Are seniors paying attention at all?
- Thread starter Toots_mcgee
- Start date
Surely most are paying enough attention to know how many of the pubs want to cut SS and medicare then do away with it completely. Ron Johnson wants to have it come up for a vote EVERY year whether or not to keep them going.
Well Longevity lifespan wise is a killer for SS as is less people contributing to the fund. You can't have a program that pays out more than it collects in taxes.
To fix the problem you either have to Raise Taxes.....Nobody wants that....or Reduce benefits....Nobody wants that.
So you have a stalemate between the parties on what to do..... the Baby Boomers are just eating up the Trust fund like crazy.
A solution I would like is to tax all income.... simply abolish the max taxable income that is set at 147k.
Then really the only other solutions is to raise taxes, raise the retirement age or reduce benefits.
I would be for a radical plan and determine that some of the top 5% of earners might have reduced benefits or no benefits for let's say the 1%. It could be passed off as more palatable to that elite group than more income taxes and it would help people in their older years.
While the Rep. economic policy is based on Tax cuts ....the Dem's policy is on Tax increases which ultimately as they well know are passed on to everyone. No company or Business eats the tax increase they simply shift it to the customer and consumers. But I will give Obama Credit he can Spin the Pure Lies and Bunk with the best of them.
To fix the problem you either have to Raise Taxes.....Nobody wants that....or Reduce benefits....Nobody wants that.
So you have a stalemate between the parties on what to do..... the Baby Boomers are just eating up the Trust fund like crazy.
A solution I would like is to tax all income.... simply abolish the max taxable income that is set at 147k.
Then really the only other solutions is to raise taxes, raise the retirement age or reduce benefits.
I would be for a radical plan and determine that some of the top 5% of earners might have reduced benefits or no benefits for let's say the 1%. It could be passed off as more palatable to that elite group than more income taxes and it would help people in their older years.
While the Rep. economic policy is based on Tax cuts ....the Dem's policy is on Tax increases which ultimately as they well know are passed on to everyone. No company or Business eats the tax increase they simply shift it to the customer and consumers. But I will give Obama Credit he can Spin the Pure Lies and Bunk with the best of them.
Last edited:
Hard to remember but back when I first started working I think all income was taxed at a smaller rate. When I retired I think it was like 110k at about 6%. I have always advocated for all income to be taxed for SS even when that meant I would pay more.
Anything that eats into a company profit is passed onto the consumer including CEO salaries but all you hear is how minimum wage increases will raise the price of a quarter pounder!
Anything that eats into a company profit is passed onto the consumer including CEO salaries but all you hear is how minimum wage increases will raise the price of a quarter pounder!
Neither me nor my wife draw a dime from SS. All of our income is from RR retirement which I paid lot of money into for over 30 years. My wife did pay into SS for over 30 years and will never get a dime from it.
I worked 3 years for the Frisco. When I got SS they said what I had paid into RR wouldn't make any difference in my SS. At Least what I recall RR was twice what SS would be. And I don't think that my checks from the Frisco had any SS deducted. A long time ago.
Correct, you pay no SS when working on the RR and the RR pension and SS swap out dollar for dollar. Her portion of my RR pension is just a tad more than what she would have drawn from SS so she gets nothing from SS. I think I only paid about $500 into SS, I went to work on the RR a month before I turned 20. It's all hooked up together somehow, whatever raise cost of living SS gets each year that's what RR pension gets too. Last time it was about 6% and I've heard this year it might be more like 9%. Never got raises like that while working on the RR.
I left out part that you have to work 10 years on the RR to be vested in the pension plan anyway.
Wages and Benefits are almost always the biggest expense of any Business even Fast Food... that is why any increase in base line employee's always increases the cost of the goods to the consumer.
While I'm often appalled by the amount of money CEO receive ins Bonus and Salaries.... the rank and file wages and benefits dwarf that compensation, that is why companies are resistant to huge raises. They know they cannot eat that cost without the product being more expensive to the consumer.
I was making a general statement about SS, it's issues and possible solutions. But I'm glad you have your RR retirement and your Wife deserves what she paid in.
She gets the about the same amount it's RR, which pays a few dollars more, and not SS. IF SS paid more than RR that's what she would be getting.
