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The Collapse of Social Security in Dead Deal America
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Social Security
The Collapse of Social Security in Dead Deal America
<font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="1"><div>You worked hard for it. Now talk to others on how to save Social Security.</div></font>
The young people are being played for fools. You WILL someday be old, sick, broken hip, cancer, 100 other disabling diseases, and you will wish you had SS for a little peace, a room, and some food. T
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Forums » Work & Retirement » Social Security » The Collapse of Social Security in Dead Deal America

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Forums  »  Work & Retirement  »  Social Security  »  The Collapse of Social Security in Dead Deal America

The Collapse of Social Security in Dead Deal America

posted at August 30, 2011 3:44 PM EDT
Posts: 11
First: August 30, 2011
Last: November 23, 2011
The young people are being played for fools. You WILL someday be old, sick, broken hip, cancer, 100 other disabling diseases, and you will wish you had SS for a little peace, a room, and some food. Then you will look back at this time period and realize what chumps they made out of you. I worked all my life and when I got old and sick, BINGO there it was to keep me from the streets. And I was very glad I paid into the SS system all those years. And all I get it $820.00 a month. And where does it go? Do I hold onto ANY of it? No. I CREATE JOBS with it by feeding it back into the local economy in rent, meds, and food. Young people this old age future will soon enough be yours and it is you being played the fool. Think ahead. Ensure your safety. Don't let them ruin your old age in dire poverty in a ghetto, wishing you were dead. Support your SS now! Please pass the word. And AARP please help the young understand this.

Re: A Message to tell the Young about SS

posted at September 2, 2011 12:22 AM EDT
Posts: 3
First: July 15, 2011
Last: December 19, 2011
Good points, GetRealQuick.  Another thing they need to know is that the Payroll Tax Cut sounded good until I found out that the way it works is that the amount being withheld from your paycheck for Social Security has been reduced by 2%.  This means less money for the Social Security Fund.  They are talking about extending the cut for another year and allowing the employer to reduce his amount by 2% also.  That means 4% of your earnings not being put away for Social Security which will leave the fund even further short of funds (billions) as time goes on.  Then the government will cut the amount you receive, extend the number of years you have to work to get it, and be taxed to a much higher limit to make up for it in the future.  It will also allow the government to blame the shortfall on you instead of the fact that they have been misappropriating the funds for years.  Worst case, they will abolish Social Security.  The cut is no different than if you had a 401K that you continually borrowed against year-after-year, only to find out that there is little left for your retirement.  They called it the Payroll Tax Cut instead of the Social Security Fund Tax cut for obvious reasons.  Out of 20 people that I polled, none of them realized where the money was coming from for the cut. 

Re: A Message to tell the Young about SS

posted at September 2, 2011 7:02 PM EDT
Posts: 6
First: September 2, 2011
Last: October 6, 2011
Thanks for your post GetRealQuick. I have done my best over the years to talk with my grown children about Social Security but up til recently their eyes would just roll back in their heads and they would tune out any message about social security. Last year this changed dramatically when they finally fessed up that they are underwater in their mortgage, and up to their eyeballs in debt from credit card use, and also using their so-called home equity to buy stuff they really didn't need.

Now that they're working through the shock of the dismal state of their finances, they are also waking up and seeing how wrong they were to make the choices they made without really looking deeper into what they got themselves into, and not getting off the "bus" sooner. Psychologically, I think it will take them more than several years to recover. They really never expected or planned for the economy to tank. They have jobs, but like with many jobs, their wages have stagnated, while they are doing more with more responsibilities. They are also beginning their 40s and looking around at friends their age starting to be replaced by younger workers, and that is causing more stress.

I would really love to see an organized event for the concerned middle class (and silent majority) to rally in Washington about protecting social security and medicare for our children and grandchildren. I would be there in a heartbeat!!

Re: A Message to tell the Young about SS

posted at September 3, 2011 2:11 PM EDT
Posts: 11
First: August 30, 2011
Last: November 23, 2011

Is this the Rick Perry Kiss of Death?

