THANK YOU for pointing this out! The use of the word 'entitlement' is so very wrong. We pay taxes for our SSA benefits! It is important that we fight back whenever they use this verbiage.
What I wanna know, is when do we get up off our asses, and DO what FDR knew was coming if SS wasn't created? When do we march on these greedy SOBs with pitchforks and torches, drag them out of their mansions, and auction THEIR asses off to the lowest bidder? Republicans need an abject lesson in where the REAL power lies, and it's about goddamn time they got one.
that will happen... all through history, there have been tipping points where the rich are too rich and the poor are too poor and they reach that breaking point. it seldom ends well for either side... all through history we have seen an extraction process, a mining process, where the wealthy extract value from the land, the sea, the air, and the creatures (four legged and two legged living upon it). Russia at the start of WWI leading to the rise of the Bolshevik revolution, the Peasants revolt in England in the late 1300s against Richard II, etc. governments extract wealth and give it to royalty or the rich, churches extract wealth and keep it for themselves, etc the list goes on. the problem today is that so many people happily march along to the slaughter, trusting in the propaganda that comes from these folks. they tell us that the urban poor are the enemy, or Islam is the enemy, or abortions, or ... whomever... simply to distract you from the real enemy which is the "Epstein class" the super wealthy who get to make the rules and the rules are for everyone else, not themselves. White rural America needs to stop seeing democrats as the enemy and democrats need to stop playing only to their comfortable safe audiences. a fair tax structure will not kill American businesses, nor will it kill the American super rich. people need to be disabused of this myth of "trickle down" and how the helping the rich get richer somehow helps the rest of us...
Amen. Could not have said it better. The wealth gap started to take off in the 80's with Reagan introducing trickle down economics. Turns out, the wealthy kept the tax breaks to themselves? Who would have thought?? It has only gotten worse to the historical wealth gap we have today. One word. Revolution.
Dragging a few choice examples to the guillotine - start with the zillionaires (make up your own list, you know who deserves it) and the politicians they have bought would be a salutary example pour décourager les autres. There is a fight cage on the White House lawn that could serve as a near perfect venue.
I fear that won't happen until people really hurt. I thought we would be there after canceling SNAP and booting people from Medicaid, but apparently it has to get worse before it gets better.
sadly you are correct, it is going to have to get worse, and also sadly, i fear it will... the tolerance for pain from an obvious source and clear cause is surprising... it will get ugly and lots of people will suffer, people who did not vote for this...
several comments... first, thank you for another excellent article. i generally pride myself on my knowledge of the details of American history, but was not aware that the destitute were sold into effective slavery... really frightening. the attack on social security is another example of what really puzzles me... the very people that vote for the trumps, Johnsons, Grahams, etc. are voting against their own self interests. are people that stupid, or that easily brainwashed? a huge percentage of Americans rely on social security for their retirement... they all know (or should know) that they have paid into it and it is their money...yet they continue to elect the very people who would take it away from them. Once again, the republicans are busy protecting the vast wealth of the super rich in this country, off of the backs of the average citizen... it is in this latter category that many of the democrats are as guilty as the republicans, protecting their own self interests or those of their wealthy donors...
I wonder if the MAGAmuffins don't understand how Social Security works. Try calling the SSA office, and you figure out real fast that we have a problem.
Yeah, been hesitating, as I'm 64, and would really like to collect the full amount, the problem is, I fear if I wait much longer, it may not be there at all.
I don't think people are stupid. I think they are being fed lies. And they haven't been taught to think. They are not reading this fine article. I don't know what they are viewing. Fox News? Trump's posts? Nobody, for sure is saying, "What do you think about us cutting your social security check?" That would have an overwhelming answer.
perhaps stupid is a strong word, but we are all fed lies, but most of us can see thru them immediately. you bring up a good point about what some of these people are viewing... i think in many cases, they are not viewing anything. they watch silliness on TV, they are not watching 60 minutes and may not even be watching fox news... they probably are getting little snippets from social media that comes from God knows where. that is the sad thing... articles like those from Carlyn Beccia and others are not being read by the people who would benefit the most from reading them
And I will add this - for all those “clutching their pearls” about the dreaded, OHMYGAWD . . . Wait for it . . . SOCIALISM!! It is NOT Communism - that is a lie! Why is it so bloody wrong 😑 to care for people, who for a myriad of reasons, need the care. That is what Socialism is all about. Can it be used badly? Of course. But then look at the current president of the United States and his corrupt family and then tell me Socialism is going to destroy anything. To DENY people in need, is to deny their humanity. Those who deny another’s humanity, have lost theirs. I mean - Good Lord people! THINK!!!
