, period. Yes, SS is taxed on the federal side, but a number of states do not tax it.
I’ve been asking why there is a cap on income for SS tax? If I make 50K a year, I pay SS tax on that amount. If I make $500,000 a year I only pay SS tax up to $168,000. WHY? Again the wealthy don’t pay their fair share. Additionally, all the folks making billions don’t pay their share of taxes and get government tax cuts. Seems fair?????
It is crazy stupid..
Yes the reform should take anyone making over $300k off of SS, (but the still must pay in). and while we are at it, take the cap off of it. SS stops deducting once you hit like $168,000. Why wasn't the cap removed 20 years ago when it was announced SS would go belly up? So all these years the billionaires didn't even pitch in to SS after the first $168k!
There are consequences to eliminating the middle class. They should pay in and not get to take benefits if they are a top tier earner.
Isn’t there a claw-back of SS benefits for richer folks? We have that in Canada.
No means testing. But if other income exceeds a certain amount, the SS $ received is taxable income. More a nuisance at lower income levels (safetynet level) than a fix for high level income (or billionaire level) receiving SS $
I’d assume Warren would have brought that up if it were in place. Apparently not here.
Explain?
I would guess something like means-testing. e.g. Does your reported taxable income exceed a certain threshold? No SS.
Yes, it is based on your prior year’s taxes. If income is above a set amount, some or all of your OAS(Old Age Security) is not paid out. In Canada OAS is paid to all over 65 that are within that income limit and has nothing to do with whether or not you worked or how much you made. So a person who never worked outside the home would still receive OAS. It’s about $700 a month. In addition we have the CPP(Canada Pension Plan) which is paid into by workers and their employers. Self-employed can choose to pay into it. There is a maximum payment per year and a maximum payout per year, according to the number of years worked.
Imagine that-- they thought to cover their elders --even if they didn't pay in! What a concept! They also don't have to pay thru the nose for healthcare. The US pays 6 times what people in other countries pay for healthcare.
I think the threshold would have to be different depending on the state.
Agreed!
They are committing crimes against humanity. They are planning mass murder. No lives matter to these cold blooded, money worshipping republican traitors: their motto is I’ve got mine, so FU. They all must be accountable. They all need to be in prison, penniless.
Republicanism 101: I don't care, I got mine.
Republicanism 102: Pull the ladder up, Mac -- I'm aboard.
Duck
Miss Marjorie Taylor wants to be in the Senate by 2026, taking over Jon Ossoff's seat.
Cyrano - Apparently there’s a push for Lara trump to get Rubio’s seat. Just what we don’t need for either of them.
Ossof will be president in 2028
Your prediction will send me pleasant dreams tonite.
Cyrano, I donated to Jon Ossoff when he ran for office from CA. Good man! Two weeks ago, I began getting two emails per week asking for donations. He's been on at least two MSNBC shown (Lawrence and ?) as a guest, pretty much asking for money. Unsubscribed to him. This is crazy. We need govt funded campaigns, life in prison fuckery rules, and a two month campaign.
I’m 68. I retired at 62 because I was RIF’d from my job. Tried for months to get another job but no one hires someone who is 62. So forced to “retire”. Not exactly on my bingo card. I’m very fortunate as I was able to move in with my daughter and son-in-law otherwise I would have had no where to go. Even though I have been paying into social security since I was 15 the monthly amount I get just covers trying to pay off my debt. If I lose that I will have to declare bankruptcy. Just a boomer living the American Dream. Never owned a home and now I’m not sure how I’m going to continue.
You are not alone. The folly of turning people in their sixties and older into the streets is outrageous.
Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?
Ha, I recognize a good Scrooge quote.
Yes! Just watched one of the movies again recently.
Boost the economy and create jobs building workhouses. Maybe that’s the plan.
A lot of businesses and even entire industries like travel could go under if millions of seniors become impoverished. They will become dependent on others, so it isn’t only seniors and the disabled who would be affected. In fact, it could tank the economy.
