Summary
At the first meeting of the DOGE Caucus, a new congressional group focused on government efficiency, Republican Rep. Greg Lopez stated that cuts to Social Security and Medicare are likely “on the table” as part of debt reduction efforts.
The caucus, led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, aims to slash government spending, raising concerns among advocacy groups about potential attacks on anti-poverty programs.
Critics, including Social Security Works, warn the caucus may push for privatization and benefit reductions.
This comes despite Trump’s prior commitment to protect these programs.
This is what happens when you’ve never ridden on the subway.
Friendly reminder that Social Security is a separate government program that funds itself.
What Musk is talking about is stealing from Social Security in order to cut taxes elsewhere (namely cutting taxes for people like Musk).
That’s not completely true. Social Security is supposed to fund itself, however it’s currently facing a funding shortfall with current estimates that it will be depleted in 2035. There are many suggestions on how make this program solvent, including bolstering it with general funds.
I think a good start would be to stop allowing Republicans to raid Social Security for quick cash, like they’ve been constantly doing since the Reagan administration.
But then how could they argue it’s insolvent‽
That’s not completely true. Long ago they put it into the general fund. There is always a shortfall in the general fund. Before they put it in there it was solvent, and if they wouldn’t have it would be completely solvent today.
It was already stolen. They want the rest.
How does it fund itself? What’s the income? Just Social Security Tax?
Yes, it’s a payroll tax. Your paycheck may show how much you are paying into Social Security. This is money meant to help you and others after retirement. Musk wants to take that money and instead use it to fill unrelated gaps in the federal budget, gaps caused by Trump’s tax cuts for the very wealthy.
Holy shit I never realized it until you explained it like this. Thank you, and also we are fucked.
This is one of the rare cases where I want to laugh at the silly US, but can’t because our “scial security” (we call it “retirement savings”) is being missapropriated for general funds as well :(
I just this year set up regular investment (part of my paycheck) into various funds to save for retirement privately.
I just this year set up regular investment (part of my paycheck) into various funds to save for retirement privately.
Social Security got the structure it has after the Great Depression wiped… well, you know. Everyone. Out.
I’m sure your private equity will be run much more responsibly throughout your life though, no need for some big ol’ stupid government to guarantee your retirement or anything. Carry on!
no need for some big ol’ stupid government to guarantee your retirement or anything.
I still have the government guaranteed pension as well, not as if I could opt out even if I wanted to, which I don’t.
The concept of the day: Diversification!
Social Security is more than just retirement.
We are only fucked if we let it happen.
ffs
Social Security fund invested in government bonds, so the interest from that goes into the fund.
To be fair the budget deficit was there before Trump. His campaign promises are going to increase it, but they can offset that partially with spending cuts. Also, the government has been using money from the Social Security fund routinely, again nothing new under Trump. They just count it as an internal debt. According to Wikipedia, by 2022 it’s been already about 20% of the fund “borrowed” by the government.
Another thing about the tax is that there is a cap on the amount you pay into it https://money.usnews.com/money/retirement/social-security/articles/what-is-the-social-security-tax-limit. Meaning it’s a regressive tax where lower income people pay more than wealthy people (not to mention that many wealthy people may not have traditional income and pay no taxes for this).
It doesn’t fund itself, but it’s a completely separate fund [bucket of money] than the rest of the government budget, with a specific tax that goes directly to it and nothing else.
That’s exactly his plan. So how are we going to stop him?
Right now, it is looking like we have missed our chance to do much about it. The only other options on the table are pretty grim.
We had our chance a little over a month ago. Now our only hope is their own incompetence.
Wow! Who woulda guessed they would immediately reneg on a campaign “promise” and immediately attack the side of the population that most reliably votes for them?
And they still will!
At least until the next pandemic
Surprisingly enough, retired people were close to evenly split. Trump mostly won due to Gen X’ers.
Remember, we fucking paid for social security. It’s not government pork. It’s ours.
Don’t worry, you’ll continue to pay for it. You’ll probably even pay more.
The cuts are just for the people receiving it. They’ll lose money. Which means you’ll lose even more in the future.
A majority of young people agree on what the right course of action is here. Remember to leave your phone at home. Don’t talk to the police.
