Nick you are great with graphics and charts, so can you make one on how this Ponzi scheme works?
The numbers on those papers from the Social Security Administration are all bogus anyway. That money that they say is in your retirement account doesn’t actually exist. If you are putting into the system today, it’s not going into a “savings account” for you. It’s going right back out again in the form of checks to those that are collecting it.
The biggest problem was when congress decided to move all of the SS $ into the governments general fund, back in the late 90s I think, even though they had NO authority to do so. That was when good ol’ Slick Willy was trying to take credit for balancing the govt’s budget all by his self.
Was America’s Budget Really Balanced in the '90s? | The Motley Fool
Maybe all of those crooked politicians that became multi multi multi millionaires while serving in D.C. should be forced to repay all that they took from the American people using all that special interest money that made them filthy rich. There are literally Billions of $$$$$ given to those crooked bastages every year… Most of it under the table or legally laundered in some form or another…
Top Interest Groups Giving to Members of Congress, 2022 Cycle | OpenSecrets
Yep, and for every $3 over that limit you make, they will withhold $1 from your benefits…
Social Security Income Limit 2023 - Social Security Intelligence
So the average Joe can’t live on SS alone, so they have to get a job to cover expenses, which is NOT REAL RETIREMENT (to me anyway), but they cannot earn enough to really live on without being penalized… THAT is a full on rip off…
I know some who do.
Can you live lavishly and drive a brand new car, take expensive vacations, and eat out twice a day? Probably not. But if you are debt free, $30k a year can easily get you by in my area. SS is not meant to fund a lush and lavish retirement. It is meant to meet the basic needs.
As I posted above, you can take away SS, but we will just pay more and more in taxes to support the people who did not put away anything to even support their basic needs in retirement. At least with SS, those same people were forced to pay into the system during their working years.
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Not around here. In some parts of the country, it’s possible, sure, but not everywhere. Assets , location, and life style will dictate how much you need to get by.
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SS is a good and critical program. It allows working Americans to meet basic needs once they reach the age they can no longer work. Of all the places my tax money goes, this is one that I am OK with.
You may be surprised to learn that there is no SS money missing or stolen. The fact is that the inputs just are not projected to keep up with the outputs. This is due to an aging population and people having less children. The problem is that our vaunted politicians just can’t seem to come to an agreement on how to fix it. One party wants to reduce benefits, and one party wants to raise taxes.
As far as I’m concerned, reducing benefits is really not an option. I don’t want to see tax increases either though. So here we are, lol.
It was borrowed. The U.S. government took and spent all the money and gave the SS Administration an I.O.U.
A couple of Google snips
In 2021, those taxes — called FICA for people with wage-earning jobs and SECA for the self-employed — brought in $981 billion, accounting for 90 percent of Social Security’s revenue, according to the 2022 annual report from Social Security’s board of trustees
The average monthly Social Security benefit for November 2022 was $1,551. The total cost of the Social Security program for the year 2021 was $1.145 trillion or about 5 percent of U.S. GDP.
Looking at your numbers, and they are very similar to mine, I suspect you haven’t paid any ss tax in over 30 years…
Quit bitchng! 
Meanwhile…what kind of agency has internet portal hours?
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Myth #5: The government raids Social Security to pay for other programs
The facts: The two [trust funds that pay out Social Security benefits, one for retirees and their survivors, the other for people with disabilities — have never been part of the federal government’s general fund. Social Security is a separate, self-funded program. The federal government does, however, borrow from Social Security.
Here’s how: Social Security’s tax revenue is, by law, invested in special U.S. Treasury securities. As with all Treasury bonds, the federal government can spend the proceeds on a variety of programs. But as with all bondholders, Treasury has to pay the money back, with interest. Social Security redeems the securities to pay benefits.
This borrowing fuels the notion that the government is raiding or even stealing from Social Security and leaving it with nothing but IOUs. But the government has always made full repayment, and the interest increases Social Security’s assets, to the tune of $70.1 billion in 2021.
The impeachments, both of them, were the most lop-sided blatantly-political hack jobs ever committed by congress and an total embarrassment for the country. As a result, they have had no bearing on current events, as they should. Biden just submitted a budget that would add 17 Trillion to the national debt over the next decade. I think both parties have been horrible at doing their jobs. But, if you want someone to blame for runaway spending - look no further.
Amen to that! You would think Congress fiduciary responsibility to the public would be easily identified and enforced. But the opposite is true.
In theory, we could vote them out and we often do. However, freshman Congressmen must join the crony capitalist or be virtually castrated. Party over people is the actual montra.
Crony capitalism is fascism. Though we tend to worry about left vs right, but in the end we are just selecting puppets.
The real power lies in who gets nominated. That is where the corruption is omnipotent.
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Shades of the 1930’s? I do not think so, David.
Banks defaults yearly in the US.
Bank Failures in Brief – Summary 2001 through 2023
Silicon Valley Bank is the second-largest bank failure in history. It will have a ripple effect throughout the banking industry for months or years, according to people who are smarter about such things than you or I.
Apparently, other banks might purchase Silicon Valley Bank. Lots going on behind the sceans. HSBC on Monday announced a deal to buy the U.K. subsidiary of the U.S. tech startup lender Silicon Valley Bank, which collapsed on Friday.
behind the SCEANS ?
What in the Wide World of Sports is a SCEAN ?
And, getting back to the issue at hand: Should we also rescue the thousands of other banks and financial institutions which are also near default because interest rates are getting back to normal levels?