Carlyn - this is a fucking brilliant piece!! Sure got me going. And I’m Canadian. 🇨🇦 Proudly so! We have Canadian Pension Plan. We pay into it according to our salaries. Employers contribute (I believe - I could be wrong) an equal share, until age 70, if still employed. While one can access CPP at age 60, the amount per month is decreased to accommodate taking it for a longer time. If you defer taking CPP to age 70, you receive 42% more per month than if you’d started taking benefits at 65, likewise to accommodate for taking benefits for a shorter time. The only way I could defer receipt of benefits til 70 was to continue to work til then. It was hard but I needed the extra. Single senior women make up the largest group of the impoverished in Canada. 🇨🇦 That needs to change. I SO feel for Americans, especially women, with the threats coming down the pike in 2027.
Warren Buffet- the billionaire- complained years ago that his house maid paid a higher marginal tax rate than he did, and that it was unfair. He understood the consequences of the ever higher concentration of wealth and suggested that strengthening Social Security would help the majority at little cost to the rich. But he did not appreciate the level of greed among the monied elite as a whole.
Can we count on centrist Democrats to fix Social Security? I doubt it.
I personally don't have much hope left in centrist Democrats. We need to elect more Bernies. Social Security is a socialistic program. It's the only way to save it.
Thanks for another very interesting and well-written history lesson, Carlyn. I never heard of the Dutch auction solution to social services or the Townsend clubs.
I have zero trust in Mike Johnson or the GOP, but I do think Social Security needs an overhaul. Raising the cap on payroll taxes creates obligations to high earners that will have to be means-tested at some point. For that reason, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget recommends capping the benefits, instead, at $50k per year. However, neither of these will restore long-term solvency .
My solution is more like Townsend's: replace it with a basic income guarantee at the poverty level ($16k). Eliminating the payroll tax will help poor workers and freeze obligations. Benefits earned to date can be financed by eliminating $1 trillion in tax expenditures (deductions from income for special interests) and raising marginal income tax rates on high income households to make the tax code truly progressive. Everyone gets what they have already earned, and create a safety net for people of all ages to address the income inequality that is reaching crisis levels.
This may seem crazy, but it is a serious proposal detailed in a book I'm about to publish in its third edition. The last thing we need is a band-aid on this rupturing artery. Let the screaming begin!
Steve, Your plan is sharp. Now, how do we get politicians to listen? And yes, I agree the cap has to be carefully tested. Maybe the tech warlords could use one of their fancy algorithms and figure it out. Either way, we can't keep ignoring the problem. I don't want to end up in a human auction ;)
Very glad you liked - appreciate it a lot. It’s why I believe MATRIARCHY is long overdue. If I may, and because my first name is Frances (although I’ve not ever used it), make one correction - unless it was autocorrect. You likely know this - female Frances is “es” and male is “is.” If you already know this, my apologies for sure. Noticed that I’m only a free subscriber. If I can manage, I’d like to upgrade. I will check. Thank you for your work! 🇨🇦
I assume Mike Johnson is not paying 6.5% in SS taxes because he hit the cap and doesn't want to have to relinquish any more. I didn't know about the white slave auctions. People's depravity for the sake of holding onto money is jaw dropping. In contrast to the Republican congress passion for protecting the rich at the expense of the poor, check out what's been mandated into law in other countries in this encouraging post from Cultural Butterfly. https://substack.com/home/post/p-201940113
There are no public trustees on the oversight board and none have been appointed since before 9/11. Bush, Obama, Biden and Trump have failed to assure public trust. Everyone is taking Bureaucrats words for the totals of these trust funds.
Johnson and his crew should certainly fear the revolution. Those who instituted the program knew their history well. The dumpster fires of history were fueled by discontented and socially and financially repressed peoples rising up to overthrow their governments.
Being a member of Congress grants the biggest “entitlements” in this entire country. Great pay, free heathcare for life, an awesome pension, paid expenses, and you only have to “work” for barely half a year.
Only when these “lawmakers” are finally made to live under the consequences of the same terrible policies and laws they pass for the rest of us to live by will things get better.
But for now, all members of Congress are some of the most over compensated, privileged, and self entitled people in this whole country.
They get everything for doing practically NOTHING. 🙄
Great article! Love it. I almost wish the GOP would try to pitch SSA as an entitlement so they could cut benefits. Oh my. That would certainly heat things up a bit.
THANK YOU for pointing this out! The use of the word 'entitlement' is so very wrong. We pay taxes for our SSA benefits! It is important that we fight back whenever they use this verbiage.
We are 'entitled' to get our money, which we lent to the government, back.
I’ve been self-employed for the past 20+ years,so I pay a double portion - roughly 15.3%. It’s my money!