Their children would lose income due to the expenses of caring for them.
I don’t understand why that is not even thought about? If people have no money coming in, how do we spend any money or pay taxes? This is crazy and kind of an oxymoron? If we have no money coming in, we cannot buy. Doesn’t this kill the economy ?
I know, right? Yes, it WOULD kill the economy! It would impoverish millions of people and affect their families as well, as Amy noted above. It would also tank a lot of industries that depend on older people who have money to spend. I have read that, before Social Security, many seniors lived in poverty and most had to live with their children. This is not just an issue for seniors and there needs to be HUGE pushback on this! 'Social Security Works' is a good organization... I donate to them when I can.
But we have 3 billionaire “geniuses” at the helm, what could go wrong. There will be hell to pay if they go after these programs.
Yes they don’t realize many boomers are good for the economy. They will fail. We need to elect more Dems in two years!
Lori Mills, do what's called a "constructive bankruptcy" ....if you own nothing except a car for example, just stop paying for the credit card debt. The debt collectors can't touch your retirement benefits (if you have any), so that's protected in your bank account (times two, of your monthly allotment. Eg. You only get $1000.00/month, then $2000.00 is protected from garnishment).....Then, you save all that $$$ you were paying to the credit card debt. They can file small claims suits etc. but, you don't even have to show up because you're effectively "judgment proof"......Filing a bankruptcy is VERY expensive. If you're a senior citizen just getting by, this is something to consider when you don't own anything or don't have a huge stock portfolio etc. yes, your credit rating will tank, but who cares??? Better the credit rating tanking than your life.
This is NOT legal advice nor intended to be legal advice. (Just have to include this)
You can contact the local Bar Association and ask for pro bono legal advice regarding bankruptcy etc. etc.
Ooh Dianne, excellent point!! Double check, but imo Diane is right. Only the IRS can garnish SS money! Make sure not to add other sources of $ to your SS direct deposit ($ gifts, part time work). Keep that in cash, not in b
any bank acct. F your credit rating if you are fighting for your financial well being. 🏆
💯🎯
You are a victim of capitalism.
We need to spread the word that what we have now is not really capitalism, not as envisioned by Adam Smith. I have heard it called 'predatory capitalism' or 'disaster capitalism', or 'end-stage' capitalism.... but in any case, we need to do to 'capitalism' what the right has done to 'socialism'.
Nothing says more about the culture of the USA than the game Monopoly. We’re overdue for a cultural refitment like that of the 1960s.
The people who want you to work until 70 are the same people who don't want to hire you after 50.
Wow, good one!!!
Sorry to hear that. You are not alone. Im 58, was laid off right before the 2008 crash. I applied for over 600 jobs. We went through my entire 401k. (While the thieving banks got bailed out)! I eventually had to start my own biz. I was hacked so badly by the Franchise i unfortunately signed with, that I had to close the doors (10 years in biz). They are still hacking me, the cyber protections from state or Fed are non-existent for citizens in the US. Meanwhile European citizens have great data protections! They are keeping me from working! Only to now find out they are only counting the most recent 20 quarters of income for the SS entitlement!
Millions of people are in this boat Myself included. We could never afford a home.
Sadly, that is way beyond drumpf's ken...the man has neither the intelligence nor the soul to wrap his head
around the lives of people like us, Edie.
He's been " carefully taught'.
Lori, find out if you qualify for Medicaid. Different income qualifications by state. You could get the 20 percent not covered by Medicare if your red state Gov hasn't refused the funded program. If you don't qualify, ask for a review of special programs you might fit into. If you get a "no special programs", ASK FOR A SUPERVISOR. CA Medicaid has "hundreds of programs". Medicaid may offer food stamps, drug coverage for drugs Part D won't cover. It might pay your Medicare money monthly premium. Call asap. Hope those of us with benefits will be harder to disenroll.
