Social security

Welcome back ea

@Marion

I think you are proving the Alabama education system.

There is a difference between a human and the county in which they reside.

Counties do not vote. Human's vote.

One is biological. One is geography.

I lived in Marshall County in Alabama. Today it has 98k people.

Birmingham, the city, has less people than where I live. In my little metro area that is roughly 100 square miles, we have 250k. Now, look at South Florida, where I am from, and there is roughly 6mm people. That is 30x the population of Birmingham and you want to tell the 29x that their vote doesn't count? PFFT.

So I come back from the end of June to the same shit. I come back to 766 new messages about Trump having a good week, and over 1000 in the day's news.

This thread amuses me. It amazes me how people who proclaim to be experts on business and capital are actually pushing bullshit out.

Let's start with the bullshit that you pay both sides argument. That is so fucking misleading. If you employ Johnny and he pays 6.2% and your company pays 6.2%, here is the difference. YOU have the 6.2% as an expense. It lowers your profit, thus giving you a lower net profit. So stop saying that you are paying 6.2% as well.

@TBR

The answer to the SS issue is more complex than just raising the percentage into SS of payroll. It is also driven by population demographics. I know I created a problem. I have one child. I didn't produce enough to match my wife and my population. So if you go back 50 years, most parents were having more than 2 kids. How many are now? That is the issue that will drive the percentage and the cap.

@PHX

There have been plenty of studies on the efficiency of SS. IIRC it is less than 1/2 of a percent.

I think a lot of people are missing the point of SS. Molly nailed it. It is guaranteed income and yet you guys want to compare it to the market. I will say this over and over . . . Imagine that you have saved up your whole life. You are set to retire in 2006. Congrats, in the next 3 years, chances are the value of your holdings in the market are down 50%. So much for spitting out gains. You are stuck trying to catch falling knives.

Oh wait . . . you don't like that scenario? Ok, let's go back to 2000. You had a ton of cash and wanted guaranteed income. So you did CD ladders. What happened in 2001? Sure, say 9/11, but the result of that was interest rates dropping. So much for getting 5% interest to live off, now you are under 1%. Somehow, I don't think ANYONE can survive on less than 20% of the income they had the year before.

The market is volatile. We have been fortunate to have been around to see some big movements. We have been around to see the computer age turn into the internet age. That was a helluva bull market. Then we saw a shit show. Then we were fortunate to see e-commerce take off and more technology shit hit and have had a helluva bull market. The bear markets are what kill people's savings.

Well, usually when you look at the "county by county" election results, you see a few small clusters of blue counties surrounded by a sea of red. (Should be pretty easy to find on Google images). Of course the densely populated cities control the surrounding areas. But, if you look at it county by county... It's pretty lop sided. Probably 20:1 or worse. Point of fact, that's why parts of Western Washington and Oregon are trying to succeed from their respective states and join Idaho.

zero blue states...did not know that

@Rio: I'll happily add Birmingham and Montgomery AL to that list. I don't deny they are problematic areas. My main point (which you helped me with) is that large blue cities are very dangerous places to go to. Remember, there are 0 blue states, just blue cities in red states.

Democrat mayor . Happens everywhere. We are to follow the model of San Francisco.

Thanks I googled Birmingham Ala Crime...

With a crime rate of 77 per one thousand residents, Birmingham has one of the highest crime rates in America compared to all communities of all sizes - from the smallest towns to the very largest cities. One's chance of becoming a victim of either violent or property crime here is one in 13.

Although the city only saw 88 homicides in 2018 (which is a much lower number than other cities throughout the country), Birmingham has the 3rd highest homicide rate in the country when population is taken into account.

Im referencing an article I read awhile back, but Google is your friend. I mean, according to "some" Birmingham is one of the best cities to live in, nation wide. (I believe someone here possibly GGMM referenced an article last year stating that. However, locally we refer to it as "Birming-stan" due to the increasing violent crime, drug activity & gangs.

