Trumps Presidency 2025

[gehringer_2]

13 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

Unless they can find a way to pay back all the money they "borrowed" from the fund, there needs to be something done. Raising the age wouldn't be for older folks now, just for 20 to 30 year olds, 40 years in the future. But cuts may still need to be made, I have no answers. But just raising the income cap is kinda unfair unless they raise the monthly maximum benefit. And that would defeat the purpose.

There is no fund, there are only entries in a fictional account book. It's is a mechanical impossibility for the US government to 'save' money - the only thing it could ever do is buy it's own Fed Res bonds, and all that does practically is contract the money supply. If the SS 'trust fund' is empty, all that means is that the proceeds from current SS taxes are less than payments, and all that happens if the checks keep going out is that the Federal deficit goes up by that imbalance, and it would certainly be the end of world if the deficit funded SS payments instead of say - corporate tax cuts, or golden ballrooms or oil depletion allowances or F-35s. Just turrible!

The way it really works is that in years when SS took in more than it paid out, the Federal government spend the money out of the general fund and wrote an 'iou' to the SSA. No money gets 'saved'. Those IOUs are the mythical trust fund.

Edited Tuesday at 03:29 PM by gehringer_2

[1776]

How about the possibility of eliminating the COLA? Maybe phasing it out over a couple of years. There was no COLA prior to 1975. Or maybe, somewhat along the lines of means testing, the COLA would only apply to certain qualifiers.
 
 

 

[gehringer_2]

6 minutes ago, 1776 said:

How about the possibility of eliminating the COLA? Maybe phasing it out over a couple of years. There was no COLA prior to 1975. Or maybe, somewhat along the lines of means testing, the COLA would only apply to certain qualifiers.
 
 

 

or the mirror image of that - which would be to raise the contribution income limit and then index that to inflation. They've had to 'rescue' SS before - it's usually  done Chinese menu style - a little of this, a little of that - raise the eligibility ages a year across the board, raise FICA 0.5%, raise the FICA limit income some.

Edited Tuesday at 03:36 PM by gehringer_2

[chasfh]

25 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

Unless they can find a way to pay back all the money they "borrowed" from the fund, there needs to be something done. Raising the age wouldn't be for older folks now, just for 20 to 30 year olds, 40 years in the future. But cuts may still need to be made, I have no answers. But just raising the income cap is kinda unfair unless they raise the monthly maximum benefit. And that would defeat the purpose.

Raise the minimum age on the young kids but don't raise it on us. I like the way you think. 😉😁

I think raising the income cap is the perfect solution, and I don't care if it's unfair because it is supposed to be a wealth transfer program, not a government-run individual pension fund. I don't think it's any more unfair than funding unemployment insurance with workers' taxes. Raise the cap to a million dollars. That seems like it would go a long way toward cutting down the shortfall.

[Tiger337]

29 minutes ago, chasfh said:

Raise the minimum age on the young kids but don't raise it on us. I like the way you think. 😉😁

I think raising the income cap is the perfect solution, and I don't care if it's unfair because it is supposed to be a wealth transfer program, not a government-run individual pension fund. I don't think it's any more unfair than funding unemployment insurance with workers' taxes. Raise the cap to a million dollars. That seems like it would go a long way toward cutting down the shortfall.

Raising the cap seems like a no brainer to me.  I don't know if raising the edge is even a good idea for the economy.  You are forcing people who are possibly past their working prime to work longer while possibly making it more difficult for younger people to find work.  

Edited Tuesday at 04:16 PM by Tiger337

[Hongbit]

The only way that I see this administration caring about Social Security is if there’s a way to make billionaires more money while punishing any previous woke polices and owning libs while doing it.  

[gehringer_2]

29 minutes ago, Hongbit said:

The only way that I see this administration caring about Social Security is if there’s a way to make billionaires more money while punishing any previous woke polices and owning libs while doing it.  

I actually suspect there is a good deal of daylight between Trump and the hard core GOP on this. I think Trump wants to be thought of as benevolent to his people, and SS is part of that since so many white MAGAs are recipients. I don't think Trump ever thinks in Austrian School terms about SS being Hayak's 'Road to Serfdom' like a Paul Ryan, he's just not that ideological. Of course, that doesn't mean he won't be willing to support changes in tax or spending policy that are terribly destructive to everything else as part of his solution to 'save' SS.