I’m so sorry. I hate all of this. And I hate the idiots that voted for 45 even more!
From one Lynn.to another...
Please...don't just " hate" them, Lynne...
Fight ' em! Fight back with everything you have to give!
Turn a negative into a positive ...for change!
It will be interesting to see Trump step on this third rail. So does “MAGA” equate to bringing back the pre New Deal economy of “Everyman for himself”? I don’t see Republicans holding power if that’s the direction they want to go. AARP members will be in the streets with pitchforks.
Yes, I certainly will.
Me too and many, many millions of people across the US. Enough Americans to freak out even the wealthiest and stingiest billionaires!!!
Me too
It seems to me that a lot of original MAGAs rely on SSN $$. Could they ever see the light?
I know 2 people on disability who voted for that POS! 🤬😈
Did they explain WHY???
When they start complaining, I intend to listen and appear sympathetic; ask them what they intend to do; how they will survive. Then, go home and maybe at least feel some personal satisfaction.
Damn right
I’ll have one in each hand!😡
Google: 67.9 million Americans get SS REPAYMENTS, retirement, disability, minors where deceased parent was wage earner.
More than pitchforks!
I can’t believe there were blue collar workers and middle class folks who actually voted for this evil regime.
They're in for a rude awakening.
Yes indeed. They’re about to touch the stove. And really find out how much Dear Leader and his merry makers care about them.
Isn’t DJT largely responsible for the multi-trillion dollar debt?
8 trillion
7.2 trillion not due to Covid
A third of the total deficit of 240 years in just 4 all so that the richest could become even richer. Those mf’rs will learn the hard way that you can’t take it with you.
Yes, he is.
Yes the tax cuts for the wealthy that are to be renewed in 2025! Elections in 2026! Communicate to your members of congress!!!!
Let’s pray there is an election in 2026. If they fear a turnover they may change that too.
Yep Turd's 1.0 tax cuts for wealthy & corps rocketed the debt. He lies about it.
Unelected billionaire that weren’t even born in the US can’t change anything about Social Security or Medicare. They are not discretionary programs so they get paid no matter what. Congress has tried to mess with them numerous times in the past and have never had the votes to change anything and they won’t now either. All this is just BS talk for their MAGA base.
Start by canceling all of Musk’s government contracts. Billions saved there. Tax the wealthy their fair share. Take cap off social security. Congress needs to pay back the trillions that they stole.
Diane, don’t you think a lot of their MAGA base are living on Social Security and Medicare?
They will tell them Biden did it and they will believe him.
Maybe, until they discover that the Trump Admin isn’t going to fix it
I know MAGAS who depend on those programs
As if they care 🙄
Btw musk has no power at all. And they new agency is not it's just counseling with no power.
Not this time. They need to push this BS through before the 2026 elections.
You are forgetting that this is corruption and authoritarianism. “Having the votes” will means something entirely different soon. And the Orange One will use Executive Authority for everything and no one will stop him. All 3 branches will be corrupt. You can’t depend on checks & balances when they no longer exist. I hope they would not have the votes to ruin SS, but frankly, if Musk comes up with a written plan, Trump can just rubber stamp it and tell Congress to do the same. Dictators don’t even bother to pretend they need to do have a vote at all.
Do u realize right now they are only basing SS checks on last 20 quarters income and not your entire working life? That is a major cut for me, since i was laid off in the recession debacle. My best earnings were before the crash! Imagine how many seniors took a Walmart job for their last few years before retirement expecting that their highest earning years would ensure their retirement!!
Well they raised the age to collect as benefits when elders are laid off at a younger age and can’t find good work. It’s another scandal.
We should remind people that the DOGE efforts to “reduce spending” are with the goal of paying for another enormous tax give away to the 1 percent!
Josh - Plus lucrative government contracts to a select few a** kissers.