@marion...can you provide the data you used for your study .... If you didn't include Red states, the US leads the world in readin, righting and rithmatic

More apples in a barrel and you have more bad apples. Big cities.

@5: if you remove the crime statistics from L.A., N.Y.C., Baltimore, Detroit, new Orleans, Miami, Dallas/FW & Chicago... We become the safest nation on the planet.....

@rio: as usual you refuse to see the light. The "wealthy" are paying up to 11x more than the average person drawing out of the pool. (In some/many cases that person never paid a dime) and as per usual, you have lost perspective. This is a swingers chat forum, not the WEC or floor of the Senate... Nothing we say or do or come up with here, is going to impact anything.

you still have it all wrong...when SS was implemented average lifespan for males was like 2 years after retirement...your arguments are weak and best and for some reason you don't want the wealthy to pay tax they owe

Marion,

It’s always been a wink wink government, Anyone who actually knows how we were brought into WW1, WW2, Korea, Viet Nam, Somalia, The Middle East should know it’s business as usual.

We are and have been loosing our advantage in all facets of being a nation. I lived in the woods too but there is no way I would travel around this country unarmed. Absolutely not going to happen

There are 141 countries and The US is ranked 57th in crime. It is the most crime ridden country of the to 5 populated countries. 87 countries are safer to live in than here.

It was the greatest nation. It’s not anymore. We have become in my view a Circus. My opinion and I’ll stand by it. You get a different perspective when you actually reside in another country. Even food is cleaner. Believe it or not..

I think if they took out the Billions fraud AKA stealing, things would flow a whole lot easier. Just saying. I have 7 stents in me and I have paid a whole lot of taxes filling 1099. Now I am on disability Hate that but it is what it is. I do some light work on the side and do keep all my money. tbr says Im a crook because i dont pay Fed taxes and had Gov. help with my stents, I think when i was paying 12 to 15,000 a quarter in taxes for quiet a few years, Umm I paid for my stents.

Mickey

@5: I realize this country isn't perfect, but it's the best looking horse in the glue factory. I'm not sure I agree with the "most dangerous" part of your assessment, but that's situational I suppose. You essentially live in a communist state, where I live in Mayberry..

@rio: fwiw, the whole thing is insolvent by design. If the average lifespan of the American hadn't jumped in recent years & if everyone with a nervous twitch didn't qualify, maybe it would last a few more years. I agree the system needs overhauled if we're keeping it, but the disability side of it needs a long hard look.

“ If you don't like it here, I hear Somalia is beatiful this time of year.
And you could probably get away with not paying any taxes...”

We have dual citizenship in one country and a temporary residency in another. I take advantage of every tax loophole including writing off the legal and tax accountants. Out of 4 audits I have had over 130 K returned because the government is corrupt. The IRS is corrupt.

I live quite nicely in all three countries. Any medical in Costa Rica is nominal and in Sicily I get healthcare for the taxes I pay as well as an option to upgrade.

This country doesn’t even offer it. You talk about Somalia yet we again live in the most dangerous county in the world. And as of today one of the most corrupt… you can talk about how great it is but I don’t expect you to to look around and she what the government has destroyed.. we already know how liberal/progressive you are.. it shows in you complacency…

@5: or blocked me. I won a few arguments last year on the gun thread & got blocked for my trouble.

That’s a great comparison Marion… in the other conversations I’m sure it’s a couple of the people you have blocked.

Raise the cap to 250K & crack down on fraud. Put a minimum contribution amount threshold on it (like unemployment) and remove the dozens of "recognized" mental health issues that shouldn't qualify. (See previous comments about agoraphobia and Trichotillomania). Raise the qualifying standards for program acceptance & lower the base payment for people that have never paid into the system. Raise the input amount from 6.2/6.2 to 6.5/7.5 & verify citizenship as a prerequisite for any and all benefits.

not at all...my comments are to make it solvent

Your whole argument has been about making it fair!

its not about fair, its about providing a safety net.