CEO pay has grown exponentially higher than worker salary. I am assuming that in this article from the AFL-CIO workers doesn't not include management. And if you go further back than 20 years the difference would be even greater.
*******************************************
A new report released today by the AFL-CIO gives that argument some new ammo. Its annual Executive Paywatch Report, a comprehensive database tracking CEO-to-worker pay ratios for over 20 years, reveals that S&P 500 CEOs averaged $18.3 million in compensation for 2021—324 times the median worker’s pay, and higher than both 2020’s pay ratio (299-to-1) and 2019’s ratio (264-to-1).
***************************************
By comparison, it is estimated that the average CEO was paid about 20 times the typical worker's pay in the 1950s, with that multiple rising to 42-to-1 in 1980, and to 120-to-1 in 2000". While not as extreme, similar trends have been observed around the world.
Yes this is well known. So? I don't get your point at all. Those companies compensate CEO per the board/Shareholders decisions. The boards and Shareholders are interested in Profit for THEMSELVES. Compensation for the Workers is a hindrance to that goal. You pay them what the market will bear, it's simple as that. Cheap labor that is disposable is a Good thing for a Company. They don't give darn about the workers. Nor should they beyond what is good for their bottom line.
Women in the Work place since WW11 doubled the work force, the influx of Labor from abroad willing to work for less, and Technology replacing workers has depressed wages up until Covid when people decided to opt out of the system. And companies reaped the whirl wind of not having enough workers...thus they began paying what the Market would bear in wages and passed that on to the consumer. That is how it works. I don't understand why people can't grasp how this works.
I have Zero issue's with a private Company paying a CEO Millions and Millions. Just like I don't care that Professional Athletes, Actors, and Singers make more than LEO,Teachers,Social Workers etc.
It is clear that you have a issue with a Private Company paying it's CEO more than their front line workers am I correct? If you are that firm in your belief then don't buy products from those companies.... find a alternative or do without.
I won't ever buy a Chevy or Chrysler Product... they took Obama Bail out money.....they paid it back but no company should be to big to fail and I didn't give a Darn if Those 100k Union workers had to hit the streets.
And Yes I understand that if not for the Bail outs Huge Banks would of gone tit's up and the economy would of collapsed..... which is what should of happened then it would of been reset and the actual issues addressed and fixed.
Don't work that way, she never paid anything into RR retirement and it pays a little more that SS. Either way her income was cut in half when she retired. Gettin old is a real picnic, so far it's better than the alternative I guess.
I know it doesn't work that way but it should.... she paid into it. Even if she get's RR retirement she should get a lump some or pay out of the exact amount she paid in not more than that but the exact amount. Put nope they are stealing that from her and redistributing it to others. That is BS IMO. I guess you are ok with Govt theft?
Your comments:
Wages and Benefits are almost always the biggest expense of any Business even Fast Food... that is why any increase in base line employee's always increases the cost of the goods to the consumer.
and
While I'm often appalled by the amount of money CEO receive ins Bonus and Salaries.... the rank and file wages and benefits dwarf that compensation, that is why companies are resistant to huge raises. They know they cannot eat that cost without the product being more expensive to the consumer.
I remember when the health care mandate prompted Papa John's ceo to say that it would add a dime to each pizza. If his pizzas were worth a $hit nobody would give a dime about a damn
******************************************************
The ceo fraternity--I'll be on your board and you be on mine. I'll back your goals and you back mine. I was not a bottom line worker. I worked for a company where the ceo made about 100 times what I made and about 225 times what my managers made, and probably 500 times my front line workers and the ceo ran the company in the ground in 4 years for $13m a year plus a firing bonus and me along with 65 of my people lost our jobs.
And the board members, well they got on someone else's board for $50k a year.
*****************************************************
I bought a new Ford Explorer back in the day for roughly the same reason---Ford did not ask for a government bailout but received other financial assistance and recovered better than the big 3.
******************************************************
Shop elsewhere if you don't like the ceo of a company? Easy enuf with a car but what about gas, oil, parts etc. What about food and clothes? Medical, hospitals, pharmacy?
******************************************************
Your comment: It is clear that you have a issue with a Private Company paying it's CEO more than their front line workers am I correct?
