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Re: [OM] Kodak Chapter 11

Subject: Re: [OM] Kodak Chapter 11
From: "Bill Pearce" <billcpearce@xxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:44:58 -0600
Charlie,
All that's easy to say, but only if you are currently not depending on SS as 
a portion of your retirement income. I find this typical of members of the 
right, in which the attitude is, "Fuck over the next guy so I can have 
more."
Our financial sense has to be tempered with some consideration for those 
that won't fare well. It annual SS contribution is capped now, you only 
contribute on income up to about 125,000. We could raise that figure a bit 
and not make anyone suffer, but we can listen to politicians that have a 
sweetheart retirement deal and make piles of money say it's better to cut 
payments. Like the retirees can do anything about it.

Bill Pearce

-----Original Message----- 
From: Charles Geilfuss
Sent: Friday, January 20, 2012 1:03 PM
To: Olympus Camera Discussion
Subject: Re: [OM] Kodak Chapter 11

  I will admit to a bit of hyperbole, but by saying it is broke I mean that
SS is pretty close to the point where outlays exceed what is brought in by
the payroll tax (it may have actually reached that point this last year or
so) and the administrators are forced to pull funds from the SS Trust Fund
which of course doesn't actually exist. It is simply an IOU from the rest
of the government to make up the shortfall. So the additional funds have to
come from general revenues which we all know is already in a deficit. So
something either has to lose its funding, more taxes must be raised or we
borrow more money from China. That is OK as a short term fix but is not
sustainable in the long term. It can be fixed but no one in Congress has
the cojones to do what is needed. First, the rate at which payments to
retirees are increased has to be lowered. I forget what index it is tied to
but the current rate is too high. Secondly, the retirement age has to be
raised to reflect increasing lifespan of the population. Thirdly, they need
to implement means testing. If you have other retirement income your SS
payment is taken back at a proportional rate. So there is enough here to
make everyone unhappy so it must be the right thing to do. It would also
help if the rest of the government could balance its budget so it didn't
have to raid the SS Trust Fund to make its budget deficit look less bad.
I'm not sure what the SS administrators would do with all that cash but
even if they stuffed it in a giant mattress it would be better than
spending it only to have to tax even more to make up the difference.

Charlie

On Fri, Jan 20, 2012 at 1:23 PM, Mike Lazzari 
<watershed@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:

> >    We have Social Security, but oh it's broke too.
> It isn't broke. That's misconception. But it's hard to keep the people's
> hands out of any big pot of $$$.
>
> BTW, How come when the gov't collects it's a tax but when you pay into a
> pension fund it's an investment? And which ones are going TU?
>
> Mike
> --
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