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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsEloon is on his platform LYING about Social Security to justify GUTTING it.
https://bsky.app/profile/socialsecurityworks.org/post/3lbryp3mdx22sSocial Security doesn't add a SINGLE PENNY to the debt.
But that won't stop Elon from trying to destroy it.
We will NEVER let that happen.
THE IMAGE Eloon used is from HERE - a website which ALSO incorrectly tags Social Security as part of the general budget that adds to the DEBT - but Social Security is FULLY FUNDED and PAID FOR by dedicated taxes, which are not part of the regular budget. It is 100% funded and does not add one damn cent to the debt. https://www.geekwire.com/2023/steve-ballmers-usafacts-releases-new-stats-on-american-crime-jobs-population-and-more/
OLDMDDEM
(2,152 posts)CousinIT
(10,484 posts)Where?
BeerBarrelPolka
(1,439 posts)Where are they? We need to stop defending them. They need to be called out and do the job they were elected to do. Any of them who sits in silence, are just as guilty as Musk and Trump, etc. From now on, I will refer to these cowardly people as Mumps.
in2herbs
(3,227 posts)to get along.
Midnight Writer
(23,126 posts)As are all the other "deficit hawks" who cite Social Security and Medicare as drivers of the National Debt.
President Clinton gave us surpluses and a roadmap to completely erase our debt long before now. W Bush and the Republicans blew that all to hell immediately in order to give massive tax cuts to the already wealthy. Maybe "visionary" Musk could look at Clinton's playbook if he is serious about solving this problem.
Of course, Musk and Co. are not serious about solving anything for the country or its people. He just wants kill regulations and not pay taxes.
Initech
(102,511 posts)hlthe2b
(106,752 posts)OLDMDDEM
(2,152 posts)hlthe2b
(106,752 posts)OLDMDDEM
(2,152 posts)CousinIT
(10,484 posts)That's it. The media NEVER mentions it, oddly. I'm confident they have orders from their billionaire owners to tell the same lies Eloon does instead.
As for other politicians and Democrats, .... never a peep from them countering these lies.
Meowmee
(6,116 posts)Cherrycheeks
(186 posts)😡😡😡
SledDriver
(2,099 posts)Wounded Bear
(60,840 posts)Cha
(305,853 posts)A$$ hands OFF OUR SS
GB_RN
(3,217 posts)Social Security is forbidden by law from adding to the deficit.
aggiesal
(9,525 posts)When anyone says that Social Security will go bankrupt in 2032, that is not true.
The SS Trust Fund is supposed to be depleted by 2032, but this is by design. This is what they are referring to.
Social Security will continue to have money, but not enough to pay out at 100%.
When ever the Trust Fund is depleted, then only 75% of our Social Security Benefit can be paid, forever.
This is what we are trying to fix. Raise the Income Max to $400K would fix this is the short term.
Creating a doughnut hole from $400K to $1M, where anyone making income more then $1M would have
to start paying into Social Security starting at the $1,000,001 dollar.
So pay into SS up to income < $400K. Pay $0 from $400K to $1M, then start paying at $1M,
would fix Social Security funding for ever, maybe even increase the amount received.
MadameButterfly
(1,946 posts)The solution is to make them pay. They don't want to pay, and their share of the benefits aren't worth it to them.
Besides that they're ok with other people's pain and suffering and too stupid to realize that old people destitute and on the streets instead of buying stuff is bad for their companies' bottom lines.
JustAnotherGen
(33,814 posts)I've been a broken record on this.
When you stop paying in halfway through the year - you DO NOT MISS THAT MONEY.
It's basic and simple - lift the cap.
FalloutShelter
(12,838 posts)Cut the crap. Raise the cap.
Done.
CousinIT
(10,484 posts)The billionaires who own them and who they represent exclusively will hate it.
airplaneman
(1,286 posts)Is only -13% and not 25% due to higher wages and better employment. If T plan to not tax SS goes through then the 13% becomes 33% and 2032 becomes 2030. The fix for SS is extremely easy I like the donut plan you mention.
-Airplane
aggiesal
(9,525 posts)Also, I personally think that not taxing SS is good thing because people get to keep more of the money.
But increasing the negative from 13% to 30%, makes sense why Pendejo45 is pushing it, to deplete the Trust Fund faster
and then tell people who don't really understand Social Security that SS is now bankrupt.
MadameButterfly
(1,946 posts)So they'll make it go broke faster. When will the Trump voters wake up? Most of them need SS.
I spoke to a supporter who said "I don't think they'll get away with cutting SS."