Hello to the above posters; thanks for participating. I'm an old guy who worked all his life and is now on SSD. Rick Perry wants to tear down SS, according to his recent book Fed Up!  So what's his solution for the 10s millions of seniors and disabled that they can actually afford? There is none. Perry recently 
told reporters, "I haven't backed off anything in my book. So read the book again and get it right." But, in his book, Perry goes well beyond criticizing the program's financing problems and vilifies the entire concept as a failed social experiment. 

"Like a bad disease," he wrote, New Deal-era initiatives have spread. "By far the best example of this is Social Security." The program "is something we have been forced to accept for more than 70 years now."

Now I'm going to get real with you folks. What is the only available, logical response for us to this? It's obvious, and we must start talking about it now. The danger with this is that the only logical response for seniors and disabled is to demand the Right to Die if they tear down SS. And then millions and millions of us will commit suicide by a $99.00 Death Drug ( we don't want a handout). And the greatness of America will be destroyed. This is what's at stake with this idea of tearing down SS. We will have no choice. Should we wheel ourselves or grandma out to the trashcan to die in misery? No! We will have to demand the Right to Die.

And I've informed the AARP of this unavoidable Right to Die Plan. They should immediately tell the politicians this is the road they are going down and show them how it must logically end. We will not wheel grandma out to the trash can to die screaming! We will demand the Right to Die first! Let them see the future truth of what they are suggesting about tearing down SS. Let's get real with them and show them this ugly truth and let them understand that and try to defend that.

And it's a lie to say SS won't be there for future generations. It is solvent even now until 2025 and can easily be fixed up to continue for the children, without taxing the poor or middle class. We need to start a national conversation about this now, before it's too late, for us and the young people.

Re: A Message to tell the Young about SS

posted at September 7, 2011 12:35 AM EDT
Posts: 6
First: September 2, 2011
Last: October 6, 2011
I think you are onto something! If the plans are to get rid of SS entirely without replacing it with another plan via the privatization route, a right to die demand is logical and a great argument. A big group of citizens would be needed to get behind it. I would hope they'd not be extremists -- have you thought of suggesting this to the "No Label.com" movement?

However, the other ugly truth is the "less government" politicians want to privatize social security. Think of the ga-zillions of dollars it will put in private sector hands if this happens. It's not a perfect system now, but it's pretty much a given if SS is privatized, it will be a shell of what it now is because eventually it will be corrupted by the corporate greed machine.

Well, it's getting late here and I'm not doing my best thinking at the moment!


In Response to Re: A Message to tell the Young about SS:
Is this the Rick Perry Kiss of Death? Hello to the above posters; thanks for participating. I'm an old guy who worked all his life and is now on SSD. Rick Perry wants to tear down SS, according to his recent book Fed Up!  So what's his solution for the 10s millions of seniors and disabled that they can actually afford? There is none. Perry recently  told reporters, "I haven't backed off anything in my book. So read the book again and get it right."  But, in his book, Perry goes well beyond criticizing the program's financing problems and vilifies the entire concept as a failed social experiment.  "Like a bad disease," he wrote, New Deal-era initiatives have spread. "By far the best example of this is Social Security." The program "is something we have been forced to accept for more than 70 years now." http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jtUd6xQYGWNo7baOiY_jRPzVyxQg?docId=899f66b779884dfe844397c186b3540e Now I'm going to get real with you folks. What is the only available, logical response for us to this? It's obvious, and we must start talking about it now. The danger with this is that the only logical response for seniors and disabled is to demand the Right to Die if they tear down SS. And then millions and millions of us will commit suicide by a $99.00 Death Drug ( we don't want a handout). And the greatness of America will be destroyed. This is what's at stake with this idea of tearing down SS. We will have no choice. Should we wheel ourselves or grandma out to the trashcan to die in misery? No! We will have to demand the Right to Die. And I've informed the AARP of this unavoidable Right to Die Plan. They should immediately tell the politicians this is the road they are going down and show them how it must logically end. We will not wheel grandma out to the trash can to die screaming! We will demand the Right to Die first! Let them see the future truth of what they are suggesting about tearing down SS. Let's get real with them and show them this ugly truth and let them understand that and try to defend that. And it's a lie to say SS won't be there for future generations. It is solvent even now until 2025 and can easily be fixed up to continue for the children, without taxing the poor or middle class. We need to start a national conversation about this now, before it's too late, for us and the young people.
Posted by GetRealQuick

