With the election over, Republicans are suddenly interested in cutting Social Security

doublejj

Well-Known Member
Despite its unpopularity, Republicans somehow keep coming back to the idea of cutting Social Security.
Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., suggested it was time to make “some hard decisions” to trim the federal budget. "We've gotta bring the Democrats in and talk about Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, there's hundreds of billions of dollars to be saved and we know how to do it. We just have to have the stomach to actually take those challenges on."

In the other chamber, Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah posted a long thread on the social media platform X about the constitutionality and practicality of Social Security, invoking the classic conservative trope of comparing it to a "Ponzi scheme that's running out of new investors."
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https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-social-security-republicans-elon-musk-rcna182711
 

DeadHeadX

Well-Known Member
If only more people could be found to willing pay into SS.
It’s not a choice, right? Anyone who receives a paycheck from working is contributing to social security. Theoretically. I’ve been doing it my whole life. This is not a handout, it should be my savings/investment in my retirement coming back to me. Cutting it is robbing me of my lifetime’s commitment to being gainfully employed. Wrong to pull the rug now.
 

Stiickygreen

Well-Known Member
My guess is that they will again raise the age requirement to play to hedge off the insolvency of the program on the whole.

While we all (OK, all but about 6-7% of State/local workers) did pay in... statistics prove that at age 77 the average recipient hits the point where they are taking out far more than they paid in. Combine that with some of the crazy ways folks can draw upon others who paid in far more than they did (divorce, for one) and the numbers just don't add up on the whole. It's gonna be interesting to see what folks who voted for all of this change think when all of this change actually comes. SS/Medicare won't be spared. I hope folks have made other plans/arrangements to bridge any gaps...if possible.
 

DeadHeadX

Well-Known Member
My guess is that they will again raise the age requirement to play to hedge off the insolvency of the program on the whole.

While we all (OK, all but about 6-7% of State/local workers) did pay in... statistics prove that at age 77 the average recipient hits the point where they are taking out far more than they paid in. Combine that with some of the crazy ways folks can draw upon others who paid in far more than they did (divorce, for one) and the numbers just don't add up on the whole. It's gonna be interesting to see what folks who voted for all of this change think when all of this change actually comes. SS/Medicare won't be spared. I hope folks have made other plans/arrangements to bridge any gaps...if possible.
It’s an important point, though that money is supposed to grow so that you can actually receive more than you put in - and it could be doing so. Part of the problem is management. If your private investor did as poorly with your investments as SS has been handled, you would have fired him a long time ago.
 

Stiickygreen

Well-Known Member
It’s an important point, though that money is supposed to grow so that you can actually receive more than you put in - and it could be doing so. Part of the problem is management. If your private investor did as poorly with your investments as SS has been handled, you would have fired him a long time ago.
Ditto, IMO, if the Gov't were to disperse all of these funds back to the payees. I mean...stats say that well over 1/2 of the folks staring at retirement have less than 10K in savings. WTF do you think they'd do with a windfall payment from SS? They'd buy an 80K pickup truck as an investment.

The only folks who don't receive more than they paid in are the folks who die before 77.
 

doublejj

Well-Known Member
Insurers Pocketed $50 Billion From Medicare for Diseases No Doctor Treated
Gloria Lee was perplexed when the phone calls started coming in from a representative of her Medicare insurer. Could a nurse stop by her Boston home to give her a quick checkup? It was a helpful perk. No cost. In fact, she’d get a $50 gift card.

After several such calls in 2022, Lee agreed. A nurse showed up, checked her over, asked her questions, then diagnosed her with diabetic cataracts.
Private insurers involved in the government’s Medicare Advantage program made hundreds of thousands of questionable diagnoses that triggered extra taxpayer-funded payments from 2018 to 2021, including outright wrong ones like Lee’s, a Wall Street Journal analysis of billions of Medicare records found.
 

doublejj

Well-Known Member

doublejj

Well-Known Member
Here’s Trillions in Federal Waste the DOGE Bros Could Actually Target
Because what’s more wasteful than giant tax breaks for people who don’t need them?
For starters, the DOGE bros have proposed killing veteran’s health benefits, Pell grants, Head Start, and the Bureau of Prisons—which simply means the government would spend its “savings” on contracts with private prison companies
 

thumper60

Well-Known Member
Insurers Pocketed $50 Billion From Medicare for Diseases No Doctor Treated
Gloria Lee was perplexed when the phone calls started coming in from a representative of her Medicare insurer. Could a nurse stop by her Boston home to give her a quick checkup? It was a helpful perk. No cost. In fact, she’d get a $50 gift card.

After several such calls in 2022, Lee agreed. A nurse showed up, checked her over, asked her questions, then diagnosed her with diabetic cataracts.
Private insurers involved in the government’s Medicare Advantage program made hundreds of thousands of questionable diagnoses that triggered extra taxpayer-funded payments from 2018 to 2021, including outright wrong ones like Lee’s, a Wall Street Journal analysis of billions of Medicare records found.
Not just them ripping the system off the BOP camps are full of scumbag doctors an injury lawyers.
 

Rocket Soul

Well-Known Member
Here’s Trillions in Federal Waste the DOGE Bros Could Actually Target
Because what’s more wasteful than giant tax breaks for people who don’t need them?
For starters, the DOGE bros have proposed killing veteran’s health benefits, Pell grants, Head Start, and the Bureau of Prisons—which simply means the government would spend its “savings” on contracts with private prison companies
I read thru that and this is all that comes to mind:
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