What will we do about the looming retirement crisis?

[MyTeamIsOnTheFloor]

Agreed. I think we’re long past any “good” solutions and have entered the time period where two choices remain, the foolish (as you note re: the Fed) or the tragic.

Old people are killing this country financially. And everything we do relative to medical research involves people living longer than they could before.

Additionally we’re introducing efficiency/productivity transforming technologies like AI which will shrink the workforce while we’re raising retirement ages. Now young people can’t get into the market or have to do it at a substantially reduced income from the forebears.

I literally can’t conceive an approach which doesn’t radically transform our way of life and government. We tend not to think of the ramifications of this progress and what it means for humanity. At some point we just don’t need all these damn people around because there’s no work for them to do.

Will we see a population decline begin in our lifetimes? The rate of increase is slowing but will it go negative in the next 20 years or so?

Don't forget that I had money taken from every paycheck and given to the government. Until I receive that money back, and my lost earnings on that money, I think I deserve every penny.

Maybe Fauci can fund another ChiCom research effort that will kill off a few more million old folks? Save you youngsters some tax increases?

 

[76-1]

Agreed. I think we’re long past any “good” solutions and have entered the time period where two choices remain, the foolish (as you note re: the Fed) or the tragic.

Old people are killing this country financially. And everything we do relative to medical research involves people living longer than they could before.

Additionally we’re introducing efficiency/productivity transforming technologies like AI which will shrink the workforce while we’re raising retirement ages. Now young people can’t get into the market or have to do it at a substantially reduced income from the forebears.

I literally can’t conceive an approach which doesn’t radically transform our way of life and government. We tend not to think of the ramifications of this progress and what it means for humanity. At some point we just don’t need all these damn people around because there’s no work for them to do.

Will we see a population decline begin in our lifetimes? The rate of increase is slowing but will it go negative in the next 20 years or so?

We're dying as fast as we can... Some of us are just tougher to kill than others... Sorry...

 

[twenty02]

Current jobs, yes. I agree with that.

But I don’t think we’re likely to see labor writ large idled nearly to the extent that people fear. We’re a pretty nimble species.

Whoa man. I really disagree.

We're going into an era that's going to be dominated by tech, specifically AI.

Outside of physically building stuff, there won't be a future employment structure for most of the white collar jobs that exist today. The have and have not are going to greatly widen. Trading daily labor for wages will be considered archaic

You either have capital or not. Those that do will get very rich. Those that don't are going to be continuing to fight for less and less scraps.

There's no special sauce about America. We had massive advantages that resulted from the outcome of WW2. An industrial base that's the wasn't destroyed, etc.... We've lived off of that a long time. That's coming to an end

 

[bailey777]

Of course they won't. Can't raise taxes. Even when they should.

Why should they thats not even a high income for a family its middle class, Your politics make sense now plus i thought you were married you used to claim, If you wife died i am sorry but you used to claim your wife got mad because of trump and now you say you are single

 

[bailey777]

Raise the cap and treat benefits as normal income for taxation purposes. That's enough. I don't want the government telling an office worker with a bad back that he has to work longer than a fit and healthy laboreri

i have bad back but i continue to work. Its called working

 

[Baller23Boogie]

i have bad back but i continue to work. Its called working

So, your experience is going to be the exact same as everyone else with back issues.

Makes total sense.

Think harder next time.

 

[larsIU]

Don't forget that I had money taken from every paycheck and given to the government. Until I receive that money back, and my lost earnings on that money, I think I deserve every penny.

Maybe Fauci can fund another ChiCom research effort that will kill off a few more million old folks? Save you youngsters some tax increases?

Maybe but I rather like old people and am aspiring to be one myself some day.

I think we need to reconsider how we deal with the issues and costs of aging in our modern advanced society.

 

[Spartans9312]

Maybe but I rather like old people and am aspiring to be one myself some day.

I think we need to reconsider how we deal with the issues and costs of aging in our modern advanced society.

We need to eliminate Medicare disability and SSI for those that aren’t truly disabled. From my perch at the pharmacy….that is about 90% of the cases. Yes that’s probably a drop in the bucket overall but those drops add up over time.

 

[GooglyMooglyWooglyBoogly]

That's a whole lotta words to say little more than "taxes are bad." SS has a revenue problem. Big picture wise, lifting the cap and taxing benefits as regular income is the simplest and most equitable fix, one that will be barely felt even by those effected, and one that could be implemented with the least political cost.

Having watched you post for many years now it’s quite clear you think new businesses, products and services grow on some sort of tree and that the idea of low taxes driving capital investment is to be completely discarded.

Milk the rich, there are no consequences.

Hard to understand how you got this late in life and can still be so ignorant.

 

[IUCrazy2]

Don't forget that I had money taken from every paycheck and given to the government. Until I receive that money back, and my lost earnings on that money, I think I deserve every penny.

