McCarthy loses Speaker vote 3 times…

[jamil]

Want to save some money? One sure way is to cut all SS to individuals who leave the country and live elsewhere. Also cut Medicare to those who live elsewhere and just come to the states once a year in order to keep it. You would save allot of cash.

If we just cut the give-aways we’d be very wealthy.

I don't want to save money. I want not to be taxed to pay for needless things. I want government to do their function and nothing else. I still like my idea for a tax/spend system. I call it the put-your-money-where-your-mouth-is tax system. Everyone pays flat rate for basic government. No frills. So no welfare. Reasonable national defense budget. No SSA. No DoE. No HUD. You get the idea.

Since it's a flat rate, say 7%, Every month (every 3 months for busineses), everyone writes a check for their federal tax, 7% of earnings. You make a dollar, pay your 7 cents.

You want a SSA? you check the box on your form and add that to your tax payment check, but you might do better putting it in a 401K. You want a welfare state? You pay for it. You want an education department? You pay for it. Everything above basic government gets funded only by the money people are willing to pay for it. You vote with your money. No more voting by ballot for what benefits you while expecting other people to pay for it. If a cow is sacred to you, then knock yourself out. You want government to fund other people's wars? You check the box. Put your money where your mouth is.

Let government beg the people for their funding.

 

[LeftyGunner]

You can cut fat out of everything. SSA? I think they should pay what they owe people. But they have to do something about the future. I read an economist years ago that said that to maintain a social system's solvency, it needs a certain growth rate of people paying into it that is commensurate with the people drawing from it. Social Security doesn't have that. Something needs to change because it's not sustainable. It should not be a sacred cow.

DoD? If someone went through the defense department objectively and cut all the pork, easily that's 30%. Defense should not be a sacred cow.

We have too many sacred cows in the budget. Cross the board, rip the band-aid off. But I do agree that what was taken from citizens with the promise of a return, the promise should be kept. But we can gut the budget of the SSA by 30%.

When SSA was new, and pensions were still a thing, a lot of working class people only lived a handful of years after retirement, there was a seemingly endless baby boom to promote growth, and our economy was building on a combined foundation of consumer spending and export production…if things stayed the same SSA would have been sustainable for the long-term.

We have so many young people taking disability payments now, and elderly people are living longer and consuming more health care services than before, at a time when healthcare expenses are spiraling out of control.

In the 21st century a lack of government provided basic healthcare insurance puts our working class at a competitive disadvantage from most other developed economies, but forcing SSA to fill that role is a terrible idea in my opinion.

The Federal Government should, in my opinion, only be involved in the healthcare industry as deeply as necessary to take care of their own employees, and particularly the armed forces.

I have to think it will take a constitutional amendment to fix SSA, and even then I’m afraid they will use the opportunity as a federal power grab, rather than to put it to the states where it belongs.

A one-size approach ends up fitting poorly for everybody. Let the states decide how best to provide for themselves, and see which programs bring the most benefit to their own population, and other states can use those successes to better model their own programs over time.

 

[chipbennett]

When SSA was new, and pensions were still a thing, a lot of working class people only lived a handful of years after retirement, there was a seemingly endless baby boom to promote growth, and our economy was building on a combined foundation of consumer spending and export production…if things stayed the same SSA would have been sustainable for the long-term.

We have so many young people taking disability payments now, and elderly people are living longer and consuming more health care services than before, at a time when healthcare expenses are spiraling out of control.

In the 21st century a lack of government provided basic healthcare insurance puts our working class at a competitive disadvantage from most other developed economies, but forcing SSA to fill that role is a terrible idea in my opinion.

The Federal Government should, in my opinion, only be involved in the healthcare industry as deeply as necessary to take care of their own employees, and particularly the armed forces.

I have to think it will take a constitutional amendment to fix SSA, and even then I’m afraid they will use the opportunity as a federal power grab, rather than to put it to the states where it belongs.

A one-size approach ends up fitting poorly for everybody. Let the states decide how best to provide for themselves, and see which programs bring the most benefit to their own population, and other states can use those successes to better model their own programs over time.

I just want the ability to opt-out. That 12% from my salary is basically a wealth-redistribution tax, taking from what I could be saving for my own retirement and using it to support the SSA Ponzi scheme. People currently at or near retirement get really upset when people my age - in the prime incoming-earning years of my life - assert that it's not my responsibility to pay for their retirement. But that's exactly what's happening - and by any reasonable account, SSA will be insolvent by the time I reach (a now elevated) retirement age.

From my perspective: my life would be much better off without the government being involved in my retirement planning/saving at all. I want out.

 

[jamil]

It's too late at this point for me to get out. I've been paying into SSA for 40 something years. but I would have liked the opportunity to opt out and put that money into my own retirement plan. At this point I just want my money back. I don't plan on retiring until I can't do my job anymore. I like working.

