I'm with Chris.

On this issue.

Trump has rejected cutting the program at all. In the Sunday interview, Christie was even more staunch in his stance on means testing for Social Security, which would exclude people at higher incomes from receiving those benefits. He also stood by his proposal to raise the retirement age.

“Do the extraordinarily wealthy need to collect Social Security? Do we really need to have Warren Buffett and Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk collecting Social Security?” he said.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/09/chris-christie-on-trump-attacks-and-social-security-cuts.html

In addition to a means test we should be discussing eliminating the doughnut hole. Get rid of the SS limit on taxable income. Those two things might actually allow for an increase in benefits for those who need it.

I have two millionaire friends collecting SS. They go berserk when I say things like they don't need the money............but they don't.

 

Its their right. They paid into the system their whole lives. Nobody should be punished for success. I'm not incredibly rich and I need the SS way more than your millionaire friends but it is THEIRS. Whats up with the left wanting to always reach in peoples pockets?
Disturbing!

 

@Lee Atwater

raising the age for social security might save a little money, but the old women in this neighborhood, and many others, will be devastated.

means testing costs more than it saves. i don't know how to equitably determine that a billionaire who just lost say $44B on a bad investment and shows 0 income for the year needs more from ss than the wal mart greeter . n

 

You and about 5% of the Republican Base.

 

We shouldn't means test it.

We should quadruple the cap on income that is taxed for SS.

 

I'm against raising the age of eligibility.

 

Eliminate the cap and recalibrate withholding rate.

 

All solutions should be on the table.

 

Would refusing SS benefits to billionaires actually have that much of an impact? I ask only because I don't know. I do agree that eliminating the SS tax limit is a must.

 

How about leaving SS alone. Workers pay into it and employers match that amount for the workers. Self-employed pay double the rate of an employee. Anyone who has their pay confiscated for SS has a right to receive their monthly pension when they reach retirement age. Period. Hold up your hand if you are for discriminating against the rich? SS pays for itself, just stop giving money away to welfare queens, foreign countries, fakers on disability, fatherless kids, pork barrel projects, etc, the wasteful list is endless.
We waste money like it grows on trees and the solution to help balance the books is to set up a scam for rich people. I say build a monument for rich people -- they provide the jobs, services, merchandise, and payroll to keep the country working.

 

Means testing is inequality. Pay into the program, take the benefits of the program. If they want means testing then they need to make SS "contributions" optional. Raising the retirement age is fine since it affect everyone and therefore meets the requirements of equality.

 

I suppose it would depend on the criteria for the means test. My assumption is it would apply to folks far below the billionaire level.

 

Wuuut????

You and Christy want to, effectively, raise Social Security taxes on the wealthy and, at the same time, bar them from collecting it?

I agree they should pay their FULL FAIR SHARE. But, you can’t cut them out too. Wouldn’t that undermine the fundamental concept of the program.

 

Remove the cap, I 100% support that. Do NOT raise the age. The average person these days needs what little SS pays to cover the damage inflation has done to savings.

The other thing, when one spouse claims SS and the other hasn't and is still working, earnings over a pathetically low dollar threshold becomes taxable. It's about $12,000 over poverty line for a household of 2.

 

I started paying SS taxes when I was 12. Today when I do my IRS return I have to pay taxes on part of my SS. But I guess the illegal aliens and Ukraine need all the help they can get.

 

Yea, blame anyone but Congress. That is what they want.

 

I could go for raising the maximum income taxed to maintain the buying power of SS, in fact make that amount an automatic.
Oprah finishes paying her SS before she finishes her New Year's orange juice, It won't kill her to pay until she eats lunch. At the same time it should be there just in case she loses all her money and nobody should ever be able to call it charity.

I would also note that a large amount of the debt is to the SS reserves. For many years SS covered tax cuts to the rich, time for a little payback.

 

When you pay in more you get more back.

That's a lot of liberal democrat BS. That gets so old.

 

Usually you are full of outright crap on most everything but, I have to admit, I agree with these two things. Fixing SS isn't hard. This could be done in very short time. It's not complicated at all. But, for the most part, Chris Christie is a complete idiot.

 

The fundamental concept of the program was to keep the elderly of very modest means from being financially destitute. To provide a safety net for the folks with the least ability to live out their days in retirement with some degree of dignity and security.

 

AND that ALL Americans would contribute AND benefit.

 

Which is precisely why it is nonsensical for him to be running for the Republican nomination.

The best I can tell is that he is perhaps angling to become one of the so called "Republican" commentators on MSNBC.

 

Means testing for social security would be ruled unconstitutional.

 

Me thinks you've beaten that dead horse once too often.

 

What makes you say that?