I'll never understand how our government can just "shut down" and choose to not pay people except for our elected officials that make these dumb decisions.

Our country is cooked bro.

 

Absolutely agree. I’m all for smaller governments and less intervention, not continually expanding all departments and filling them with unnecessary bloat.

 

I’d go one step further. They can keep all my SS deductions from age 21 to 42 this year. Keep it all. But starting now at 42 until retirement age of 67, no more SS deductions and I’d happily sign a paper saying I will not take or count on any government SS program when I retire.

I could do a lot more better on my own money saved from the SS deductions for the next 25 yrs than rely on a government capped benefit. Not to mention dying at 65-70 would be the worst possible outcome for the SS game. Money saved now worth a lot at age 65.

 

Absolutely! You totally could do all that. Do you know why? Because you have disposable income. If you are on minimum wage or just above, you do not have that. If you don’t have it, you can’t invest it.

 

SS was supposed to be a backup. A safety net.


Instead, it ended up being a case where today 39% rely completely on SS as their sole retirement income, and over 70% rely on it as half their retirement income. That was not intended to be the goal or the purpose of the program. We let it get like this.

 

Hilarious considering we just had some genius in charge of a made up department attempt just this and it backfired spectacularly and now that department no longer exists.

 

And by "we" you mean pro corporate lobbies and their selected candidates who allowed the government to neuter unions in our country leading to the greatest shift of wealth from the middle class to the wealthy class in our history?

 

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Way back when - mid 70s IIRC - the federal fiscal year ran July 1 to June 30. But, because Congress could never get the damn budget finished on time, they changed the start day. October 1, “to give Congress more time to complete the budget” which they still don’t do on time. And now here we are, sneaking up on April, with important parts of the budget being held hostage.

If I ruled the world and there were two things I could change, the first would be to provide state or federal funded housing for members of the House in DC or nearby, because their pay really doesn’t justify them buying a house in DC for what may be only a two year job.

The second thing would be to make it so the last item that was finished on the budget was funding the pay for Congress. If they can’t get that done in time, THEY should be the ones to suffer longest.

 

If you ruled the world, the Ukrainian SSR would be brought back into the fold. But I agree, compelling Congress to actually do their job might force some compromise and getting something done rather than screeching on the socials.

 

They would have it. Unless they don't work. Work=deductions. No work=no deductions.