 

[BugI02]

Some patriots would die to save their country others demand payment of what is theirs

Patriots would die to save the COUNTRY, not the illegitimate government working hard to destroy it from within nor the free **** army who's only interest is profiting from its still breathing corpse

Before gov't even thinks about cutting benefits to those who paid into the system or paid with their blood, they had better cut benefits to those who did neither to the bone first

 

[BugI02]

I don't want to save money. I want not to be taxed to pay for needless things. I want government to do their function and nothing else. I still like my idea for a tax/spend system. I call it the put-your-money-where-your-mouth-is tax system. Everyone pays flat rate for basic government. No frills. So no welfare. Reasonable national defense budget. No SSA. No DoE. No HUD. You get the idea.

Since it's a flat rate, say 7%, Every month (every 3 months for busineses), everyone writes a check for their federal tax, 7% of earnings. You make a dollar, pay your 7 cents.

You want a SSA? you check the box on your form and add that to your tax payment check, but you might do better putting it in a 401K. You want a welfare state? You pay for it. You want an education department? You pay for it. Everything above basic government gets funded only by the money people are willing to pay for it. You vote with your money. No more voting by ballot for what benefits you while expecting other people to pay for it. If a cow is sacred to you, then knock yourself out. You want government to fund other people's wars? You check the box. Put your money where your mouth is.

Let government beg the people for their funding.

I've advocated before for a system not as comprehensive but easier to get off the ground

Your income tax paperwork includes a section where you can limit what the government is allowed to spend the money taken from you on. Want non-productive people to be paid for their state, check the appropriate box(es). Want forever wars/US as global policeman, check the appropriate box(es). It puts off the hard part of reducing taxes and spending but it might starve the more wasteful parts of gov't to death without requiring unachievable change at the front end

Of course, the tally of what taxpayers want to see their money spent on would have to be transparent, secure and probably open source as well as collated in real time as the returns come in

 

[jamil]

Gotta start somewhere.

 

[HoosierLife]

I just want the ability to opt-out. That 12% from my salary is basically a wealth-redistribution tax, taking from what I could be saving for my own retirement and using it to support the SSA Ponzi scheme. People currently at or near retirement get really upset when people my age - in the prime incoming-earning years of my life - assert that it's not my responsibility to pay for their retirement. But that's exactly what's happening - and by any reasonable account, SSA will be insolvent by the time I reach (a now elevated) retirement age.

From my perspective: my life would be much better off without the government being involved in my retirement planning/saving at all. I want out.

I would love to opt out.

 

[smokingman]

I just want the ability to opt-out. That 12% from my salary is basically a wealth-redistribution tax, taking from what I could be saving for my own retirement and using it to support the SSA Ponzi scheme. People currently at or near retirement get really upset when people my age - in the prime incoming-earning years of my life - assert that it's not my responsibility to pay for their retirement. But that's exactly what's happening - and by any reasonable account, SSA will be insolvent by the time I reach (a now elevated) retirement age.

From my perspective: my life would be much better off without the government being involved in my retirement planning/saving at all. I want out.

You can opt out of SS.

How To Opt Out Of Paying Social Security Tax

Look at your paycheck closely and you'll notice a 6.2% tax taken out of your pay for "FICA." Can you get out of paying this Social Security tax?

www.investors.com

Are members of religious groups exempt from paying Social Security taxes?

 

[oze]

Oh,and stop letting everyone who comes to this country that never paid into draw from it. Never paid into it=you do not get it.

Absolutely, 100% right.

 

[oze]

I would love to opt out.

I emailed my then representative and senators when I was 40. I had been paying into SS for 24 years by then, and I suggested that the government should let me and people like me opt out, accepting that I'd not see what they stole from me up to then. No doubt at all that I would have come out way ahead.

 

[KLB]

I've advocated before for a system not as comprehensive but easier to get off the ground

Your income tax paperwork includes a section where you can limit what the government is allowed to spend the money taken from you on. Want non-productive people to be paid for their state, check the appropriate box(es). Want forever wars/US as global policeman, check the appropriate box(es). It puts off the hard part of reducing taxes and spending but it might starve the more wasteful parts of gov't to death without requiring unachievable change at the front end

Of course, the tally of what taxpayers want to see their money spent on would have to be transparent, secure and probably open source as well as collated in real time as the returns come in

That's all irrelevant though. The .gov doesn't pay for everything with tax dollars. So much of it is paid with new debt. We wouldn't get to opt out of that.

 

[jamil]

I think there might be another way to “opt” out of ss taxes. Though I’m not sure about details.

