The America First budget: Trump wants $1.5 BILLION for the wall and cash for the military but will slash foreign aid and eliminate funding for PBS and NPR

[Emjay]

I'm planning on retiring soon.  I've paid into social security for many, many years, and because I was forced to. I understand that if we are going to reform our system, and not put our expenses on our children and grandchildren, we have to give up something.  I decided some time ago that if I have to give up my social security, I will.  Even though I have paid into it and some of my retirement calculations have included that income.  No, it's not fair.

You are young enough to have seen the ...well, light and apparently are in a position to forego your SSs benefits.  Few people are in that happy position.

My problem is the hateful railing against social security recipients.  It is unfair and just plain mean.
When I was younger I paid into social security and never dreamed I'd ever get anything.  But I was glad to do it because it enabled my parents to have an independent retirement.

That plan is deeply flawed.  I just see too much hate against the recipients.  Way too much.

[Sanguine]

You are young enough to have seen the ...well, light and apparently are in a position to forego your SSs benefits.  Few people are in that happy position.

My problem is the hateful railing against social security recipients.  It is unfair and just plain mean.
When I was younger I paid into social security and never dreamed I'd ever get anything.  But I was glad to do it because it enabled my parents to have an independent retirement.

That plan is deeply flawed.  I just see too much hate against the recipients.  Way too much.

I'm not really in a position to forgo them; I've just readjusted timelines and lowered expectations.   

It'll be fine.  Turns out it doesn't take that much to be happy.

And, @Emjay, I don't see it as hateful, but I do think some of the youngsters are resentful.  Heck, I'm resentful knowing that a good portion of SS goes to people who are not of retirement age and may not have even paid into the system!

[DB]

You are totally confused and I think you want to be.  Social Security was sold to the American public as a safety net and a retirement plan.  One paid a certain percentage of wages into a fund which was supposed to be sacrosanct.  Yes the government betrayed us and used the SS fund for other things.  You are totally wrong about saying the SS budget goes toward entitlements.  The SS budget is supposed to be totally separate and just short of holy.

If you think I'm gonna be sorry for some 34 year old who is paying into social security that you assume he/she will never get, you can kiss my foot.

This whole system needs to be reformed but, guess what, your irrational whining will not do it.

Social security never had a "trust fund". The money was never "invested" in anything as a retirement plan. It was always part of the general budget as tax collections with only IOUs written between government agencies. The law was written that way on purpose. People are living far longer than what was originally planed for in the law and that is still increasing. That 34 year old is paying a far larger share of his/her income over his/her lifetime in social security tax than those who paid in long before him/her. The individual burden of it is much higher now than it was in the 60s. Both the tax rate and the income cap limit have increased. That is the simple reality of it.

Like all Ponzi schemes the last ones in tend to get all the losses and in this case, those "in" are forced in by law.

I'm not accusing recipients of being greedy. I'm simply saying it is a government system of unsustainable wealth transference and can't continue indefinitely. It was based on an expanding worker tax base and people not living longer. Instead technology has been rapidly increasing peoples life span increasing the long term payment obligation without an equally expanding tax base. That's why the burden of each each recipients payments continue to fall on fewer and fewer people.

Somebody is going to get shorted on those government promises and that time is rapidly approaching. The only real debate is who.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

I misconstrue nothing.  You keep making claims about how Mexico really is going to pay for the wall without citing anything that we can do to make the pay for it.

And you're using a poorly constructed red herring of a person buying a house.

No agenda here...perhaps with you maybe.

I really do not understand your logic.

You seem to want a wall, correct?

Then you make some ridicule on Mexico paying for it. It seems you want money from Mexico prior to a wall being built.  Is that it?

Let me know if any of that is incorrect to this point.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

There are many ways that can be accomplished and you know that!

All I ever see this guy do is ridicule and call one a Trump-worshipper if he disagrees with someone.  That type one cannot dialogue with and is just a disrupter.