The RICH are costing Social Security $150 Billion a year.

Bobby, I love ya but please change your avatar. I can't find the extra time to chase down wacky lefties.

 

You are right - I'm not one of them.

But, BFD. The issue was whether there is a growing income gap.

And, the answer is: absolutely.

Beyond that, it appears we are following the correct course if our intent is for that gap to rapidly and catastrophicly grow worse.

 

Well the sad truth is that Social Security as it is presently implemented is a pyramid scheme and will become increasingly unsustainable as fewer workers making fewer dollars are tasked with supporting a rapidly growing elderly class. It is only going to stay funded if something is done. The options as far as I know are as follows:

1. Massive immigration to generate more taxpayers for funding for retirees. This immigration would have to continually accelerate over time.
2. Significant raising of the retirement age.
3. Significant raising of SS taxes on all workers.
4. Applying the tax across the entire income for the wealthy while retaining a max cap for benefits
5. Significant slicing of benefits of future retirees.
6. Pay for the shortfalls with credit spending (let the kids figure out after we are dead).

I am unaware of other options. So pick your poison, what do you think is the best option to handle the coming insolvency of SSA?

 

I'd keep the $132,000 cap for businesses but not for individuals. I'd also remove the social security tax match for small businesses. The rich do pay more in taxes, and benefit from them a lot less, that is the whole point of a progressive tax system, that those who can afford it the most pay the most in taxes.

 

I agree with some of this.

But let's not forget that the rich get to design the system.

And, that is huge.

Our healthcare sytem is not designed for wage earners.

But, we require those who would choose a more simple system to buy into the system the super wealthy defined.

 

Exactly right. The wealthy are basically the ones who set the wages for their workers. That is why we have progressive taxes to re-balance things.

 

IT IS PUNITIVE right now and always has been on those making under the cutoff.They pay the maximum percentage of S.S.deductions on every single dollar but those in the million plus category are paying only on the first $132,00 in 2019,on their first million they earn $868,000 without a penny of S.S. taken out of it ,the more millions they make the more they evade.

 

The income gap is not a product of too many rich, it is a product of too many poor. When you have a government who is letting tens of millions of uneducated and unskilled people into the work force that is what occurs. When the unskilled and semi-skilled work force is inundated with millions of cheap workers, it kills the wage structure. Anyone with a brain can see the results. Jobs like roofers, meat packers, labors, make less now than they did 20 years ago. It is because the market is flooded with labor. If you compare these jobs with the skilled jobs in the construction trade you can easily see the difference. During that same 20 years the wages for plumber and electricians has more than doubled. You can also see it in states that require E Verify. Minimum wage in those states is $2 an hour more.

 

Let me give you a little hint in life. Don't expect others to carry your water. Losers are gonna be losers and enabling them is a fools game. Don't expect me to pay for your retirement. I could care less if you live on a street corner.

 

Many ties I've backed the bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill of 2013 - the bill that passed in the Senate and would have passed in the House had the Republican speaker not blocked it from coming to a vote.

That bill included money to fix e-verify, law requiring all employers to useit, and money for enforcement of penalties.

The most egregious part of that is that to pass, Republicans included law to allow them to hire temporary workers directly out of Mexico and then toss them back whenever they were through with them - leaving us STILL with a category of powerless cheap labor to be abused wheen hiring a citizen would require paying a decent wage, ensuring healthcre, allowing workers the right to vote andd/or leave work without being deported, etc.

But, it was a compromise bill, formed by both parties in committee - a committee that included full Republican andd Democratic representation .

 

The income gap is a product of laws passed since 1977 which included the introduction of 401K's and within ten years the elimination of over 100,000 private company pension plans which permitted the wealthy CEO's,Executives and Board members, of these companies, to divvy up the monies saved from no longer funding pension plans amongst themselves. Beginning the giant salary disparity which has grown up since 1980 between executives and rank and file employees,which has only widened over the years.

 

As long as you dont mind paying them the benefit they earned from the 12.4% contribution of their entire income

 

Which is as good a way as any to ham string an economy, reduce economic growth and create stagnant wages.

 

I missed something...... businesses do not pay social security taxes on their income....???

 

You need to fact check your talking points before you regurgitate them.

 

Why does being able to afford it give you a right to their money?

 

P-O-N-Z-I scheme.

 

Oh for pity if they paid taxes they'd either pay the workers les or charge more for their products. This peculiar notion that leftist seem to have that corporations are just giant money trees that can be shaken down without any adverse consequences is one of the more absurdist notions anyone ever dreamed up.

 

The owners pay when the pass anything to themselves

 

They are, after all, motley fools

 

It is the wealthy who decides the wages for everyone else. What I am saying is that what they have decided is their money, and what scraps is given to their workers is harmful to the working class. So to better benefit the working class, the wealthy pay more in taxes to help fund services like retirement and healthcare that benefit everyone.

 

I'd exclude small businesses from having to pay social security taxes on their workers. They have such a high failure rate, and we are seeing fewer and fewer small businesses, that they need some help.

 

Are you arguing for zero corporate income tax for all corporations?

Or, is this just you, thrashing again?

 

I'm just pointing out the reality. You want to tax corporations that's fine but don't act as though it's free money and has no negative consequences. It isn't and it does.

 

Well, this isn't really true. If you mean shareholders, they get to juggle investments and determine when and how to to take profit - somthing employees do not get to do. That makes a big difference.

Also, tax codes on bonuses are such that many at the top get paid in bonuses - without any regard to their success as memebers of management.

But, what we're talking about here is corporate tax rates. Corporations do make demands on civil infrastructure that is paid for by residents. Those demands can be severe and are not paid for by shareholders - who aren't particularly likely to live in the same STATE let alone the same location.