Don’t worry, you’ll continue to pay for it. You’ll probably even pay more.
You know what? Im already this fucking close anyway:
Spins up my semi-industrial mushroom and weed farm again
Time to make some untracked moolah I guess
I would like to purchase a stake in your industrial botanical operation. What people will do with weeds I have no idea but mushrooms are always popular at the farmers market.
Its shockingly easy to produce pounds of mushrooms, btw
Clear 10Gal bin from Walmart (I use 4 for diff stages and always having some growing) - $12/ea
Pack of wide mouth bell jars - $30
Jar lids for mycology: pack of 6 for $12
Coco coir - I got 12 bricks for $50 years ago and still going strong with over half my supply
Brown rice flour - $4 a bag at my local store
Perlite: varies depending on the time of year. Got a huge bag for like 60 bucks last winter
Water spray bottle: $2
Thermometer and hydrometer combo: $8
Enough spores for 6 jars of in ovulation: $12-15 and will be shipped to your door
Hardest part is innoculation without cross contamination, if you get that far and remember to spray 3x a day you’re basically guaranteed 2-3 fruiting cycles with a good 1/8 to 1/4 per cycle per jar, ime
Up, it has a surplus. Government ‘borrows’ from the pool to pay for stuff. When they say they’re making cuts, what they mean is they don’t intend to pay the debt.
No, it’s theirs. They’re going to take it and we’re just going to let them because we are cowards.
You, me, the next guy that posts a meme, complete and total cowards who are going to bend over and let him fuck us.
Y’all let it get this far, are you waiting on something? Bend over, then.
‘Member when Dark Brandon called republicans out on this in his state of the union address, and they all booed and denied it?
Pepperidge Farm ‘members
But Kamala just wasn’t inspiring enough. So…
Too bad “dark” Brandon couldn’t appoint a competent attorney general. Or stand up to the Israeli genocide. It so any of the important things that could have prevented voters not caring to turn out, having felt abandoned and ignored… But at least he said some things
Wonder if voters will realize how much they fucked up after a few years of this.
“But they won’t take away MY social security…”
For most boomers, this is true. It’s genx and younger that will suffer.
older millennial, checking in.
I’ve been hearing since the 90s that social security would be bankrupt by the time I’m eligible for it, so i haven’t included it in my retirement calculations at all.
It’s like we exist, as a generation, to subsidize the lifestyles of boomers.
I like to think of it as the boomers have reverse mortgaged the country.
Yes, they want to roll back the entire New Deal and have corporate serfdom again. They have been saying it for years and now they have their chance.
More and more I feel we are seeing the pendulum swing. Normally we see 5-10 year cycles of push and pull along the political spectrum, but I’m becoming increasingly convinced we’re in a century long cycle too.
We no longer have those with living memory of the gilded age, losing those who remember the saving grace that was the New Deal, and fewer and fewer left who were sent to war to fight fascism. Meanwhile the wealth gap is worsening in developed nations across the world, democratic republics are electing more far right parties and authoritarian leaders with populist messages, and the incoming administration is floating the idea of scrapping the FDIC and deregulating anything else on his favorite billionaire’s wishlist.
Seems like we’re right on track for a repeat of the 1930s.
Removing the FDIC or when putting money under the mattress is safer than a bank…
Hope everyone remembers to not negotiate with capitalists next time we have a labor movement like we had in the early 20th century.
And don’t split up into competing trades-based unions. That enables divide-and-rule.
A huge, mouth watering steak walks up to you and says, “There’s no more food.”
That’s rich.
ill see myself out
Thank you, I couldn’t think of a better analogy
It’s funny at this point. Either the rich pay their share or we Mangione them. Tick tock musky. Tik fuckin tok.
I’m legit surprised some big stock brokerage or finance firm hasn’t loaded up to the tits on Tesla short positions and then sent in a couple of Luigi’s.
Wouldnt the company be more profitable without his interference and huge salary/bonus?
Tesla valuation at this point isn’t vaguely related to how good or bad their actual business is, at this point it’s people buying into “co president Elon”.