Re: A Message to tell the Young about SS

posted at September 13, 2011 1:54 AM EDT
Posts: 11
First: August 30, 2011
Last: November 23, 2011
Hi, Thanks nprice57 for pointing me to no labels.com. I am checking them out. Thanks for seeing the need for the sick elderly of having a rational way out, since we will REFUSE to be wheeled out to the trashcan to die. Rick Perry's kind seems to be the future of the GOP sooner or later and he is hell bent on dismantling SS/Medicare as shown by the debates. And I don't trust them when they say the current seniors won't be affected. It has happened before - once they get in office that will get thrown out the window. 

On my $820.00 SSDI I am petrified that I will get sick and go completely broke. I think our best bet for people like me is to accept that the New Deal is over in America and there is no point in begging to stay alive. We should just keep our dignity, say fine, and say we therefore demand the Right to Die via a $99.00 Death Drug (we don't want a hand-out). And I will be the first in line. Seeing how my only other choice will be to be wheeled out to the trashcan to die in misery, I believe it is the only rational solution to this Dead Deal America that is dawning and won't be stopped, and that we can calmly and patiently explain this to the sick elderly to get them on board this safe way out. I also hope it won't be done by extremists but by ordinary Americans who see that the alternative is absurd.

By the way did you see the GOP debate tonight where they were asked "if a 30 year old unemplyed person got very sick and in 6 months was still sick and couldn't pay his medical bills, should he be allowed to die?" Well this notion got a warm round of applause by the tea party faithful in the room, and for me this ices it: The New Deal of American compassion is dead and the Dead Deal America has arrived.

I think that by the following recent information, these cuts are already hurting sick seniors and I bet one has already died in misery "out by the trash can", and so the Dead Deal America has already begun. I propose we call this movement the "Dead Deal Movement" and try to figure out how we can spread the word. 

CUTS ALREADY HARMING SENIORS

With all the talk about what the Super Committee has in mind for us seniors, there's not a lot of mention made that the cuts are already starting. And they are painful indeed.

From the Sacramento Bee: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/09/02/3881201/the-elderly-are-already-taking.html

""""While national politicians argue about cuts to Social Security and Medicare down the road, cash-strapped state governments are cutting vital services for elderly Americans today. Those suffering most are often those with the least.

In California, budget cuts approved earlier this year mean the closure of some 300 adult day health centers. These centers serve 37,000 medically fragile elderly and disabled people - folks suffering from Alzheimer's disease, stroke or other complications that make it impossible for them to function without assistance. The centers allow them to live a bearable life outside of a 24-hour institution. And they give the family members who care for them at home a desperately needed daytime respite.

"While California's situation may be the worst, it's not unique. Washington state's COPES (Community Options Program Entry System), which helps the frail elderly live at home, has also faced severe cuts, and there's good reason to fear for similar efforts in other states."""""

And the same thing is happening in Florida. People often don't find out until a center is closed. There's just not a lot of publicity. 

Skilled nursing facilities are taking a big hit.

"""Skilled nursing facilities warn of zero profits if more cuts are made"""

http://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/skilled-nursing-facilities-warn-zero-profits-if-more-cuts-are-made

""""WASHINGTON – Continuing their crusade to make the congressional super committee aware of the repercussions of how cuts to Medicare and Medicaid will impact the skilled nursing facility industry, SNF advocates have released an analysis by Avalere Health that finds if more cuts are made, the industry’s operating margin will be zilch.