He didn't seem to mind that they are saying they want to, nor did he notice that the only people in power trying to stop them are the Dems he voted against. And with Kamala in the presidency, no one would have to fight to keep it. He doesn't like Kamala because she lies. Sigh.
Magoo48
(5,536 posts)Marcuse
(8,050 posts)Iris
(16,142 posts)Hassler
(3,782 posts)SunSeeker
(54,061 posts)GiqueCee
(1,512 posts)... unanswered is, why do irredeemably rotten billionaires want to deprive those less fortunate of THEIR OWN FUCKIN' MONEY? What kind of people and I use the term "people" VERY loosely when referring to the repulsively rich even care? It's not their money; it's not the government's money, it is deferred wages held in trust. As was noted in an earlier reply, it doesn't add a penny to the deficit, nor will the malicious destruction of the government's most popular program reduce the deficit by a penny. So why the goddamned fuck don't they just shut up about it?
Republicans have been trying to do away with Social Security since 1935, for chrissakes! WHY?!!? It does them no harm, the greedy bags of pig excrement don't even pay anything into the SS Trust Fund past $160,000, which is probably less than the pocket change they spend on goldfish food!
There is simply no bottom to their fetid cesspool of depravity. I have an above average vocabulary, but I am at a loss for words to adequately describe how much I hate these fuckers. My sixty-plus years of hatred for the Republican Party has always burned hotter than the surface of the Sun, but now it's gone supernova.
moose65
(3,326 posts)Employers (I.e. rich people) are forced to match their employees SS contributions. If SS was more like a 401k or Roth IRA, where the worker would bear the total cost of contributions, they wouldnt give a shit.
They absolutely hate having to contribute to their employees retirement system.
Tweedy
(1,220 posts)I do believe even Mr. Musk will be impressed should he continue to push this fresh horse manure on us.
Social security is a highly successful government program with little administrative overhead. Medicare treats the sickest cohort of our population more effectively and cheaply than any other program public or private of any other country.
So, of course somebody who seems intent on looting our country into bankruptcy hates it.
Who are the dangerous immigrants again?
dlk
(12,468 posts)All of his riches arent giving him sufficient joy and peace of mind, so he needs to go after seniors and the disabled. Pathetic.
Autumn
(46,660 posts)I'm sure Donna Brazile with be on the talk show on Sunday.
FormerOstrich
(2,753 posts)and look at that tiny slice of Corporate Income Tax. I'm thinking that should be much more proportionate to the individual income tax slice than it is. Corporations are people, too....doncha know?
Dave says
(4,974 posts)Corporations are people, too. Why cant they pay at the EXACT SAME RATES of most people! That would solve many many problems.
keep_left
(2,525 posts)...for "defense" contractors like himself from the radical fiscal austerity that his ridiculous "DOGE" agency will impose on the rest of us. He's said as much on his X platform.
https://democraticunderground.com/100219789614#post6
https://democraticunderground.com/100219779335#post4
https://democraticunderground.com/100219749918#post16
https://democraticunderground.com/100219744877#post31
Dave says
(4,974 posts)InAbLuEsTaTe
(24,668 posts)valleyrogue
(1,191 posts)Charles Koch was and is the same way. They literally make shit up about Social Security in order not to pay anything into the system.
soandso
(1,631 posts)It's simply a chart showing what's coming in and what's going out.
This constant drumbeat about how Social Security is going to be gutted is only scaring people and there's no evidence that's going to happen. Even Trump has said, numerous times, including recently, it will not be touched and everyone will continue to get what they have been getting. I wish it would increase but that's another matter. Anyway, this is wrong to keep trying to get the most vulnerable into a state of panic and it doesn't help anything. We've got enough to be concerned about with making shit up.
The federal debt and deficit need to be dealt with to PROTECT SS and Medicare/Medicaid, though it seems like some people don't like math and the idea of cutting anything. 36+ trillion of debt is not sustainable but SS and Medicare/Medicaid are so whatever needs to be done to ensure they remain safe, fucking do it!
https://www.usdebtclock.org/
Dave says
(4,974 posts)Tax multi-billionaires into non-existence! Let them leave the country and renounce their citizenship, it would help soooo much of these leeches would just go!
We need a significant wealth tax now.
SamuelTheThird
(178 posts)Yeah, we know how rock-solid his promises are, right?
soandso
(1,631 posts)Messing with SS is also political suicide. Virtually no one in congress would support it.
druidity33
(6,596 posts)in fact they are already using those words. Guess what? MAGA folk will fall for it.
soandso
(1,631 posts)TRILLIONS have just "disappeared there and they have failed years of audits. You don't think that needs to be addressed?
druidity33
(6,596 posts)I am telling you what the Republicans will say... not what i think.
soandso
(1,631 posts)not what they will say, which is speculation. Musk specifically addressed the DoD and Bernie Sanders and Ro Khanna agreed with him.
druidity33
(6,596 posts)have used those phrases openly. Oh and "inefficiency", that's another one. So no. It's not speculation.