Nah, he’s basically projecting that he’s in a position to remove any agency blocking anything he wants to do with his company. We’ll see if Congress actually lets him do it
Yes if you consider tesla a company. No if you consider it as a way to buy influence via President Musk. (am slightly being sarcastic)
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Interestingly enough, social security’s disability trust fund has enough money to continue paying out until 2098; it’s the old person part that’s running out.
It should also be mentioned that it wouldn’t be running out if they didn’t cap the taxable income at $168,000. If you make $168,000 a year you pay the same social security tax as every millionaire and billionaire. BuT iTs InSoLvEnT
It also wouldn’t be running out of wages hadn’t been stagnating for the last several decades.
As more and more people earn less and less of the country’s output, that means more of it is above that cap, in the hands of the rich, and never put into the fund.
doesn’t need to be, of course. they just want to cut social security because ‘the poors’ rely on it more.
debt reduction efforts
deep-six every loophole used mostly or only by the wealthy to avoid paying their share of taxes.
increase funding for irs, streamline enforcement actions, give them the resources needed to go after the big fish.
eliminate the cap on social security contributions, lower the ceiling on benefits for the very wealthy retirees, while raising the minimum benefit.
single payer tax funded health care, paid by higher taxes on the wealthy.
raise the capital gains rates. raise the estate tax, lower the assets value needed to trigger it.
raise the marginal rates for high income earners (by a lot. i want reagan screaming from beyond)
budget problem fixed. well over $2 trillion a year pumped into the economy by people who are now no longer padding insurance companies’ bottom lines with it. but we aren’t done yet…
$12/hr min wage (wait wut!!! wait for it…)
$24,000 universal tax credit for everyone. the higher taxes up^there on high income earners would negate this for them, and they fund it for the others that do receive it.
this is a compromise between the $15 (or higher) crowd and small businesses. a little lower fed min wage than what’s being pushed, but then essentially doubled based on full time work via the tax credit all receive.
The wealthy, who have had help all their life but imagine they did it all on their own, see needing help when you’re poor as a disgusting moral failing. Many of them will also call themselves Christians.
This could end badly for them. Old people without a means to continue surviving either have to continue working till they die, or die fighting the government.
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I’m not even touching on those on SSDI. Just the common retired 67 year old. Just imagine a retired Walmart worker with no SSI income. Way too many of them with nothing else to do other than die; be homeless, suffer and die; or die taking in the government.
Bill reacted to his death and resurrection into the Entity’s Realm by treating it like Valhalla
Sure sure. I’m game for moving social security, but now how about you give back all the fucking money I put in it WITH interest since ya know… Inflation.
We’re paying for current retirees. That’s one reason why governments are so concerned with dropping birth rates.
If Trump pulls this shit, and those taxes get nixed, I get to put an extra 6.2% into my retirement accounts and likely make more than I would with SS.
I’d rather keep things how they are and not have assholes using that money for anything else though.
This country isn’t for you, homie. It’s for the rich.
The rich will get your money and your interest, and you’ll get nothing. Americans like it that way.
WHUT? I thought Trump was just going to kick out all the illegals and fuck over China! No one told me there would be DOMESTIC consequences!! Why didn’t anyone warn me? At all his rallies he said the next 4 years would be awesome. Now I’m starting to think I was misled!
nooo trump will definitely make the country great again, you see, but just like every great empire, so does this one require slaves/victims. otherwise if you’re not winning against someone, what is the point in greatness?
kek
Them leopards be eatin some faces
It’s funny, I listened to Steve Bannon’s war room the other day and he was demanding that they not touch social security and go after the elites and the NGOs instead. Can’t imagine this will play well with the voters that swung towards the republicans
oh i’m sure the voters will do the same thing they always do.
Rabidly support it until its too late, then go full “I didnt think he was going to hurt MY social security! Its not me hes supposed to be hurting! Its the poors! and the minorities! Why is he hurting me?! I’m a loyal supporter!”
So Bannon’s the Röhm of this administration? Interesting to see when and how they give him the shove.
Lovely how this incredibly wealthy person is laser focused on making things worse for poor people. I suppose it’s the usual ploy of making people as desperate as possible so people like him can prey on us more easily.
