Comments by "SmallSpoonBrigade" (@SmallSpoonBrigade) on "How 2024’s Record Retirement Numbers Could Spark a Recession | WSJ" video.

@j10001 We could cut the military budget in half, or even by 75% and still have plenty of defensive capabilities. We currently spend more than the next 10 countries do, simply cutting it to the point where we're only spending double the next country would probably be more than enough.
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@starventure No, it's not, it's mostly the wealthy and uneducated that see it that way. The reality is that the trust is going bust because the wealthy have been hoarding their wealth at the expense of workers, which leads to money not being paid into the trust that should be. And to make matters worse, since workers aren't making what they should, it's also harder for workers to save enough to not need the social security pension money.
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The real reason that the trust isn't keeping up is that the income is increasingly going to a small number of people that pay hardly any social security tax on it. And, an increasing share of the wealth being generated is in forms that are not subject to social security tax. The ultimate fix is to remove the cap and to subject all taxable income to it, not just income that's subject to income taxes. It would solve the problem permanently, and it would likely result in the actual tax being lowered a bit for nearly everybody.
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@MrThatGuyYouForgot Also making $0.10 more than minimum wage is working above minimum wage, but basically no better.
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