Social Security benefits cut. What are your opinions?

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Social Security benefits cut. What are your opinions?

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@sp19690 i do not understand what you mean when you say that
"pension money is paid for everyone else who don't get pensions"
You pay into a pension you get a pension. You do not pay into the pension you do not get the pension.
Add to that that anyone that has worked and paid into Social Security if they also have had a job with the Government and paid into a pension generally they do not get Social Security. OR if they worked and paid into a pension and had a spouse that worked and paid into Social Security if that spouse dies they do not get any of that Social Security.
There is a pension off set that pretty much takes dollar for dollar from the Social Security check.

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Public pensions are funded by taxpayers. Private pensions under the pension act (I forget the name) are also insured by the government through the pbrgc or something like that. Thus taxpayers keep others afloat and do not reap those benefits themselves. Nothing is ever free. Someone else always pays one way or another whether they realize it or not.

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This isn't going to happen. Never would a politician anywhere now cut Social Security as he thereby cuts his own neck. It is a simple threat people use to scare people. You DO understand that the cost of living raise coming to you in January is the largest ever, due to our rampant inflation, right?????? On average we are getting a raise of about 130.00 a month.
Now, will the program fail eventually down the line? I suspect we will all be dead first, but it may if our country gets into trouble. So let's do all we can to keep her strong.
I hope the admins will move your question to "Discussions" because it will last longer there, and it is interesting question for sure.

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I agree totally Alva. They are not going to risk their own re-election.

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Another possible Social Security plan: Tax brackets for income earned in 2022
37% for incomes over $539,900 ($647,850 for married couples filing jointly)
I think those rich people with over $500k in annual incomes should not be eligible to collect any Social Security benefits unless their income level falls into an annual $500k or less, or their care level expenses exceed what their income is bringing in at $500 or more. That will also help with Medicaid eligibility. Make Congress think!

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To me rich people are sports players who get $35M for playing their sport for 6 months out of the year. Yet a doctor who can saves lives on average get $350k. Something is out of wrack with what we think people are worth.

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My opinion on social security benefits getting cut is pretty simple.

Don't vote Republican if you're worried about it.

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and most politician's don't want to risk not getting reelected by voting for something that is unpopular. The uproar from senior's in both parties would be loud.

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Fawnby is exactly right. Work and save. From 1984 to about 2001-2002 I worked two jobs. One full time 40 hours and the other between 20 - 25 hrs. per week. I was putting my son thru college and graduate school. He worked as well, and graduated debt free. But I still saved during that period. My second husband was the same way. Neither of us took vacations, bought new cars or recreational toys, no credit card debt. I still have my inheritance from my parents. My husband when he was younger invested all of his bonuses and signing money in real estate. Now that I am 66 and have multiple health problems that are expensive, I have the funds I need to pay for health problems and have the assistance I need. I don't have to rely on Social Security, although I could live on mine if I had too. I would never want to have my son to have to help me. I won't have to rely on Medicaid for long term care.

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You could never save enough money for nursing home or assisted living should you need one or both.

Depending on your health one never knows what old age will bring.

Even eating healthy and getting lots of exercise is no guarantee. Because life happens and the reality is the masses don't earn enough to save millions needed to live into your nineties or hundreds.

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Work and save, save and work. That was my grandmother’s advice long ago. In her generation, women didn’t work outside the home. She had an 8th grade education and married at age 19 after working in a laundry for 5 years. When she was in her 40s and kids were grown, she went back to school, learning skills that got her a good job with a pension, which was her goal. Few women did that in her time. She worked till age 75 when she got sick and she and grandfather, who had no pension, retired. They sold their house, downsized to a beautiful smaller home with the money, and lived out their lives. No Medicare. No Medicaid. A little Social Security. Work and save. But other people don’t think that way. They expect the government or their kids to take care of them. They spend their money on frivolous things. They don’t plan. Let’s get back to work and save.

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I agree with you, but sadly too many people over the past 50 years did not have the proper guidance to follow your advice. Children of the depression era did, and for some years after that maybe, but I think overall more and more got away from that mindset over the years.

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devils advocate here...
Social Security was not intended to be the only source of income after retirement. It is/was to be a Supplemental Income.
We are also outliving what the "normal" life span was back when it began. (August 1935)
Life expectancy in the 1930's for men, late 50's and women, early 60's.

Now we have people living WELL past 50's and 60's, probably add another 30 to 40 years to that.
Population of the USA in 1935 was 127,250,232
Population of the USA in 2022 is 332,403,650

People can not and should not rely on Social Security for their retirement.
Cutting benefits is one option or increasing the contribution that one pays is another.
And there is a great number of people that have paid into the Social Security pool and will NOT get payments.

Editing this..
contribution to Social Security in 1935 was 4.21% of taxable income in 2022 it is 6.20%
The first payment was for $0.17 in Jan 1937
The average now is $1,657 per month in 2022

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If they cut benefits for people at or near (perhaps within 15 years of retirement age), I fear our country is going to see a dramatic rise in homelessness. Our country can't tolerate that. Not enough people have had the ability to earn enough to save on their own and many people have not saved even though they could have if they were responsible and frugal from their 20's on. I'm 56 and I worry everyday what my life is going to be like if I make it to 70. Am I going to be able to afford a place to live? There is not enough senior subsidized housing, wait lists if they are open, are years long, and market rents keeping rising and rising. Something will have to give and if they cut SS and Medicare you are going to see more and more seniors with no place to live. It is scary.

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Thank you for your opinion, Mrstrbill.

I wish you luck for your future welfare. Just hang in there with prayers.

In addition, if anyone does not work for the same employer long enough for a decent(?) pension or saved enough while earning wages, more trouble comes down the road.

With over 40 years of employment, I never worked 30 years anywhere, and the average job lasted about 3 to 4 years until in1987 I landed a good banking job way before the Great Recession in 2008. I got laid off from that good banking job in 2012 after 25 years of service, 5-plus years short of my 30 year goal. I was forced to take some of my 401(k) contributions at age 56 because of long unemployment to just pay my bills for a single person household, even with family contributions. I had finally landed a minimum wage job in 2015, got laid off from it in 2020, then worked a temporary USPS plant processing job in 2020 and another minimum wage job in 2021 until I retired late last year with mostly SSA for my income.

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If Congress hadnt made it so social security money wasn't put in the general fund this would not be as much of an issue.

The reality is social security payments were based on life expectancy of seniors so most seniors would never live long enough to get social security or only be on social security for a few years before they died.

Many seniors are living into their nineties or hundreds and this makes social security unsustainable as these seniors are requiring and get expensive medical interventions to keep them alive and warehoused as the living dead in nursing homes. You have elderly with dementia getting cancer treatments and pacemakers just as examples.

Something has to give and since seniors offer no real value from a financial standpoint in our society and to the government it makes sense that they would cut funding in this area. This entire world is about money.

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And we will fight like h***to keep ss out of general fund cause fdr wasn't stupid and neither are the rest of us. It's a shame we live longer but not better says the woman disabled by multiple sclerosis.. its an entitlement I was born with cause I was born an American.
Our veteran expenses r also going up as more of them r likely to survive it cost less money to bury them after war... The obvious problem is medicine, medicine has surpassed the economy and greed.

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Thank you, BarbBrooklyn. It may be true, but I don't trust Congress. I rest their case for 12 more years.

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My reading indicates that benefits would be cut for FUTURE, not current beneficiaries.

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Social Security benefits cut. What are your opinions?

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