Avalere, a healthcare business strategy and public policy advisory company, did the analysis at the request of the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care (AQNHC), a long-term care member organization. Avalere’s analysis offers different scenarios, all with negative consequences for the operating margins of SNFs:

• Cuts to Medicare and Medicaid on top of the payment reduction and other changes laid out in a final rule by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid will result in a SNF industry-wide overall (all payers) reduction in operating margin from 3.8 percent to zero in FY 2012; from 4.4 percent to 0.4 percent in 2014.

..."This is the second analysis of the impact of cuts on SNFs that Avalere has released this month. The first found that CMS’ final rule cuts of 11.1 percent would mean payments to SNFs over the next 10 years would be reduced by $79 billion.""""

Here is more about the cuts to services offered by nursing homes that will occur under such cuts.

""""Budget Cuts: To Affect Nursing Home Costs (And Services)?"""""
http://blog.kylekrull.com/kansas-missouri-estate-planning/2011/08/mon-822.html

"""""The last few months have been a wild ride on multiple financial levels. This include wild financial consequences at the micro level (e.g., putting gas in your tank and buying milk) and at the macro level (e.g., future funding of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and the very real "debt crisis"). While many more challenges lie ahead in terms of budget cuts, some cuts already have been made... albeit under the radar screen.

Several of the budget cuts you should know about actually go into effect this fall, as reported in a recent SmartMoney article. According to SmartMoney, nursing home residents could face higher costs or reduced care once these cuts kick in. Yikes!

On July 29, The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) decided and announced that they would be compensating for last year's $4 billion shortfall by cutting reimbursement rates to nursing homes by 11.1%. In real terms, the shortfall will reduce government reimbursements to nursing homes. In 2010, nursing homes across the board increased charges on residents by an average of 5%.

The bad news: These reduced government reimbursements likely will trigger even higher nursing home costs for residents beginning this fall. Alternatively, it might trigger a reduction in services to nursing home residents. Either way, the forecast is not pleasant.""""

Yes, "under the radar screen". And probably more to come when the Super Committee gets through putting everything on the table to get the $1.5 trillion in cuts...maybe more if the president gets his way. He is asking for more than that. 

So they are already doing it to the elderly, cutting benefits. To the young folks who think oh goody they are saving money for me in my future....I say good luck on taking up the slack provided by Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. I say your lives are about to change, and you will be taking on the responsibilities that your parents and grandparents were able to do for themselves with the money they contributed through their working years.

Re: A Message to tell the Young about SS

posted at September 14, 2011 4:03 PM EDT
Posts: 5
First: August 7, 2011
Last: February 8, 2012
It gets worse.  Social Security funding is also being negatively affected by low interest rates.  As you probably know, the trust funds are required to be invested in Treasury bills/notes/bonds which are currently paying out historically low rates.  The combination of reduced payroll taxes and low interest rates will slow the growth of the trust funds, thereby accelerating the date benefits will have to be cut (currently slated to occur in the mid-2030's).  The silver lining may be that Congress only acts when there's a crisis (such as it did in 1983 with all of two MONTHS to spare), so maybe speeding up the day of reckoning is a good thing(?).

  In Response to Re: A Message to tell the Young about SS:
Good points, GetRealQuick.  Another thing they need to know is that the Payroll Tax Cut sounded good until I found out that the way it works is that the amount being withheld from your paycheck for Social Security has been reduced by 2%.  This means less money for the Social Security Fund.  They are talking about extending the cut for another year and allowing the employer to reduce his amount by 2% also.  That means 4% of your earnings not being put away for Social Security which will leave the fund even further short of funds (billions) as time goes on.  Then the government will cut the amount you receive, extend the number of years you have to work to get it, and be taxed to a much higher limit to make up for it in the future.  It will also allow the government to blame the shortfall on you instead of the fact that they have been misappropriating the funds for years.  Worst case, they will abolish Social Security.  The cut is no different than if you had a 401K that you continually borrowed against year-after-year, only to find out that there is little left for your retirement.  They called it the Payroll Tax Cut instead of the Social Security Fund Tax cut for obvious reasons.  Out of 20 people that I polled, none of them realized where the money was coming from for the cut. 
Posted by flybum

Re: The Collapse of Social Security

posted at September 18, 2011 11:27 PM EDT
Posts: 11
First: August 30, 2011
Last: November 23, 2011

Well, it looks like my idea of demanding the Right to Die is taking off. On CBS News they just posted an article:


GOP: The "Right to Death Party"?

