Bernie Sandres not qualified to be President

[Tom Joad]

Originally Posted by ZeroJunk

I'm only 62. At 66 I would get 1959.


I paid $220,000 FICA. I haven't paid anything since 2004.

I started mine at age 65.

The amount then was $1824.

It's gone up a bit with the annual cost of living increases.

I can't remember how much I paid in.

The papers are probably in a box in one of my closets but I moved so I'm not sure where. I think the amount was $132,000. Shit that's a whole lot less than the $220,000 you paid in, but I'm getting almost as much as you back.

Sounds like you're getting screwed Dude.

Probably because the formula for calculating benefits is progressive.

And then there's the fact that they average your best 35 years and since you retired early you had a string of zeros in there.

What can I say?

Sucks to be you Dude.

[ZeroJunk]

Originally Posted by Tom Joad

I started mine at age 65.

The amount then was $1824.

It's gone up a bit with the annual cost of living increases.

I can't remember how much I paid in.

The papers are probably in a box in one of my closets but I moved so I'm not sure where. I think the amount was $132,000. Shit that's a whole lot less than the $220,000 you paid in, but I'm getting almost as much as you back.

Sounds like you're getting screwed Dude.

Probably because the formula for calculating benefits is progressive.

And then there's the fact that they average your best 35 years and since you retired early you had a string of zeros in there.

What can I say?

Sucks to be you Dude.

That is just the way it works Tom. There was a cap on it for most of it's existence. May still be but it is way up there by comparison.

The cap was $37,800 in 1984 and went up to $84,900 in 2002. Anything above that SS was no longer taken out.

Medicare had the same cap as SS through 1990 then they took the cap off so from 1990 forward you paid Medicare on all earnings, or at least I didn't make enough to hit the cap.

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by ZeroJunk

That is just the way it works Tom. There was a cap on it for most of it's existence. May still be but it is way up there by comparison.

The cap was $37,800 in 1984 and went up to $84,900 in 2002. Anything above that SS was no longer taken out.

Medicare had the same cap as SS through 1990 then they took the cap off so from 1990 forward you paid Medicare on all earnings, or at least I didn't make enough to hit the cap.

And it's $118,500 now.

If we did away with the cap, Social Security would be funded until The Rapture but that'll never happen, of course.

[donquixote99]

No need to get rid of the cap. Raise it just enough.

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by donquixote99

No need to get rid of the cap. Raise it just enough.

There's method to my madness. Eliminating the cap would ensure the solvency of the system in perpetuity and also make possible an increase in benefits for retirees and the disabled and also expand Medicare coverage while making it available to everyone.

[ZeroJunk]

and the disabled

Are you talking those who are actually disabled or the 50% or so of them who have a hangnail.

[bobabode]

Originally Posted by ZeroJunk

Are you talking those who are actually disabled or the 50% or so of them who have a hangnail.

Friends of yours? If so, you should drop a dime on them, Zero.

[donquixote99]

Originally Posted by ZeroJunk

Are you talking those who are actually disabled or the 50% or so of them who have a hangnail.

You got anything besides your ass as a source for that 50%?