“Where should the cuts come from? Before those who have been compelled to pay in (since this is not a voluntary system) all their working lives are forced to forego what they’ve been promised, I would like to see exactly what other groups will lose benefits.”
NOBODY WILL LOSE BENEFITS!!! Do you understand that? You have WON that battle - you should be happy. The ONLY thing I’m asking now is that TODAY’s workers pay for it - not my kids. There is absolutely no hope in convincing you guys that the people YOU voted into office, collectively, have already spent this country dry. My problem is that I have kids, and I would like to leave them some semblance of a country.
“A lot of the resentment is caused by the fact that non-citizens (exhibit A - Auntie Zeituni) who have paid exactly nothing into the system enter the U.S. and then spend the rest of their lives on the government dole, at the expense of working Americans. Will they be required to forego their “entitlements”? Not likely. And the people who have been the honest players and have done their part and followed the rules will take it in the shorts before the freeloaders such as this deadbeat dad are cut off.”
Like I said, EVERYONE will get a free ride, including you. My point is that taxes need to be high enough to pay for all you guys. Since you guys, older conservatives, are not willing to part with one penny of what you think is owed to you (even if it was spent twice over), the ONLY question left is who pays for you guys - me, or my kids (and later grand kids)...I would like it NOT to be my kids and later generations. That is the ONLY thing left to argue over.
Apparently you didn't understand my point, the crux of which is that many people are on the receiving end of "entitlements" who SHOULD be cut off, particularly scammers, deadbeats and illegals, whose "benefits" are forcibly extorted from honest taxpaying Americans.
Cutting off this legion of grifters would be an effective step toward entitlement reform. People didn't pay into social security with the expectation that it would be used for welfare to the world.
Like I said, EVERYONE will get a free ride, including you. My point is that taxes need to be high enough to pay for all you guys. Since you guys, older conservatives, are not willing to part with one penny of what you think is owed to you (even if it was spent twice over), the ONLY question left is who pays for you guys - me, or my kids (and later grand kids)...I would like it NOT to be my kids and later generations. That is the ONLY thing left to argue over.
Wrong. Apparently you didn't understand my post. I am not an "older conservative". I have kids AND elderly parents (hence my reference to the "sandwich generation"). I didn't see anyone advocating for a "free ride" among the posters here; only you accusing others of thinking they deserve one. Your posts convey a hostile attitude toward older Americans which perfectly mirrors the divide-and-conquer, Alinskyite tactics employed by progressives to turn innocent bystanders against each other rather than toward the real villains, i.e. the corrupt politicians who have bankrupted the system and the grifters who helped them do it.