great stuff! Knowing these uniquely American traits, what should pro-democracy advocates do to navigate this sometimes maddening american political environment?
"Despite the myth of overtaxed Europeans, those French, Germans and Dutch etc. actually get more for their taxes than Americans do."
You have your answer right there. Americans don't think they are getting their money's worth. While some government programs have improved things for some people they have done so at great cost to everyone with the major rewards going not to all people who pay taxes but to those winners that government chooses. For example, if I had been given the option when I was under 30 to withdraw from social security and had instead invested the same amount in a simple 500 index retirement plan, I believe I would be in better financal shape than I currently am and receiving more in the form of an inuity from that fund than I am as an SSA benefit.
Interesting viewpoint June. Social Security is one of the most popular and certainly the most successful anti-poverty government program of all time, esp for the elderly, and I am certainly glad that it is waiting for me during my senior years. Perhaps for someone like yourself, who I am sure is an astute investor, having all that SS money to invest would have worked out fine. But for many other people who are not astute investors (like me), it could well have ended up a disaster. The point of a universal program like SS is to create a floor that no American can sink beneath. From that floor, other sharp cookies like yourself can build something even greater. But the contributions of everyone into it -- a small 6% of income, and after $160,000 you don't even pay that rate, so wealthy people pay an even smaller share -- means that we all contribute to that extremely valuable anti-poverty program for the elderly. It seems to me that's a great investment, one of the best one Americans have ever done. So we'll have to agree to disagree.
You don't have to be a very sharp cookie to see what the 500 index has done in the past and guestimate how it will do in the future. It's harder to figure out what your social security benefit will be as they don't promise any sort of rate of return and you don't find out what your benefit will be until you register to start benefits. As for the anti-poverty program, there in lies the rub.
The reason that Social Security doesn't work is that it is trying to be both an insurance and a welfare program at the same time. Those are not compatible goals. They should really be two separate programs with independent sources of funding.
Too many people tend to think that their SS benefit is all they will need in retirement but what it really is, as you say, is something to escape poverty. To live comfortably everyone really also needs some sort of personal retirement plan whether that is just putting money in the bank against a rainy day or creating an investment plan. There are plenty of financial companies that are happy to do the latter work on that for you. Most large companies also offer such to their employees.
Some good points however Obama bailing the banks not Main Street was a primary reason for Counties all over the Midwest flipping from Obama to Trump. Please don’t t give Obama a free pass.
great stuff! Knowing these uniquely American traits, what should pro-democracy advocates do to navigate this sometimes maddening american political environment?
"Despite the myth of overtaxed Europeans, those French, Germans and Dutch etc. actually get more for their taxes than Americans do."
You have your answer right there. Americans don't think they are getting their money's worth. While some government programs have improved things for some people they have done so at great cost to everyone with the major rewards going not to all people who pay taxes but to those winners that government chooses. For example, if I had been given the option when I was under 30 to withdraw from social security and had instead invested the same amount in a simple 500 index retirement plan, I believe I would be in better financal shape than I currently am and receiving more in the form of an inuity from that fund than I am as an SSA benefit.
Interesting viewpoint June. Social Security is one of the most popular and certainly the most successful anti-poverty government program of all time, esp for the elderly, and I am certainly glad that it is waiting for me during my senior years. Perhaps for someone like yourself, who I am sure is an astute investor, having all that SS money to invest would have worked out fine. But for many other people who are not astute investors (like me), it could well have ended up a disaster. The point of a universal program like SS is to create a floor that no American can sink beneath. From that floor, other sharp cookies like yourself can build something even greater. But the contributions of everyone into it -- a small 6% of income, and after $160,000 you don't even pay that rate, so wealthy people pay an even smaller share -- means that we all contribute to that extremely valuable anti-poverty program for the elderly. It seems to me that's a great investment, one of the best one Americans have ever done. So we'll have to agree to disagree.
You don't have to be a very sharp cookie to see what the 500 index has done in the past and guestimate how it will do in the future. It's harder to figure out what your social security benefit will be as they don't promise any sort of rate of return and you don't find out what your benefit will be until you register to start benefits. As for the anti-poverty program, there in lies the rub.
The reason that Social Security doesn't work is that it is trying to be both an insurance and a welfare program at the same time. Those are not compatible goals. They should really be two separate programs with independent sources of funding.
Too many people tend to think that their SS benefit is all they will need in retirement but what it really is, as you say, is something to escape poverty. To live comfortably everyone really also needs some sort of personal retirement plan whether that is just putting money in the bank against a rainy day or creating an investment plan. There are plenty of financial companies that are happy to do the latter work on that for you. Most large companies also offer such to their employees.
So yes, we will have to agree to disagree.
Some good points however Obama bailing the banks not Main Street was a primary reason for Counties all over the Midwest flipping from Obama to Trump. Please don’t t give Obama a free pass.
Good point Lenny.