"But that, of course, comes as his allies in Congress privately discuss offsetting the cost of extending his 2017 tax cuts with reforms targeting Medicaid and food stamps, and as he appoints the supremely unqualified TV doctor Mehmet Oz to head up the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid in his new administration, with vows to cut waste and fraud within our Countrys most expensive Government Agency.
As TPM has been reporting, its a familiar rhetorical dance for Republicans as they seek to slash social safety net programs that provide invaluable assistance to Americas most vulnerable, couched in the language of reforms. While there has been some veiled language tossed around about cutting out waste and fraud as Trump and his allies salivate about the possible ways to deploy the Elon Musk-Vivek Ramaswamy efficiency department, other House Republicans are being explicit about using the cover provided by the unit to make substantial cuts to entitlements. "
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/where-things-stand/another-house-republican-is-being-loud-and-clear-about-plans-to-slash-medicare
Be sure and read the whole thing...plenty more examples there.
Here's another:
And so weve got to right the ship, and its going to mean cuts. Its going to mean cuts to the 24 percent of the discretionary spending that we have, and its also going to mean looking long-term at the front end of some programs like Social Security and Medicare, he continued.
There is some waste, abuse and fraud in Medicare that we can take those numbers back and add to our general coffers and our treasury.
And on the front end on Social Security, I think theres a way, when people are living longer, theyre retiring later, then on the front end we can move that retirement age back a little bit, he said.
that's Missouri Republican Rep. Mark Alford btw
soandso
(1,631 posts)and it sucks that people are trying to get other people distressed. It's not going to get cut and TFG just reiterated, again, that retirement ago will not be moved up, along with no cuts to anyone's benefits.
As for waste and fraud in something like Medicare, it needs to be addressed to protect Medicare. You don't want fraud and theft endangering it's solvency, do you? Anyone stealing from us needs to be discovered and prosecuted.
Klarkashton
(2,285 posts)He is a stupid man that does stupid things.
soandso
(1,631 posts)or "gut it" as the repeated claims being made say. That's not going to happen.
Cosmocat
(15,053 posts)Seriously.
They are 100% coming for it.
Hotler
(12,388 posts)Maybe Eloon could show some service to his country and pay them all off and then maybe we can talk cuts.
state of stupid
(29 posts)The chart and not understanding how it works are the problem. It is caused by the unified budget act of
1968 when it was decided that it would be easier to look at one chart rather than the two. As is pointed
out Social Security and Medicare are separate taxes considered mandatory spending. The income tax
you file on your 1040 tax form is for discretionary spending. A misunderstood part is when it is said that
Social Security and Medicare do not add to the debt. Technically they do by design. The money that is
paid into Social Security and Medicare goes to the Treasury Dept. They do not write an IOU. They issue
bonds and securities that pay interest that goes into Social Security and Medicare trust funds. Because
they earn interest that is paid for out of the discretionary budget, technically they do add to the debt but
that is by design. I have always and will always be for going back to two separate budgets because it
is actually easier to understand. It is two separate problems requiring two different solutions. It is no
different than the household budget we live by. There are the bills that come every month rain or shine
that have to be paid mortgage, electric and such (mandatory spending) and things we want discretionary
which we have to figure out how to work into the budget or do without. Rather than going around the
mountain again for eternity I think I am going to start writing my congress critters to start pushing to do
away with the unified budget for the sake of others who never try to understand how it works and just
listen to what other people tell them and take it as gospel. Rant over, what the hell do I know anyhow.
Blue_Tires
(56,730 posts)To explain to me how a political party with Melon Fucking Husk as it's mascot is going to make the lives of ordinary Americans better...
bucolic_frolic
(47,578 posts)Let's get real. If Eloon does gut SS, old folks will be forced to spend down. That will decimate if not eliminate the inheritance of all young people who don't have Trust Fund parents. So youngsters will be left with reduced Social Security, a trickly of inheritance, hollowed out family homes, and deciminated health care. Hobbes told us, life is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."
This vivisection of society to suit Eloon's Ego Trip will be fought by everyone in civilized society. Congress is in for an earful.
CousinIT
(10,484 posts)Lunabell
(7,064 posts)So mean spirited and hateful. Too bad Luigi targeted the wrong rich guy.