Comments by "L.W. Paradis" (@l.w.paradis2108) on "Social Security IN THE BALANCE, Trump Considers CHANGES To Benefits Policy: Rising" video.

  1. Did you add a digit to your monthly income? Does your computer let you edit?
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  2. ​ @JohnTightlips You have a point. Check actuarial tables for life expectancy at 60, 65, 70, etc. Infant and maternal mortality are relatively high in the US, compared with other affluent countries.
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  3. Why? Its purpose is to meet all of a person's basic necessities in old age, so that they can live decently and without worry. Its purpose is not to make them rich.
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  4. @Polit_Burro  A lot of truth here --- but know that Europe saw this kind of growth and a solid middle class livelihood as well, plus the Soviets were in competition to provide universal housing, education, and health care, not to mention fantastic public transportation in major cities, which spurred the European social democracy state as an answer. They had it good, despite having been devastated. The French called it "les trente glorieuses" for a reason.
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  5. @Polit_Burro  I sure hope my reply appears!
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  6. ​@charliebukowski6652 A pyramid scheme is one where there is no sustainable growth to support those paying into the program. As long as real GDP is growing, and salaries reflect increasing productivity, it is NOT a "pyramid scheme." Of course, you could say money itself is a pyramid scheme . . . that's a higher-order discussion. 401(k)s, etc., don't help you there.
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  7. "Entitlement" became a dirty word for some reason. "Entitlement" means you are literally entitled to have it. You met all the conditions -- not only through earning the benefits, but also by attaining the minimum age. You did your part. Most people vest (i.e., have EARNED) these benefits long before being able to use them. Decades before.
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  8. The IRA and 401(k) have existed for over a generation. Yet at most 10% can fully fund their own retirement, and if you omit Medicare, they certainly cannot self-insure into old age. Something that fails 90% of the time is not a plan. You cannot blame 90%.
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  9. Well, you were lied to. The vast majority of elderly depend on these programs -- literally. Fewer than 10% have enough invested to fund their own retirement. Hence, they have to be shored up. The IRA and 401(k) have existed for well over a generation. If they failed to work for 20% of retirees, it would make sense to ask whether those 20% did something wrong, and why. When they fail for 90% or more, then you have to ask what's wrong with that system. Something that fails the vast majority is not a plan.
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  10. ​ @ryansreaction 😂😂😂 Right
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  11. That's not what's happening. First of all, taxes are not only cut for the rich, they are paid TO the rich. Instead of paying taxes, the rich buy Treasury bonds to finance the national debt, which means the US pays them interest. Second, all of the billionaires head corporations that have huge government contracts.
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  12. @1965Grit  You've been lowering taxes and regulation for two solid generations now, and you see where that got us.
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  13.  @silveravnt  And do you think that results in a secure retirement?
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  14. Social Security is not meaningful for most people before age 70. They take it if they absolutely have to. :/
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  15.  @JohnTightlips  The post I replied to is no longer. Need I say more? I'll end up where it went.
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  16.  @JohnTightlips  Take a closer look and see. You'll know what happened. Scents _ _ sheep
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  17. @JohnTightlips  P. S. If you try to say stuff like "scents, er . . . " That's usually no more, either. We can't talk about what we can't talk about.
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  18. @charliebukowski6652  Wow. I'm impressed you know that word! Nice job. Keep at it, you're good.
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  19. @JohnTightlips  So no apology, huh? 😂😂😂
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  20. 💯
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  21. Just like our growing deficit means an immediate cut to funding wars in Ukraine and Gaza. Boom, just like that. Say, I just heard a story about a homeless veteran, age 80, who passed the day before construction on a deluxe tent for him was supposed to begin. Lovely.
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  22. Reagan made everyone change their language --- AND was first to tax Social Security benefits.
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  23. @ryansreaction  P. S. The post you wrote that I reacted to went poof. For our own protection I suppose. LOL
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  24. The IRA and 401(k) have existed for well over a generation. Where are all the multi-millionaires?
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  25. @billmoretz8718  That was because of infant and maternal mortality, duh. The human lifespan has been abot 80 years for a long time, provided you reached your first birthday. Sophocles was 90 and still writing. Plato was 80.
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  26. @billl4977  Good for him. That's more honest than what most rich people do, and they have a lot more to show for it. This dude isn't living in luxury, and he isn't coming after me to force me into my house or to get vaxxed against my will.
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  27. @1965Grit  Why were the top three quintiles in income doing just fine, and the fourth still had a life back when those tax rates were high? Housing was affordable then. Food costs were trivial unless you had more than two or three kids. Today, only the top 10% are solidly affluent. All the rest are not. Today, we have a massive deficit, which means inflationary bubbles in one area after another.
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  28. @Polit_Burro  Yeah, I'm particularly censored when I point out that we run deficits, then pay interest to the rich. They don't pay; we pay them. We enrich them, then pay them some more. You would think the average person would have figured that out by now. Didn't the Epstein saga get them to start thinking that maybe the rich aren't so great after all? If the BP catastrophe, HSBC, Enron, the implosion of the financial system in 2008-2009, and social media turned into mass surveillance for corporations and the state, etc., etc., didn't do it already. What will it take? What still has to happen? Reminds me of the Cavafy poem, "Waiting For the Barbarians."
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  29. @1965Grit  There is only one way to pass on all costs: to have a demand curve that is infinitely inelastic. There is no such thing. (Edited -- no clue why I said "elastic." The point was, no matter the cost, people must pay.) If you think that what you're saying makes sense, try to devise an economy of no taxes and 100% deficit spending via T bonds. Do it as a thought experiment. See where that goes. In particular, see whether you end up with what Adam Smith would have dubbed a "free market." (He considered vast accumulations of wealth by the rentier class to be the biggest threat to the free market, and he considered that avoidable. There's a lot that's true in that view, except for the avoidable part.)
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  30.  @Polit_Burro  I just had one go poof. I mentioned when that happens the most, and . . . it did. 😂
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  31.  @Polit_Burro  Some are g o n e. SMH
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  32.  @Polit_Burro  They won't allow another. Or maybe thinking it over . . . ? Nah, probably not.
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  33. @tradeprosper5002  She said SSI -- the disability arm. She doesn't want to take early Social Security. That is almost always a terrible idea.
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