My brother told me he couldn’t get Social Security benefits. He didn’t really explain it. He was a Navy Veteran, so surely his income from that was taxed. I know he was a Merchant Marine for several years after the Navy, so maybe some special circumstance there. He got a pension from it. And later I think he was a longshoreman. I would think he’d have had to pay social security taxes on any income from that employment.

 

[KLB]

I think there might be another way to “opt” out of ss taxes. Though I’m not sure about details.

My brother told me he couldn’t get Social Security benefits. He didn’t really explain it. He was a Navy Veteran, so surely his income from that was taxed. I know he was a Merchant Marine for several years after the Navy, so maybe some special circumstance there. He got a pension from it. And later I think he was a longshoreman. I would think he’d have had to pay social security taxes on any income from that employment.

My mother receives a government pension, retired Chicago teacher, and is unable to receive SS. She never paid into it, and isn't even able to get the survivor benefits for my father's SS.

 

[jamil]

My mother receives a government pension, retired Chicago teacher, and is unable to receive SS. She never paid into it, and isn't even able to get the survivor benefits for my father's SS.

Yeah, maybe it’s something like that. He basically said he got nothing from SS.

 

[HKFaninCarmel]

How about we just cut everything across the board 30%? Defense. Welfare. SS. IRS expansion. Everything. **** Obama's scalpel. Just gut it. Feigning sacred cows is how we justified this mess in the first place. No more sacred cows. And. Every dime that goes towards Joe's green ****. Cut it. No more of that nonsense.

OK- so you decide on a 30 percent cut. No way the Senate or WH agree. In fact, the moment you muttered it, they started making ads about how you're chopping poor people's SS payments and a greedy politician looking to snatch up people's entitlements. Oh and you don't support the military. It resembles that time Senator Cruz decided Obama would defund his signature legislation over a shutdown and then the GOP walked into a 15% approval rating. Is this what you wanted McCarthy to do?

 

[foszoe]

Before gov't even thinks about cutting benefits to those who paid into the system or paid with their blood, they had better cut benefits to those who did neither to the bone first

That would be PART of the terms.

But then again if they are really as broke and fed policy is what some believe, it won't matter, right? We will just default anyway.

 

[jamil]

OK- so you decide on a 30 percent cut. No way the Senate or WH agree. In fact, the moment you muttered it, they started making ads about how you're chopping poor people's SS payments and a greedy politician looking to snatch up people's entitlements. Oh and you don't support the military. It resembles that time Senator Cruz decided Obama would defund his signature legislation over a shutdown and then the GOP walked into a 15% approval rating. Is this what you wanted McCarthy to do?

Oh. I know it ain’t happening. I get to dream too. And while I’’m at it, as grand poobah of the united states (GPOTUS) I will declare it by decree. But I am a benevolent tyrant. No more adding to debt. No more deficit spending. The people get the government they pay for instead of having to pay for the government they get.

Also. I am eliminating time zones. We all go by UTC now. Except for Chip, because he gave me grief about wanting more daylight after work. We’ll just put him on EDT permanently.

Oh. There’s no tax deductions anymore. Except if you are Colts season ticket holders. You can deduct those.

Almost forgot. The Toilet Bowl at OSU shall be torn down. In its place we will build classrooms with kitchens to teach all Ohio women how to make good breakfast sandwiches.

 

[Ziggidy]

I don't want to save money. I want not to be taxed to pay for needless things. I want government to do their function and nothing else. I still like my idea for a tax/spend system. I call it the put-your-money-where-your-mouth-is tax system. Everyone pays flat rate for basic government. No frills. So no welfare. Reasonable national defense budget. No SSA. No DoE. No HUD. You get the idea.

Since it's a flat rate, say 7%, Every month (every 3 months for busineses), everyone writes a check for their federal tax, 7% of earnings. You make a dollar, pay your 7 cents.

You want a SSA? you check the box on your form and add that to your tax payment check, but you might do better putting it in a 401K. You want a welfare state? You pay for it. You want an education department? You pay for it. Everything above basic government gets funded only by the money people are willing to pay for it. You vote with your money. No more voting by ballot for what benefits you while expecting other people to pay for it. If a cow is sacred to you, then knock yourself out. You want government to fund other people's wars? You check the box. Put your money where your mouth is.

Let government beg the people for their funding.

You can cut taxes if you cut spending. Simple math.

Difficulty is, what you deem needless, another may not. While I may agree with some of your ideas, you cannot just stop everything at once. Even the lowest IQ realizes that.

 

[jamil]

You can cut taxes if you cut spending. Simple math.

Difficulty is, what you deem needless, another may not. While I may agree with some of your ideas, you cannot just stop everything at once. Even the lowest IQ realizes that.

Well. yes. That's that 30% thing I was talking about.