No I just believe that the lowest level person contributes and should be able to have a live able wage. I fought for every raise I could get for my people. At my level my boss was more concerned about his budget contributing to his bonus. He fired another director who was making more than me and gave me his responsibility and didn't get a raise. His budget looked real good that year. And concerns about bonuses was true up the line, including me
And before you say get another job, I was 55 years old with 20 years with the company and you didn't find jobs like I had very often. Major corporations typically had only 1 position like mine.
**************************************************
I totally understand that Some CEO's and boards are Charlatans....the Hostess debacle comes to mind......but those companies are controlled by shareholders and investors. Also Be mad at them for not doing their do diligence as well. I feel for the employee's but people who work for family ran business also are in those shotty situations that are just as bad, I've had several friends tell me they'd rather work for a corporation than endure the nepotism and favoritism in private companies...and I've worked for the Govt and it's worse the incompetence, waste and corruption is beyond the pale. My GF is enduring it now. It's so bad she switched political parties!!Your comments:
Wages and Benefits are almost always the biggest expense of any Business even Fast Food... that is why any increase in base line employee's always increases the cost of the goods to the consumer.
and
While I'm often appalled by the amount of money CEO receive ins Bonus and Salaries.... the rank and file wages and benefits dwarf that compensation, that is why companies are resistant to huge raises. They know they cannot eat that cost without the product being more expensive to the consumer.
I remember when the health care mandate prompted Papa John's ceo to say that it would add a dime to each pizza. If his pizzas were worth a $hit nobody would give a dime about a damn
******************************************************
The ceo fraternity--I'll be on your board and you be on mine. I'll back your goals and you back mine. I was not a bottom line worker. I worked for a company where the ceo made about 100 times what I made and about 225 times what my managers made, and probably 500 times my front line workers and the ceo ran the company in the ground in 4 years for $13m a year plus a firing bonus and me along with 65 of my people lost our jobs.
And the board members, well they got on someone else's board for $50k a year.
*****************************************************
I bought a new Ford Explorer back in the day for roughly the same reason---Ford did not ask for a government bailout but received other financial assistance and recovered better than the big 3.
******************************************************
Shop elsewhere if you don't like the ceo of a company? Easy enuf with a car but what about gas, oil, parts etc. What about food and clothes? Medical, hospitals, pharmacy?
******************************************************
Your comment: It is clear that you have a issue with a Private Company paying it's CEO more than their front line workers am I correct?
No I just believe that the lowest level person contributes and should be able to have a live able wage. I fought for every raise I could get for my people. At my level my boss was more concerned about his budget contributing to his bonus. He fired another director who was making more than me and gave me his responsibility and didn't get a raise. His budget looked real good that year. And concerns about bonuses was true up the line, including me
And before you say get another job, I was 55 years old with 20 years with the company and you didn't find jobs like I had very often. Major corporations typically had only 1 position like mine.
**************************************************
Gas and Oil is harder as you say to brand shop.....Food is easy to a degree, off brands are plentiful if you are not Hardcore brand loyal ,at most stores they usually have 3 tiers of brands, top shelf, mid range and bottom shelfs and a lot of different grocery stores to boot from Local Stores to National Chains. Places like Trader Joe's and Aldi's have their own house brands as well. Thing is people in America are a bit lazy and More about convenience than principle.
I agree that the Lowest level person contributes but with that said often the skill set they have is easily replaceable and not of great value, they are easily expendable. It's like comparing a Studio Musician to Eddie Van Halen or a utility player to Willie Mays....or Chase Daniels to Tom Brady.
Oh I agree the situation you describe sucked at your work, it happens all around in major companies, had same situation at private mental care facility NM got to reap bonus out of budget at end of year, my brother saw a VP get fired for wearing the Wrong Colored and Casual shirt to a board meeting.
They do not care about their employee's they care about $$$$ and to me that is fine. I never bought into the we are family BS they try to spew. I have no loyalty to any place of employment. I am a mercenary, I work for money simple as that. I'm always shocked at how people are manipulated by Management and the Lies they spin about company Loyalty and being a Family etc..... Just emotional Drivel. I do a honest days work for a honest days pay. After that if you want my time pay more for it.
Similar threads
