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AUTHOR: R Quinn on 2/19/2025
The United States is 26 thousand billion dollars in debt. The United States spends two thousand billion dollars a year more than its revenue.
If we generate any real, sustainable, savings many people are calling for them to be spent … on seniors and veterans. Congress is trying to cut taxes and limit the increase in the deficit to only a few more trillion dollars over the next ten years.
The Social Security Trust is heading for insolvency as is the Medicare Part A Trust.
Part of the proposed tax plan is to not tax Social Security benefits, but those taxes add $50 billion a year to the SS trust plus $35 billion to Medicare trust.
How is anyone planning to retire going to make assumptions about these variables? I’m still convinced taxes must go up at some point, but when. Next four years seem unlikely and IMO that makes things worse.
Will the ultimate burden fixing Social Security fall on current workers and employers or will those us who got a free pass while working share it? Free pass because FICA taxes should have been raised years ago.
Looks like I should be planning what I will do with the $700 a month now coming from my SS for income tax withholding.
I’m one of those guys in a cartoon with his head spinning in all directions.
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 
Or, you could just increase taxes. America is one of the richest countries per capita and has among the lowest tax burdens in the world.
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As Al said, the grandkids will pay for it. Although as long as interest is paid the debt can sit around forever. Just don’t try to keep rolling it up faster than inflation.
As for Social Security, I remember paying less in the past century because what we were paying was enough. The current crop of workers will have to pony up more because the current rate won’t be enough. That is the way of an intergenerational transfer program. The young pay for the old. You catch a break if there aren’t a lot of old timers, and you pay more when there are lots more old timers. I didn’t get a free pass on what I paid in. As a matter of fact, I helped build the huge balance in the trust, as did you. It’s laughable to say we got a free pass. FICA should not have been raised years ago; it would have been spent years ago, and we would have more IOUs.
I’m not holding my breath, but I wish some big cuts in the current deficit could be found. It would help the future taxpayers a lot.
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Al Lindquist:
hey, you and I voted for these clowns over the past 20-30 years–it will take a crisis and our grandchildren will pay the price–us older folks will be spared until markets implode as they won’t cut SS for fear of political consequence.
biggest fear for me is you know who telling me Ukraine invaded Russia–sort of like the “border is closed it’s just Faux News making it all up”–if it wasn’t so dangerous it would be laughable.
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