@BrianL306623wrote
what I do not get is that this is an issue that affects every working American citizen that pays into this system that was enacted to provide"old-age benefits for workers, benefits for victims of industrial accidents, unemployment insurance, and aid for dependent mothers and children, persons who are blind, and persons with disabilities."
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Please understand that there is a difference in the Social Security LAW and Social Security THE PROGRAM.
The LAW covers a lot of different social welfare programs - meaning for the good of the people - THE PROGRAM of Social Security is the only one that is completely funded by TRUST FUND(S) with specific funding methods. This is the program that only covers benefits that have been earned by work and contributions (1) OLD AGE RETIREMENT (2) SURVIVORS BENEFITS (3) Social Security DISABILITY
All the others are funded by General Taz Revenues or from a combination of general tax revenues and payment from another source - like employers for unemployment insurance.
The Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program is also administered by the Social Security Administration but it is completely separate from THE PROGRAM of Social Security. SSI is completely funded by General Tax revenues and has nothing to do with THE PROGRAM of Social Security except they are both administered by the Social Security Administration.
That’s another area of confusion - people don’t understand the differences and the government does nothing to correct their misconception in fact they propagate it - for confusion, yes, maybe. So be leery when people use the acronym of SSI because they think it means Social Security Insurance but it doesn’t - it means Supplemental Security Income -
SO when you or others talk about fixing Social Security, it will help if you used the term THE PROGRAM of SOCIAL SECURITY or the TRUST FUND Program of SOCIAL SECURITY.
This is especially true of the disability program because BOTH programs administered by the Social Security Administration - The TRUST FUND one and the GENERAL REVENUES one are both disability programs - one is an earned benefit and the other is a welfare program for those who haven’t earned the benefit or have a limited amount of earned benefits.
If you just want the Trust Funds fixed for solvency (and I say, TrustS Funds - plural, because they are broken down onto (2) parts - One is for the Social Security programs of OLD AGE RETIREMENT and SURVIVORS BENEFITS and the other is for SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY. Contributions are also broken down to the (2) Trust Funds too, thenwe need to fix the solvency of THE PROGRAM of Social Security - the earned benefits of OLD AGE RETIREMENT, SURVIVORS BENEFITS and SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY. We need to increase the TRUST FUND BALANCES by increasing the revenues for any covered benefits - the benefits that are now covered + any of the ones that might be added or are planned to be added.
ADDING to the TRUST FUNDS revenues isn’t hard at all - The hard part is selling it to the American People because that’s where the unintended consequences will come into play. They only want the increase in revenues coming from a place that does NOT affect them, meaning paying in more by some means.
It seems to me that the big sale to the American people of any proposal has to be how they see the fairness of it - nobody wants to pay more.
So how do you convince the American people that to fix the system for the long term that everybody is gonna have to do some part in fixing it? How do you convince them that not just taxing the “rich” is gonna fix it when most believe that it will and that’s all that needs to be done.
The solvency methods has to be sold to them.
When President Reagan and Tip ONeill came up with their compromises in the 1980’s to save THE Program of Social Security, they sold it as saving the system and it did but many of their proposals were for long term inclusion - like raising the retirement age - we are only now reaching that age 67 full retirement age and it was proposed and began the trek to in the 1980’s.
So I believe that anything that we do will have to be done in incremental steps whether that is increasing tor eliminating the cap, raising the retirement age with still an early retirement option or raising the contribution rate - all done incrementally for the next 30 or more years. OR ALL OF THE ABOVE⤴️
But IF WE don’t start things like this SOON - we lose the incremental change options. Then it becomes emergency action. NOT GOOD
With incremental change, we give the people a chance to adjust. Just like the year after year Trustee REport says:
“Lawmakers have many options for changes that would reduce or eliminate the long-term financing shortfalls. Taking action sooner rather than later will allow consideration of a broader range of solutions and provide more time to phase in changes so that the public has adequate time to prepare.”
2024 Social Security Trustee REport Summary
I really have no fight in this game, so to speak, I am closer to death age now than I am to my full retirement age. I planned well and have a pretty good retirement income with several assets and resources. I pay a good amount of taxes on my Social Security Benefits every year, I pay Income Related Monthly Adjusted Amount (IRMAA) Medicare Part B premium surcharges every month on my Medicare benefits.
Kiplinger.com IRMAA 2025 rates by income
I was really ticked off when the 1980’s changes were made cause it did affect me & husband, both self-employed. But we adjusted and after time, the upset emotion faded.
But what do you want to bet that in this day and the political strife among politicians and people - that nothing gets done or if it does, massive rebellion. Seeing a bunch of old people and disabled people protesting in the street is something don’t want to see.
And who knows - the Millenials and those younger might not even want this Social Security Program system - they may want something else.
So MY plan is to prepare for what is right in front of us now - come around 2035 or so - benefits will be cut about 20% +/-so I am preparing my finance structure for it.
Good Luck
