What will we do about the looming retirement crisis?

[DANC]

I’m too lazy to look it up, but why did the option of moving an individuals SS to an owned investment account die and never return?

Gov workers in Indiana have had a vesting, owned public like 401k option for a long time. I didn’t want to go the pension route for a number of reasons, one being I didn’t plan on being around long enough to vest. But I would have chosen the 401k like plan regardless. Im also a saver by nature though.

Because Democrats demagoged the idea and showed Republicans throwing grandma off the cliff.

 

[DANC]

How do you keep those from turning into Cabrini Green though?

Build smaller - not high rise apartment buildings Hold administrators accountable. Put a police station in the complex.

 

[DANC]

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 laborer.

Huh? My SS income is treated as normal income for taxation purposes.

 

[DANC]

The only thing I know is that the Boomers will not be forced with reckon with another of their generational mistakes.

The “Me Generation” strikes again.

That's right - pay up, bitches!

 

[DANC]

I was reading a story that AI was asked to create a new computer chip design. It did and performs better than what humans design. They use random shapes and so far humans don't know why they perform better.

Of course the first couple AI attempts did not work, it isn't perfect yet. But allowing it to design the chips that will lead the robot revolution isn't a good idea.

AI-designed chips are so weird that 'humans cannot really understand them' — but they perform better than anything we've created

AI models have, within hours, created more efficient wireless chips through deep learning, but it is unclear how their 'randomly shaped' designs were produced.

www.livescience.com

You guys watching the Dune prequel (sorry, don't know the name) on Max that shows an advanced society that bans any 'machine thinking' because of a robot war that almost destroyed mankind?

The series itself is kind of slow and confusing, but the idea of banning 'machine thinking' is pretty radical.

 

[DANC]

The problem with this is the same problem I have with forgiving student debt: we’re rewarding people who haven’t been responsible…at the expense of those who have.

Our public policy should do the reverse. It should reward responsibility and punish irresponsibility.

Yep, whatever you subsidize, you get more of.

 

[Baller23Boogie]

The tax cuts that increased revenue?

You need some new material.

How are we paying for those tax cuts?

Also, how much are these tax cuts going to change our debt?

 

[crazed_hoosier2]

How are we paying for those tax cuts?

Also, how much are these tax cuts going to change our debt?

 

[larsIU]

It doesn’t matter what it’s called. Eventually it will lead to Europe. The only reason we have the growth we do is because we’re running up deficits, instead paying higher taxes.

The reality is we can only provide welfare because we have excess goods/services, which is only created through productivity gains. If we significantly raise taxes, we’re going to lose our growth, which eventually leads to fewer services for fewer people. The government can’t be all things to all people.

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Is this taxes or a draconian regulatory environment. Probably both. I bet more the latter though.

 

[crazed_hoosier2]

Is this taxes or a draconian regulatory environment. Probably both. I bet more the latter though.

I'd say these two things are part and parcel. They both represent economic interventions that restrict market activity. And they almost always go hand-in-hand -- symbiotic.

And this is why I'm skeptical that Europe has the wherewithal to make up the slack for reduced US defense presence. Their general domestic policies have long favored butter over guns. And they could afford to do this because the US has subsidized them.

 

[crazed_hoosier2]

How are we paying for those tax cuts?

Also, how much are these tax cuts going to change our debt?

Couple other comments on this.

1. Let's not forget that the "new" tax cuts on the table are mostly just extensions of the current tax policies. The changes being considered include:

- Raising the SALT deduction cap -- which most Dems support and is necessary to win the votes of blue state Repubs​

- No taxes on tip income​

- No taxes on overtime​

- No taxes on Social Security benefits​

(FTR, I oppose all 4 of those)​

• Looking only at tax revenues for the 7 years prior to the enactment of the TCJA and the 7 years since:

2011-2017: Average annual tax revenues of 16.41% GDP​

2018-2024: Average annual tax revenues of 16.56% GDP​

 

[Mark Milton]

This is a lot easier said then done. The cost to retrofit can be enormous and the economics rarely pencil.

This is true. Depending upon the age of the building, you might have to abate asbestos; reinforce the structure almost as if it were a new building (For example, a building designed in 1920 has a different live load component than nowadays--people are much taller and heavier); just a host of things that can make rehab a potential problem. That being said, aesthetically, there is something to really appreciate from the older buildings. Bedrock spent over 1.7 billion to renovate the J.L. Hudson's department store. It is a magnificent building-but the original construction budget was 909 mil--still not cheap. Nearly doubling the cost has been an issue.

 

[Mark Milton]

How are we paying for those tax cuts?

Also, how much are these tax cuts going to change our debt?

Tax revenue has been more or less flat since 1943. You have up and down movement along the margins, but the mean is pretty consistent for any particular decade.

 

[crazed_hoosier2]

This is true. Depending upon the age of the building, you might have to abate asbestos; reinforce the structure almost as if it were a new building (For example, a building designed in 1920 has a different live load component than nowadays--people are much taller and heavier); just a host of things that can make rehab a potential problem. That being said, aesthetically, there is something to really appreciate from the older buildings. Bedrock spent over 1.7 billion to renovate the J.L. Hudson's department store. It is a magnificent building-but the original construction budget was 909 mil--still not cheap. Nearly doubling the cost has been an issue.

As somebody in the construction industry, I agree with every word of this.

We don't build buildings like we used to. That is true. But we couldn't afford to if we wanted to. And that's evident every time a major facelift project is done to a classic building.

 

[crazed_hoosier2]

Tax revenue has been more or less flat since 1943. You have up and down movement along the margins, but the mean is pretty consistent for any particular decade.

This. x1000

Changes in tax rates usually have pretty muted effects on tax revenues -- which are far more sensitive to macroeconomic conditions. The best run we've ever had for tax revenues came in the late 90s. From 1997-2000, we had 4 consecutive years of revenues getting above 18% -- with 2000 even getting above 19%. The Bush41 & Clinton tax hikes probably contributed to this some. But it seems evident that it was mostly due to the dot-com boom. And the best evidence for this is that most states saw boosts in revenues too -- even ones that didn't have a lot of exposure to tech.

 

[Joe_Hoopsier]

nothing to do with religion or politics. Odd you would take that from my post.

Yea I was making a big assumption there, probably because that is the #1 thing that I always here. Mybad man!

 

[BCCHoosier]

Yea I was making a big assumption there, probably because that is the #1 thing that I always here. Mybad man!

All good. Our best threads here are non political typically. Need more of them.