The measure, dubbed the Social Security Fairness Act, seeks to do away with tax rules that proponents say have led to unfair reductions in benefits for those who have worked in public service for much of their careers.
Finally Congress might fix this problem.
“Congress to fix Social Security,” a non sequitur of ever there was one.
The Captain
Ayn Rand would disagree vehemently with you.
Must be an Ayn Rand doppelgänger. Ayn Rand would oppose Social Security in the first place, it’s none of government’s business.
The Captain
It’s not what they say that is important but what they do. I oppose investing in Chinese companies but it doesn’t mean I won’t trade them if the risk reward is right.
Ayn Rand was against Social Security until she found out she wasn’t a very good Capitalist and decided to dip her hand into the Social Security pot. It’s funny how people will say one thing and do the opposite. But I can’t fault her for changing her mind.
Legislative proposals that haven’t been signed into law are not allowed on METAR because they are usually politically partisan and anyway almost never become actual law after the minestrone process.
I will leave this one because it’s not partisan but please keep this in mind.
Wendy
Sorry Wendy, we were discussing this awhile back and I never knew that they were even thinking of fixing it. When I saw this I thought it might help people see both sides of the issue. It does seem to that both sides are working together to fix this, which I am always happy to see instead of the bickering.
You are covering some important aspects of human behavior but I dispute your conclusion. There is an ideal world and then there is reality. Accepting reality does not necessarily mean “changing your mind.”
To change the venue to signed legislature*, some people accuse Tesla/Musk of taking government subsidies like carbon credits, your ideal world might be free trade, really free trade with no subsidies and other interferences but the real world does not work that way. Musk takes the carbon credits despite being the world’s leading Capitalist. Why accept the carbon credits? It furthers the goal of converting the world to sustainable green energy. Of course haters will say it’s just a facade. Wars go on happening.
The Captain
* an example of accepting reality vs. ideal
BTW, while I like Ayn Rand’s philosophy, I discovered that her tribe had become a cult, not something I would join. I wrote to them about Rand’s topic of “The Reification of the Zero.” [Regarding “nothing” as a thing, as a special, different kind of existent]. The reply was along the lines of “Anything Rand says must be true.” Not in my world.
In my world of computing ZERO is special, Any time you write code that starts series at ONE, you are setting yourself up for multitudes of bugs that magically disappear when you start from nothing, i.e. ZERO!
Anyone know what this is all about? Article is not very clear.
Fed workers who receive govt pensions and also qualify for Social Security apparently get reduced SS benefits.
What is the proposed change?
Exactly Captain. Nobody should be a member of any cult. It’s better to think for yourself. But anybody can skip taking Social Security. It actually takes a bit of effort to take it. So if anyone is against it they can forgo it. The reason they take it is because they have either changed their mind or they have decided the money is worth more than their moral’s.
Right now Paul, people who have pensions from government jobs. Teachers, fire fighters, police etc. do not pay into social security while they have those jobs. But they may have had previous jobs where they have paid into social security or they have a spouse that paid into social security. At this time they do not get their full Social Security that they paid nor can they collect any of their spouses Social Security. My understanding is that now they are going to allow that.
An example is when Americans line up to buy cheap Chinese manufactured products including underwear, furniture and phone.
How quickly everyone rationalizes and quickly forgets their strongly held principles.
This is not true in every state. In my state, IN, I paid into SS my entire teaching career, and contributed to my pension fund. I receive SS benefits as well as a small pension. My BIL in OH did not pay into SS, received no SS benefits, but receives a much larger pension than I do.
According to the SSA website some federal employees are entitled to SS benefits and others are not.
Benefits Planner: Retirement | Social Security Benefits for Federal Workers | SSA.
For years, decades, I have heard Shinies howling about “double dippers”: people who earn a military pension for 20+ years service, then take a civil service job and earn a civil service pension. Somehow, the Shinies don’t think these people should collect both pensions, even though they earned both of them. I used to tease Tim about him collecting a military pension, plus an old age pension, plus a partial disability pension for his hearing loss, from his military service. Here in Shiny-land, people would be trying to revoke most of those pensions, even though he earned them.
I am pleased to see some effort being made to prevent people being cheated out of retirement income they earned.
Steve
That opposite actually. SS works on a curve, so lower earners get the most benefit. The article is talking about people who have some years of SS, thus a proportionately high benefit, but also worked outside the SS system for most of their career and are covered by a pension.
Its worse than that. Those who retire from the military can also get a govt job and qualify for their pension and still qualify for Social Security’ Triple dipping is possible. I suspect it has been limited from the good old days. But that limitation seems to be what this is about. No doubt govt employee unions are strongly behind removing any restrictions.
This seems to be a subject Congress should revisit from time to time. That does not imply massive changes are needed. Perhaps some adjustments.
It’s a tax. Although the people this is happening to understood how the system worked, it doesn’t mean it’s right. Like Puck said it didn’t happen in every state but in my state if you were a teacher you couldn’t pay into Social Security. If you went into law enforcement, teaching, or the fire department later in your life all that work that was done under social security is greatly reduced. The pensions they receive are very good, there is no doubt about that, but as with everything else their Medical is no longer paid for in retirement. It is subsidized but is still high.
Social Security is more than a retirement plan it is also insurance. Like all insurance, I hope that I never have to collect on it, but if and when I do, I am grateful for the premiums that I have paid.
Exactly, she was a horrible woman who thought most Americans should die in the gutter. She was ignorant. Common self centered stuff.
I hope they don’t “fix” the current benefit max-FICA earners get by retiring early.
If someone earning a max-FICA salary starting in their mid to late 20’s retired at age 45 or so, just before they hit the 2nd bend point of the AIME calculation, they’ll get 77% of the maximum monthly SS benefit while only paying about half the FICA taxes.
intercst