Right but since the oligarchs are going to be in charge we will suffer since they have no idea what it is like to be “normal” as their normal is not ours!
Bond. George Bond.
❣️Good one.
Do you mean George Bond was the person the character James Bone was based on? What do you mean?
I’m guessing that Daniel Solomon’s “Bond. George Bond” comment was several things: A touch of well-timed wit; lighthearted humor; respect& appreciation for the enviable attributes&reputation of the legendary fictional MI6 intelligence officer James Bond; an honorable tribute to the late great actor Sean Connery (who initially dropped the mic when he introduced himself as ‘Bond. James. Bond’ in “Dr. No”), and to the other Bond actors who did the line (and meta-message) justice.
Please tell me ‘James Bone’ was intentional…comedy gold that.
If they want to cut Social Security and Medicare they should think about paying everyone back with interest for everything people have been paying in to social security and Medicare from their paychecks.
I am embarrassed to say I have a Tesla. My pet name for it has always been my MuskRat. To paraphrase Reagan, “I am a billionaire and I am here to help.” The 10 scariest words in the English language.
My husband refers to him as the Muskovite
Moscovite, perhaps?
He is insatiable; there isn’t enough power, money, or women to satisfy his greed and lust.
Ronda, I think that ketamine is gonna get him. Anybody that greedy has to be overdoing the ketamine.
I wish Vlad would share his drugs. After all, he’s been out-emperored.
I call him Muck.
A Rabid MuskRat
He needs to be deported or sent to Gitmo for encouraging the assasinations of our current administration.
And a few words like @#%%&*
I was interested in getting one at one time, too. Go easy on yourself. You're not Leon Muskovite.
Why not sell it. That is a statement. I know of at least 19 people who have done so in the last year and not regretted it.
I bought it 2 years ago before Musk was as extreme as now. I don’t see I gain anything by selling. So then someone else is driving it…where is the net gain to society? Plus for me it’s a great car (Tesla 3).
When enough of them pile up with no buyers, that will be a message. I understand you love your car. As mentioned I've seen others go through this exact process. With all due respect there are other alternatives.
Your Tesla probably needs some kind of paint job that would disown its origins!
I cannot believe how naïve all the comments are. Don’t you get it? This is happening! They are the law now. Nothing is, nor will it ever be the same again. tRump and Musk can shit all over everything we hold dear and laugh all the way to their banks! They own the world because we gave them the keys to the kingdom!
CAS, no, "we" didn't give them the keys to the kingdom. They TOOK them via their bought and paid for legislators. They tricked the low information voters into voting for the duplicitous politicians who are solely backed by the uber wealthy in society. Some of us TRIED every single voting cycle to remedy the problem... but it's hard when you have a combination of extreme gerrymandering and voter stupidity in the mix. So kindly don't include all of us in a sweeping generality phrase like "we"..... I know you meant well here, I'm not reprimanding, I'm just stressing the importance of how words/phrases matter.
thank you, peace and love 🙏🕊️
👏👏👏
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Obama said it best the other day. It’s time to fight. Jessica Densen speaks the hard truth.
No actually they can't
Maybe not, but with 5 solid votes among the Supreme Clowns, the MAGAnuts can do things I wouldn't have thought possible years ago
CAS: NO NO NO. Not till Jan 20. These insane, backstabbing, crazed on drugs and power are not in yet. DO SOMETHING every day to resist!!
“We” in my comment referred to the election outcome. Whether or not the election was free and fair ( gerrymandering and mega millions, did make a difference, but all were allowed to happen right under our very noses while Democrats still held a majority in the House and we had a Democrat in the White House). Now, post election and pre-inauguration, we are already seeing the tippy-top of the extremely ludicrous fascist behavior we can expect from the next tRump administration. Whether or not ‘we’ are for or again’ the direction the direction our government is headed, the time to stay the course is past. ‘We’ lost. ‘They’ won.