How Social Security Rips of the Average American

The Johns Hopkins News-Letter (Johns Hopkins U.) ^ | 1/3/3 | Aaron Back

[alisasny]

Then you pay much less since FICA does not apply to incomes over $72,600.

Darn, you just reminded me that my paycheck is going down this week : (

[ApesForEvolution]

Social Security is the largest Ponzi Scheme ever invented, sponsored and propagated by our very own government. Yet the only people getting rich are bureaucrats? Not even a good Ponzi Scheme...

[Libertarianize the GOP]

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list

[PistolPaknMama]

bump to read later

[Skooz]

Bump for later.

[freedomcrusader]

The cutoff goes up every year, and this year, is much, much higher than 72,600. I think its 85,400 now.

[Centurion2000]

So what if you took that money and invested it in Treasury Bonds, which are fully guaranteed by the Federal Government

Then the American Debt would be held by Americans and all of this B$ land confiscation for Federal lands would not be needed as collateral.

[Cicero]

Well, Bush is just fiddling around the edges, because frankly that's all he can do. He has inherited a system that was destined to go bankrupt almost from the year of its inception. Nothing to be done about that other than slash benefits for people who are already getting screwed. No politician will do that if he can possibly pass it on to someone down the line.

Still, it would be nice to have the option to put a small portion of your FICA tax into investments of your own choice.

Apparently, Bush has managed to grasp this third rail and avoid electrocution. The biannual Democratic ploy of calling everyone and playing them a recorded message that the Republicans are planning to steal their retirement money (when they aren't busy dragging blacks behind their pickups) evidently isn't working as well as it did for the past couple of decades. And Karl Rove is now saying that it will be good politics for Bush to press the issue publicly. Amazing.

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

Social Security is the largest Ponzi Scheme ever invented, sponsored and propagated by our very own government. Yet the only people getting rich are bureaucrats? Not even a good Ponzi Scheme...

You are so right, I promise.

[Henchster]

The Democrats want to keep SS just the way it is, and will block ANY changes like they are fighting to the death.

Why? Because Dems LOVE to spend the American workers' retirement money the minute they get their hands on it, instead of investing it for the workers' retirement like responsible money managers would. They're worse than children with money, and the LAST place retirement funds should be "managed."

Remember, members of Congress and the Senate do not have to pay SS taxes, they exempted themselves and created their own, separate, FUNDED pension plan for themselves, but the "little people" just get their retirement money spent, since government priorities are more important than workers' retirement funds.

SS is an illegal scheme to rob workers' of their retirement funds, that's all.

[ApesForEvolution]

Promise what?

[ApesForEvolution]

The SSA and government in general are criminals when it comes to our money. Period.

[dyed_in_the_wool]

Then you pay much less since FICA does not apply to incomes over $72,600.

This is such a misleading statement, it's ridiculous. The author doesn't realize 1.) that it only applies to compensation ABOVE the threshold, the sentence sounds like if you make $75K then you don't have to pay taxes. 2.) The threshold is more like $86K now.

[litehaus]

DARN! Even the APES know.....how come people don't? LOL...

[hunter112]

The thing I hate worst about SS is that it is nothing but a tax on work, on on the people who pay people to work. Whenever we tax something, we get less of it.

What helped bankrupt the system was the "welfare" part of it. If people properly and rightfully needed money for disability, widowhood, etc., why wasn't that also the burden of all taxable income, why did the money come solely from a tax on work?

[wjcsux]

I received my SSI statement last week. It had all of the flowery B.S. about how great SSI was. There was a section about how more funds were currently being received than were currently being paid out. It went to further state that this situation was due to change, starting in 2012. It appears that they are starting to prepare the Sheeple to expect a decrease in retirement benefits.

[ApesForEvolution]

Evolution is overrated! (:o

[gridlock]

If Bush wanted to make a really bold move, he would not go after Social Security, but he would go after FICA.

If he proposed eliminating the FICA tax and financing Social Security out of general funds, he could re-shape the tax system to make it more progressive and more inclusive at the same time.

Here's the plan. Eliminate the 14% FICA tax, and put a 10% income tax on the first dollar earned. This amounts to a 4% tax cut on the poorest worker. Graduate the tax by whatever scheme suits your fancy, topping out at 30%. This will actually represent a tax increase for the very highest level, because the entire income would be subject to taxation at that rate, not like the current system where FICA maxes out.

This scheme would make the tax system make a lot more sense, and would make each and every worker into a taxpayer. Right now, over half of the people in this country don't pay into the general fund, so they have very little interest in making government efficient or limiting governmental largesse. If every worker paid into the general fund, every worker would have the same incentive to make government as inexpensive as possible. This would be a much healthier political situation.

The fact that this scheme also eliminates the pernicious fiction that people are paying into Social Security, so they should be able to get their own money back out, is also a good thing. This was never true, but the high FICA tax is what has made rational discussion of Social Security nearly impossible. Eliminating this dedicated tax would make it feasible to mold a system that provides a safety net for retirees without bankrupting the nation.