Edited Tuesday at 04:57 PM by gehringer_2

[Tiger337]

16 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

I actually suspect there is a good deal of daylight between Trump and the hard core GOP on this. I think Trump wants to be thought of as benevolent to his people, and SS is part of that since so many white MAGAs are recipients. I don't think Trump ever thinks in Austrian School terms about SS being Hayak's 'Road to Serfdom' like a Paul Ryan, he's just not that ideological. Of course, that doesn't mean he won't be willing to support changes in tax or spending policy that are terribly destructive to everything else as part of his solution to 'save' SS.

Trump read this and thought you were talking about Salma Hayek!

I do agree there has always been a conflict for Trump about wanting to be loved and wanting to be king. That may save us in some ways and screw us in others.  

 

 

[gehringer_2]

9 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

Trump read this and thought you were talking about Salma Hayek!

I do agree there has always been a conflict for Trump about wanting to be loved and wanting to be king. That may save us in some ways and screw us in others.  

 

 

the other worrisome thing is that if he does start failing more seriously, the terrible people he has gathered around him will be happy to maneuver him into some really bad policy moves if they can.

[CMRivdogs]

So she’s back to pimping again?

 

[CMRivdogs]

 

[mtutiger]

2 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

I think Trump wants to be thought of as benevolent to his people, and SS is part of that since so many white MAGAs are recipients. 

I don't think Trump cares all that much about his supporters and just expects them to go along with whatever he ends up doing

[mtutiger]

Judge Boxowine is the ace in the hole lolol

Edited Tuesday at 06:56 PM by mtutiger

[chasfh]

2 hours ago, Tiger337 said:

I do agree there has always been a conflict for Trump about wanting to be loved and wanting to be king.

He honestly, truly believes he can have both.

[Tiger337]

6 minutes ago, chasfh said:

He honestly, truly believes he can have both.

I don't think that's really true.  I don't believe he likes himself and he needs to be loved to validate himself.  Then he punishes those who don't love him.  I believe he is a deeply ill individual.  

 

Edited Tuesday at 07:33 PM by Tiger337

[chasfh]

1 hour ago, Tiger337 said:

I don't think that's really true.  I don't believe he likes himself and he needs to be loved to validate himself.  Then he punishes those who don't love him.  I believe he is a deeply ill individual.  

 

I agree with all this, and I still think he believes he can have both, perhaps because he is too mentally ill to see it's not possible, and furthermore, no one would ever have the guts to tell him so.

[Tigermojo]

UFC fight at the White House next year. I thought we had more time before Idiocracy became reality. You'll be watering your crops with Brawndo very soon.

[gehringer_2]

6 minutes ago, Tigermojo said:

UFC fight at the White House next year. I thought we had more time before Idiocracy became reality. You'll be watering your crops with Brawndo very soon.

I've heard Andrew Jackson used to have people camping out at the White House and various critters grazing the lawn in place of mowers.

[GalagaGuy]

Not saying I'm in favor of UFC at the White House, but is it really any worse than having a Drag Queen event there?   

[mtutiger]

It was only a matter of time...

[Mr.TaterSalad]

2 hours ago, mtutiger said:

It was only a matter of time...

So we're going to have Trump's bathroom brigade at ever restaurant now? Are restaurants going to have workers that actually feel your private parts and gentile area or is this a visual inspection you have to go through?

[pfife]

13 hours ago, GalagaGuy said:

Not saying I'm in favor of UFC at the White House, but is it really any worse than having a Drag Queen event there?   

Neither are bad.

Yes im bigly into ufc

[mtutiger]

6 minutes ago, pfife said:

Neither are bad.

Yes im bigly into ufc

If anything, I wish he'd spend 100% of his time hosting UFC fights... and not, you know, things like cutting Medicaid.

[pfife]

Wonder what ufcs plan is for inclement weather.   Do they keep fighting through rain?  What about trumps lettuce in the rain?

[Tigerbomb13]

Notice a pattern of every person he calls a “low IQ individual?