What I wanna know, is when do we get up off our asses, and DO what FDR knew was coming if SS wasn't created? When do we march on these greedy SOBs with pitchforks and torches, drag them out of their mansions, and auction THEIR asses off to the lowest bidder? Republicans need an abject lesson in where the REAL power lies, and it's about goddamn time they got one.
that will happen... all through history, there have been tipping points where the rich are too rich and the poor are too poor and they reach that breaking point. it seldom ends well for either side... all through history we have seen an extraction process, a mining process, where the wealthy extract value from the land, the sea, the air, and the creatures (four legged and two legged living upon it). Russia at the start of WWI leading to the rise of the Bolshevik revolution, the Peasants revolt in England in the late 1300s against Richard II, etc. governments extract wealth and give it to royalty or the rich, churches extract wealth and keep it for themselves, etc the list goes on. the problem today is that so many people happily march along to the slaughter, trusting in the propaganda that comes from these folks. they tell us that the urban poor are the enemy, or Islam is the enemy, or abortions, or ... whomever... simply to distract you from the real enemy which is the "Epstein class" the super wealthy who get to make the rules and the rules are for everyone else, not themselves. White rural America needs to stop seeing democrats as the enemy and democrats need to stop playing only to their comfortable safe audiences. a fair tax structure will not kill American businesses, nor will it kill the American super rich. people need to be disabused of this myth of "trickle down" and how the helping the rich get richer somehow helps the rest of us...
Amen. Could not have said it better. The wealth gap started to take off in the 80's with Reagan introducing trickle down economics. Turns out, the wealthy kept the tax breaks to themselves? Who would have thought?? It has only gotten worse to the historical wealth gap we have today. One word. Revolution.
Agreed, Carter was my first vote.
Hopefully, the side we think we're on will not resort to guillotines.
they were a bit messy!
Dragging a few choice examples to the guillotine - start with the zillionaires (make up your own list, you know who deserves it) and the politicians they have bought would be a salutary example pour décourager les autres. There is a fight cage on the White House lawn that could serve as a near perfect venue.
I fear that won't happen until people really hurt. I thought we would be there after canceling SNAP and booting people from Medicaid, but apparently it has to get worse before it gets better.
sadly you are correct, it is going to have to get worse, and also sadly, i fear it will... the tolerance for pain from an obvious source and clear cause is surprising... it will get ugly and lots of people will suffer, people who did not vote for this...
several comments... first, thank you for another excellent article. i generally pride myself on my knowledge of the details of American history, but was not aware that the destitute were sold into effective slavery... really frightening. the attack on social security is another example of what really puzzles me... the very people that vote for the trumps, Johnsons, Grahams, etc. are voting against their own self interests. are people that stupid, or that easily brainwashed? a huge percentage of Americans rely on social security for their retirement... they all know (or should know) that they have paid into it and it is their money...yet they continue to elect the very people who would take it away from them. Once again, the republicans are busy protecting the vast wealth of the super rich in this country, off of the backs of the average citizen... it is in this latter category that many of the democrats are as guilty as the republicans, protecting their own self interests or those of their wealthy donors...
I wonder if the MAGAmuffins don't understand how Social Security works. Try calling the SSA office, and you figure out real fast that we have a problem.
Yeah, been hesitating, as I'm 64, and would really like to collect the full amount, the problem is, I fear if I wait much longer, it may not be there at all.
I don't think people are stupid. I think they are being fed lies. And they haven't been taught to think. They are not reading this fine article. I don't know what they are viewing. Fox News? Trump's posts? Nobody, for sure is saying, "What do you think about us cutting your social security check?" That would have an overwhelming answer.
perhaps stupid is a strong word, but we are all fed lies, but most of us can see thru them immediately. you bring up a good point about what some of these people are viewing... i think in many cases, they are not viewing anything. they watch silliness on TV, they are not watching 60 minutes and may not even be watching fox news... they probably are getting little snippets from social media that comes from God knows where. that is the sad thing... articles like those from Carlyn Beccia and others are not being read by the people who would benefit the most from reading them
100% agree
And I will add this - for all those “clutching their pearls” about the dreaded, OHMYGAWD . . . Wait for it . . . SOCIALISM!! It is NOT Communism - that is a lie! Why is it so bloody wrong 😑 to care for people, who for a myriad of reasons, need the care. That is what Socialism is all about. Can it be used badly? Of course. But then look at the current president of the United States and his corrupt family and then tell me Socialism is going to destroy anything. To DENY people in need, is to deny their humanity. Those who deny another’s humanity, have lost theirs. I mean - Good Lord people! THINK!!!
