Posted on 04/22/2015 5:28:14 AM PDT by Kaslin
Some are touting New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's proposal to take an ax to Social Security as an act of bold political leadership.
Sorry, I see the opposite.
America needs leadership to replace old dysfunctional baggage with new programs and ideas fitting for a free 21st-century country. We don't need those who think leadership is retrofitting the country into our old baggage.
It's the latter that Christie proposes. His "solution" to the impending bankruptcy of Social Security is to phase out benefits for retirees earning $80,000 to $200,000 and above and increase the retirement age from 67 to 69, and 62 to 64 for early retirement.
Social Security started out as a safety net for America's elderly. It then grew into a national retirement program. Now Christie wants to transform it into a new welfare program. And like most welfare ideas, where the force of government is used to transfer wealth from the "haves" to the "have-nots," it hurts both.
To add unfortunate irony to the picture, Social Security, whose existing structure Christie is so committed to saving, already disadvantages low-income Americans.
Here's the conclusion of a 2013 study published by the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C.: "When considered across many decades -- historically, currently and in the near future -- Social Security redistributes from Hispanics, blacks and other people of color to whites."
According to the calculations of the authors of the Urban Institute study, for every $100 that white beneficiaries pay in Social Security payroll taxes, they receive $113 in benefits. But blacks receive only $89 in benefits and Hispanics only $58 in benefits for every $100 they pay in taxes.
There are a number of factors contributing to this disparity.
Social Security penalizes those with shorter lifespans. Whereas national life expectancy is 79 years, for blacks it is 74 years. For black males, it is 71 years.
Social Security is biased toward married households rather than singles, because marrieds can take advantage of spousal benefits. According to the Pew Research Center, in 2008, 32 percent of the adult black population was married compared to 56 percent of the adult white population.
Social Security penalizes younger workers. Over time, Social Security taxes have gone up, so younger workers pay more than their predecessors. As of the 2010 census, the median age of whites was 41, blacks 32, and Hispanics 27.
So despite what we hear from the political left about how critical Social Security is for minority Americans, the truth is quite the opposite.
We just need to appreciate that Social Security is a government-planning program. It limits the freedom of individuals to control and manage their own earnings and savings in a fashion that reflects their own circumstances.
According to the Social Security Administration, about 165 million Americans are covered by Social Security. How can government bureaucrats sitting in Washington design a retirement program appropriate for 165 million unique individual realities?
Social Security taxes preclude wealth creation for low-income workers by taxing away the only funds they have available for investing in real retirement savings.
Median white household wealth, according to Pew, is $141,000, contrasted with $13,700 for blacks and $11,700 for Hispanics. The percentage of whites with IRAs or Keogh plans is 35 percent, contrasted with 10 percent for blacks and 11 percent for Hispanics. The percentage of whites with 401(k) plans is 45 percent, contrasted with 24 percent of blacks and 30 percent of Hispanics.
As a step toward real reform, my organization, CURE, has proposed what we call a 30/30 plan. Young workers 30 years old and younger and earning $30,000 or less should be given the option of opting out of Social Security and investing their payroll tax in their own personal retirement account.
America needs real change. And that doesn't mean tweaking a broken system and forcing all Americans into it, as Christie wants to do.
This particular worksheet starts at 1953. The calculation is actually similar before that, but there are some additional calculations that must be done.
You can use the SSA's online calculator. But, for the most accurate results, use the SSA's AnyPIA program for Windows:
How about first eliminating government waste and fraud, streamlining welfare and entitlement programs (not SSN, which people DID pay into) by bringing back work search requirements, and bringing back jobs to American businesses so that folks that want to work actually can work, vs. being dependent upon big government? And how about cutting all those millions (billions?) in foreign aid and bribes to nations like Iran? Oh...I guess that’s out of the question and an unpopular agenda item with leftists and RINOs like Donut-Boy Christie.
Nevermind.
Look, if you want to read and learn at the you can find everything you want at the US Treasury Dept's TARP website:
http://www.treasury.gov/initiatives/financial-stability/reports/Pages/TARP-Tracker.aspx
There, you can find it broken down by sector:
Or, you can can continue to be willfully ignorant, so that you can complain. But, at least you'll now know that you are sticking your head in the sand to avoid learning the truth.
The SS tax was never intended to finance SS. It was put there in order to foster the lie that SS was “insurance.” Thus, the beneficiaries would scream bloody murder if SS was ever threatened. IT’S MY MONEY! I PAID IN!!!
SS was created to give the Democrats a big stick they could beat Republicans with for at least a century. THEY WANT TO TAKE AWAY YOUR SOSHCURITY!!!
Politically, SS can never be reformed or “saved.” The only solution to SS is that one day, the bureaucrats will push the button to print the checks, and nothing will come out.
Christie’s plan is basically removing full retirement for many people; so many die by 69 years old, it is simply a way to avoid ever paying them.
There is no justification for taking this from our checks anymore; if they want to save it, why don’t they remove the cap (on which wages are taxed for SS)? For now they’re just creeping up the retirement age (67 for me) and understating inflation (so like the old USSR, retirees can’t buy a loaf of bread with their monthly benefit).
A (minority) co-worker in her 50s complained to me that her mother had to go back to work because her SS wasn’t enough; I asked what her mother had done for a living, and she said she had cared for others’ kids for cash. I explained that SS is based on earnings/contributions, then asked what work her mother had found when she went back to work. Without a trace of irony and a completely straight face, she responded that she had gone back to watching kids for cash.
Gibsmedats have no interest in contributing a penny tax-wise; people pull these under-the-table scams all the time, then whine when they don’t get tax refunds, unemployment, or enough SS (as the rest of us “makers” would). FWIW, anyone who thinks our amnestied illegals are going to fund the retirement of old white people is delusional; avoiding taxes is an art form for them.
fine, nobody gets anything, but that’s not how it works!
Sorry, the whole system stinks, but I really don’t have much sympathy for the plight of the older generations on this one, because at least they are going to get some of their money back out of the deal.
I’m looking at paying into this scam for the rest of my adult life, and I’ll probably get nothing. Or, at best, whatever I will get out of it will be so shriveled by inflation that it won’t do me much good. It’s no fun being on the bottom tier of the Ponzi scheme.
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