Posted on 04/08/2024 8:59:17 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
What happens when one of the major political parties suggests the most modest of reforms to the benefits future Social Security beneficiaries will receive?
The other major political party goes ballistic.
Such were the atmospherics when the Republican Study Committee (RSC) played against the prevailing type with the GOP so far and issued a plan that included tweaking the retirement age.
According to the RSC plan, the changes are intended to “prevent Biden's cuts to Social Security.” Setting aside who would be responsible for any future benefits cuts – which are all but assured if no one does anything now to avert them — the plan attempts to cover its political bases as thoroughly as possible, noting that then-Sen. Joe Biden supported earlier tweaks to the Social Security system that raised the retirement age from 65 to 67 :
When President Biden served as a Senator in 1983, “…he was directly involved with one bipartisan compromise that became law and kept Social Security solvent for decades.” He, other Democrats, and Republicans came together in a bipartisan fashion to address Social Security's solvency issues at that time. Biden voted to raise the retirement age from 65 to 67, tax Social Security benefits for the first time, and delay cost-of- living adjustments to preserve the solvency of the OASI trust fund.
The new proposal suggests:
…delayed changes to the Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) benefit formula, the retirement age, auxiliary benefits for high-income earners, and gradually moving towards a flat benefit.
It also urges all sides to come together and discuss reforms like adults and statemen, which is asking a great deal from the current bunch of time servers in the White House and Congress.
Too much, it seems, as Team Biden preferred to throw mud rather than talk:
…the Republican Study Committee – which represents 100% of House Republican leadership and nearly 80% of their members – just proposed yet another budget that would cut Medicare, Social Security, and the Affordable Care Act, as well as increase prescription drug, energy, and housing costs – all while forcing tax giveaways for the very rich onto the country. Their plan would even raise the Social Security retirement age.
“Raise the Social Security retirement age…” just like Joe did way back in the day.
It's naïve to hope that the major parties would discuss such important fiscal matters in an election year (or any other year, really). But one might still hope that at some point, such discussions will happen despite the base instincts of pols and their handlers.
That point will come…sometime around 2033 or so when there won't be enough money to pay current beneficiaries…and their monthly checks will be cut. Act now, or cut later.
You can tell it is a POTUS election year because all the RINOs talk about ia SS reform and all the Dems talks about is abortion. SOME.THINGS.NEVER.CHANGE.
Yeah: Talking about issues on a political site. What a concept (eye roll).
I honestly had to go back to work part time I retired at 67 I was doing GREAT when Trump was in office THEN came Biden and I just could not make ends meet anymore!! I am in Ca. I sold my home at the beach paid off every ounce of debt AND paid cash for my new home which is in Palm Desert!! I was sitting pretty until my utility bills started to skyrocket, groceries are OUT OF CONTROL, gas here is back up to $5.75 a gallon!, I live in a gated community with a golf course my HOA has gone up $250.00 a month in the last 2 years I did not want to live on a really STRICT budget so I went back to work part time!! I HATE Biden with a passion, I am in a senior community and MANY of my neighbors are not able to work for health reasons ect. they are struggling and my heart goes out to them!! This BASTARD Biden DESTROYED a GREAT economy just by destroying our energy independence this man is utter SCUM!! I thank the good lord everyday that I am healthy enough to be able to work and being at Home Depot definitely keeps me active, lifting up to 50 lbs., up and down those huge ladders all day and the store is HUGE I am walking an enormous distance everyday!! There are MANY, MANY seniors returning to the workforce if they can because they are struggling to make ends meet!!
Well they better hurry up cause I’m taking mine as soon as possible about a year to go
I was talking to the politicians. You need to get a grip.
The gov’t wants to keep us poor so we are dependent on gov’t services ruled over by them.
Look up: privatized social security and Galveston, Texas
Look for the Forbes article. Many others to look at.
You could be making more then double what you get now.
The numbers are higher now as the articles below are almost 20 years old.
Galveston County: A Model for Social Security Reform - 2005
https://www.ncpathinktank.org/pdfs/ba514.pdf
FTA: We’ve averaged an annual rate of return of
about 6.5 percent over 24 year
Workers making $17,000 a year are expected to receive about 50 percent more per month on our alternative plan than on Social Security - $1,036 instead of $683. [See the Figure.]
Workers making $26,000 a year will make almost double Social Security’s return - $1,500 instead of $853.
Workers making $51,000 a year will get $3,103 instead of $1,368.
Workers making $75,000 or more will nearly triple Social Security - $4,540 instead of $1,645.
Galveston County’s survivorship benefits pay four times a worker’s annual salary - a minimum of $75,000 to a maximum $215,000 - versus Social Security, which forces widows to wait until age 60 to qualify for benefits, or provides 75 percent of a worker’s salary for school-age children.
In Galveston, if the worker dies before retirement, the survivors receive not only the full survivorship but get generous accidental death benefits, too. Galveston County’s disability benefit also pays more: 60 percent of an individual’s salary, better than Social Security’s.
_________________________________________
How Three Texas Counties Created Personal Social Security Accounts and Prospered - 2011
https://www.forbes.com/sites/merrillmatthews/2011/05/12/how-three-texas-counties-created-personal-social-security-accounts-and-prospered/?sh=5ac504623283
A lower-middle income worker making about $26,000 at retirement would get about $1,007 a month under Social Security, but $1,826 under the Alternate Plan, according to First Financial’s calculations.
A middle-income worker making $51,200 would get about $1,540 monthly from Social Security, but $3,600 from the banking model.
And a high-income worker who maxed out on his Social Security contribution every year would receive about $2,500 a month from Social Security vs. $5,000 to $6,000 a month from the Alternate Plan.
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