In Reply to: Re: Future demographics say social security is unsustainable..... posted by SagoBob on April 14, 2024 at 15:24:31
Its original recipients made no contributions at all. It was a tax (on workers) and a subsidy to the elderly to keep them out of poverty. That was how it functioned for decades.
The funding portion was created when SS was reformed in early 80’s, raising the tax and saving some of the funds to pay for future retirees when more retirees entered the system and the ratio of workers to retirees. The retirement age for full benefits future retirees was also raised. Tip O’Neil and Reagan famously collaborated on this change which has kept Social Security intact for over 4 decades.
The same solution type of solution could work now. Raise the amount and type id income that could be taxed. But conservative extremists have always hated social security and wanted to “privatize” — i. e., destroy — the system. Corporations could pocket their portion of the contributions and Wall Street could loot as much as possible of the rest. This hasn’t been feasible because it is a really popular program. Now those extremists are a majority of the GOP and don’t care. But it is still a popular thing.
Social Security is the program that keeps the greatest number of Americans out of poverty. So killing it will for sure help struggling rural America.