Maybe Fauci can fund another ChiCom research effort that will kill off a few more million old folks? Save you youngsters some tax increases?

"We put those payroll contributions there so as to give the contributors a legal, moral, and political right to collect their pensions and their unemployment benefits. With those [payroll] taxes in there, no damn politician can ever scrap my social security program." - FDR

The program was designed from the beginning to put anyone dealing with it in this place. Retired individuals feel enititled to it because they were taxed in their youth to fund the retirement of the generations before them. The problem being that the generation now reaching or of retirement age is living longer, holding jobs longer (denying career opportunities to younger generation often at the highest organizational rungs), and is larger than the young taxpayers that are carrying the burden of paying their retirement.

There are a bunch of people in my parent's generation who voted to "cut the fat" in government not realizing that they are the fat.

 

[Pryght]

My first thought is that it would be nice if Doc and Marty could let us borrow their DeLorean so somebody could go back to 1935 and show the designers of this system its glaring flaws and fate.

 

[mcmurtry66]

Having watched you post for many years now it’s quite clear you think new businesses, products and services grow on some sort of tree and that the idea of low taxes driving capital investment is to be completely discarded.

Milk the rich, there are no consequences.

Hard to understand how you got this late in life and can still be so ignorant.

It’s a cancer mentality you see amongst all progressives and way too many dems.

 

[larsIU]

It’s a cancer mentality you see amongst all progressives and way too many dems.

We can either means test or lift the cap. Or a mixture. Pick your poison.

The point i'm trying to get at is that we're at the beginning of this problem. It's only going to get worse. What are we going to do about it. Social Security reform is only one answer.

 

[mcmurtry66]

We can either means test or lift the cap. Or a mixture. Pick your poison.

The point i'm trying to get at is that we're at the beginning of this problem. It's only going to get worse. What are we going to do about it. Social Security reform is only one answer.

Raise the cap and age is the simplest solution

 

[larsIU]

Raise the cap and age is the simplest solution

Is raising the cap "milking the rich" though. I don't want to offend any sensibilities.

 

[mcmurtry66]

Is raising the cap "milking the rich" though. I don't want to offend any sensibilities.

It has a disproportionate impact but when things are done across the board it’s more palatable.

Perception matters. There’s also I trust a greater appetite to pay and increase tax liability when businesses and people feel there’s a concomitant effort to reduce costs and increase accountability and outcomes.

The thread about have you ever had to fire someone misses the mark tho fascinating to read. It ignores the employer. Of course if you put a name and a face to a discharge one will have sympathy but when it’s the generic fed gov people want to raise their chain saws and say F yeah! Bc we don’t feel like they provide a good service for what we pay. And those of us outside of gov don’t really like the perceived culture of entitlement that the 50 year old laying asphalt in the dead of summer in ocala fla doesn’t have.

When you don’t like something you want it gone. Perfect example I would give up watching all sports for Burger King to go out of business Will I feel badly for their employees. Sure. But they can get on somewhere else. That’s life. Would I accept a new ceo and everyone in marketing for Burger King fired and a new team. Okay fine. I’ll take that. That’s what many feel doge is trying to do

And ps BK no one has responded to my emails. They’re like dealing with the gov. Email Jim the owner of this board. He’ll email back in minutes. How can we make this experience better. How can we improve. That makes you want to help

 

[larsIU]

Bc we don’t feel like they provide a good service for what we pay.

Except that when the cutting starts Republicans get screamed at in their own districts. I think the federal government has a perception problem. It is, quite literally, the greatest administrative body ever created by mankind. We should be proud of it. And by that I mean we shouldn’t abuse it by overspending or underfunding it. We should treat it with the care it deserves. Does it need to be smaller? In some areas very much yes. In other areas no. Everything can’t be a nail.

Would I accept a new ceo and everyone in marketing for Burger King fired and a new team.

Spoiler

 

[mcmurtry66]

Except that when the cutting starts Republicans get screamed at in their own districts. I think the federal government has a perception problem. It is, quite literally, the greatest administrative body slevee created by mankind. We should be proud of it. And by that I mean we should abuse it by overspending or underfunding it. We should treat it with the care it deserves. Does it need to be smaller? In some areas very much yes. In other areas no. Everything can’t be a nail.

Spoiler

I disagree. I don’t think our fed gov works. We have 35 trillion in debt. 35 million in poverty. Ignoring legal blockades I’d love to tear it down to the studs and start over. It’s way too big. Way too expensive. And way too nonresponsive and unwieldy. I would like to tear it all down and reimagine it under sope’s vision of a much smaller fed gov with regional governments that would be better tuned into and responsive to the areas they serve. I also think the downside to having four year elections is that it makes real change impossible.