Carlyn - this is a fucking brilliant piece!! Sure got me going. And I’m Canadian. 🇨🇦 Proudly so! We have Canadian Pension Plan. We pay into it according to our salaries. Employers contribute (I believe - I could be wrong) an equal share, until age 70, if still employed. While one can access CPP at age 60, the amount per month is decreased to accommodate taking it for a longer time. If you defer taking CPP to age 70, you receive 42% more per month than if you’d started taking benefits at 65, likewise to accommodate for taking benefits for a shorter time. The only way I could defer receipt of benefits til 70 was to continue to work til then. It was hard but I needed the extra. Single senior women make up the largest group of the impoverished in Canada. 🇨🇦 That needs to change. I SO feel for Americans, especially women, with the threats coming down the pike in 2027.
Funny, I was just saying the same in this thread. We need to rebrand socialism as pro-social. This Communist narrative is laughable.
Warren Buffet- the billionaire- complained years ago that his house maid paid a higher marginal tax rate than he did, and that it was unfair. He understood the consequences of the ever higher concentration of wealth and suggested that strengthening Social Security would help the majority at little cost to the rich. But he did not appreciate the level of greed among the monied elite as a whole.
Can we count on centrist Democrats to fix Social Security? I doubt it.
I personally don't have much hope left in centrist Democrats. We need to elect more Bernies. Social Security is a socialistic program. It's the only way to save it.
Thanks for another very interesting and well-written history lesson, Carlyn. I never heard of the Dutch auction solution to social services or the Townsend clubs.
I have zero trust in Mike Johnson or the GOP, but I do think Social Security needs an overhaul. Raising the cap on payroll taxes creates obligations to high earners that will have to be means-tested at some point. For that reason, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget recommends capping the benefits, instead, at $50k per year. However, neither of these will restore long-term solvency .
My solution is more like Townsend's: replace it with a basic income guarantee at the poverty level ($16k). Eliminating the payroll tax will help poor workers and freeze obligations. Benefits earned to date can be financed by eliminating $1 trillion in tax expenditures (deductions from income for special interests) and raising marginal income tax rates on high income households to make the tax code truly progressive. Everyone gets what they have already earned, and create a safety net for people of all ages to address the income inequality that is reaching crisis levels.
This may seem crazy, but it is a serious proposal detailed in a book I'm about to publish in its third edition. The last thing we need is a band-aid on this rupturing artery. Let the screaming begin!
Steve, Your plan is sharp. Now, how do we get politicians to listen? And yes, I agree the cap has to be carefully tested. Maybe the tech warlords could use one of their fancy algorithms and figure it out. Either way, we can't keep ignoring the problem. I don't want to end up in a human auction ;)
A woman. I’m seeing more and more the case for MATRIARCHY! Take that you ignorant, nasty, scared white men!! 🇨🇦
Frances Perkins is who to thank for the Social Security program. A program. Not charity. Not an entitlement.
Francis Perkin's plan. FDR made it happen but it was her plan that saved Americans.
Very glad you liked - appreciate it a lot. It’s why I believe MATRIARCHY is long overdue. If I may, and because my first name is Frances (although I’ve not ever used it), make one correction - unless it was autocorrect. You likely know this - female Frances is “es” and male is “is.” If you already know this, my apologies for sure. Noticed that I’m only a free subscriber. If I can manage, I’d like to upgrade. I will check. Thank you for your work! 🇨🇦
I assume Mike Johnson is not paying 6.5% in SS taxes because he hit the cap and doesn't want to have to relinquish any more. I didn't know about the white slave auctions. People's depravity for the sake of holding onto money is jaw dropping. In contrast to the Republican congress passion for protecting the rich at the expense of the poor, check out what's been mandated into law in other countries in this encouraging post from Cultural Butterfly. https://substack.com/home/post/p-201940113
There are no public trustees on the oversight board and none have been appointed since before 9/11. Bush, Obama, Biden and Trump have failed to assure public trust. Everyone is taking Bureaucrats words for the totals of these trust funds.
Johnson and his crew should certainly fear the revolution. Those who instituted the program knew their history well. The dumpster fires of history were fueled by discontented and socially and financially repressed peoples rising up to overthrow their governments.
Being a member of Congress grants the biggest “entitlements” in this entire country. Great pay, free heathcare for life, an awesome pension, paid expenses, and you only have to “work” for barely half a year.
Only when these “lawmakers” are finally made to live under the consequences of the same terrible policies and laws they pass for the rest of us to live by will things get better.
But for now, all members of Congress are some of the most over compensated, privileged, and self entitled people in this whole country.
They get everything for doing practically NOTHING. 🙄
Great article! Love it. I almost wish the GOP would try to pitch SSA as an entitlement so they could cut benefits. Oh my. That would certainly heat things up a bit.
Excellent article.
He USA twerp figure!