Social Security
 

So this weekend I spent a few hours with my first wife helping my older daughter move into her McMansion on the hill. ( a few miles from me, man am I happy although why a new construction 4 bedroom house is needed for a first home I'll never understand... that is a different subject though)

She tells me how at years end her job will be eliminated along with hundreds of others. Tough situation, too young to retire, too old to get rehired. So we talk about social security... and to my amazement she has no clue how it works or that it is essentially regressive. $118,500 being the top amount for taxation.

I explain how the poor pay the same rate as the middle class and the rich... except that over the $118,500, nothing is paid. How the employer has to match what you pay and the self employed like myself has to pay double.

That she did not know shocked me but did not surprise me. Here is a women paying this tax for 50 years who is a genius, literally, who does not know such basic stuff. If she does not know, how many people culturally do?

my guess is very very few. It helps explain why so many vote GOP even though it's against their best interests.

I then think back to when I was 25, 30, 35, 40, 45.... I was so damned busy with career and family that I really did not know the details of much of anything.... not that I realized it at the time.

I was always comfortable though these years and if I hadn't become ill I really would not know what I know today. I guess it;s the perfect template for a government. Keep the people comfortable and occupied and you can then make a killing by exploiting them and their toil.

Thoughts?

Proves the point for SS in your statement. The majority of people will not care or think seriously about retirement till close to the day of.

Most when pushed have given little thought to SS except wanting someone else to pay the bill when due. Just see the amount taken out each pay period as money loss today.
Just liken it to the many who fail to save for retirement in their 20's 30's then when in the 40's see the need all to late.

This is a problem created by those who never liked SS to begin with. Using the idea "It's your Money so Invest in the Market" or "You will never live to receive a check" What needs to be reminded is not everyone is smart with money! So a plan for all is needed.

After all SS was created due to the fact it was noted people get old and are in need of help. We can give them the ability of independence and care rather cheaply with the SS system. Or go back to the old way where they moved in with family members.


Barney

That people are indifferent and ignorant about so many important issues which affect them does not surprise me. They know everything about Beyonce and the Kardashians and will talk sports all day.

SS works for the people in a basic way. What is devastating is the virtual disappearance of private pension.

FDR was not a friend to the common man. The New Deal wasn't a good deal.

Yep. Americans should be taught how the retirement system works when they are in high school. But, virtually none of us are. Instead we are taught that the only people who deserve to retire are those who've "earned" it and that anyone who receives a check from the government for any reason is a "moocher". Completely ignoring the fact that "retirement" isn't an option, everyone gets too old to work, eventually. It also ignores the fact that people who've paid into SS and Medicare HAVE worked, for the most part.

The next big problem will be the failure of the 401k to provide adequate retirement income for the vast majority of Americans. I know people in their 50s who have worked and saved their entire lives.........and have $20k, maybe $30k in the 401k. The payout from that, even if they work until they are 70, may not be enough to buy a pizza by then. Low wages, kids, college debt.........They simply could only afford to save so much.

It's insane.

Care to elaborate?

Precisely.

Yes the assumption that everybody is responsible and smart enough to prepare for old age on their own is as foolish as the assumption that everyone is too stupid.

The question to ponder is this; Are selfish and callous enough to let those who failed to prepare, or for whatever reason simply could not, perish?

Mebbe not, but he played one on the radio, and that was sufficient.
Eleanore and Francis Perkins, otoh-----.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

Yeah, I can't wait to read it.

At this point Social Security has been so demonized and politicized that I would never trust state or local school boards or individual teachers to teach kids about SS with any degree of uniformity or honesty. Look at what has happened with evolution.