 

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8601-3445_162-20107897.html?assetTypeId=30&blogId=&tag=contentBody;commentWrapper#ixzz1YMgX80QR

 

 

I've decided not to be bitter about it, but just accept it as the only rational solution for America of the 21st century. And what's so horrible if this planet cannot support 7 billion people aith a billion seniors and expensive medicine/operations. Is this really a surprise. Or is it simply the dawning of a brave new world. I've decided that it was bound to come and God knows it and we should think of it as just a chance to go to heaven sooner. 

 

Here's my comment to this article I posted:

 

Look, let's get real. America can't afford the poor elderly anymore.  Medicine and medical operations/procedures are too expensive in the 21st century, and the poor seniors and poor disabled will never be able to afford it. I'm an old guy who worked all his life and is now on SSDI, $820.00 a month which I paid for by working. If I get real sick I'm screwed. Now I don't want anybody's money. So what are my options? 

I can wheel my self out to the trash can to wait to die in misery. Many of you will face this same future. But is this a rational solution? Of course not. So the only rational solution is for all the seniors in America to make their last stand and demand the Right to Die via a $99.00 death drug (we don't want a hand out). I will be the first in line and go on the day it's passed.  There is no turning the hands of the clock back. The new America is here and all we can do is accept it and get the Right to Die so we can hold onto our dignity. And does God want me or the sick, elderly seniors to be wheeled out to the trash can to die? Of course not. 

The doctors are already playing God and keeping people alive via technology beyond their God's wishes for them. So we are only returning to God's natural order. And the Bible actually says thou shall not commit murder in the original. So it's no problem if people willingly and consciously sign a death will. So let's stop pretending and get on with it. American seniors deserve the Right to Die.

Re: The Collapse of Social Security in Dead Deal America

posted at September 21, 2011 12:43 PM EDT
Posts: 1
First: September 21, 2011
Last: September 21, 2011
I agree with you SS can be saved but why the right to die deal what happend to us. In our youth we demonstrated. We have the numbers what are we sitting around for. Too many people are not getting the word. They are only hearing part of the truth. Ihave had to get on the internet to get the full stroy. They need to know more about what Perry's book says, more about what the bills they are trying to pass say. I have asked 3 times for a copy of the bill congress is trying to pass and not once was one sent to me. I requested Todd Young to send me a copy so that I could see exactly what thay wanted to cut from Medicare and Social Security and Medicare and as and American Citizen I am enitiled to see that bill in its full form. I never heard any thing back. So much for freedom of communication, and poltics, speech and everything else. He did not get my vote to start with and will not get it in the future. We can't save Medcare and Social Security if we don't communicate with our fellow americans but it we do we can stop these guys, maybe even kick them out.

Re: The Collapse of Social Security in Dead Deal America

posted at December 2, 2012 9:58 PM EST
Posts: 1
First: December 2, 2012
Last: December 2, 2012
It is not surprising that there are large numbers of seniors in desperate straits and reliant on social security for their survival. Social security was intended to be a safety net for those that had unforeseen misfortunes beyond their control. While there are certainly many seniors today that fall in this category, there are many more that now suffer the consequences of moral hazard. They felt they had no need to save for their old age because social security would take care of them. While I saved diligently, they enjoyed a higher standard of living. Now I am living comfortably on my savings and they feel that they are entitled and not getting enough from the government because they are struggling.

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