Good news for retirees living on Social Security payments...

[D.B. Cooper]

Good news for retirees living on Social Security payments. According to a recent NYTimes article the SS payments for next year will be "huge".
The increase will be announced this Thursday. The COLA will be the largest one in decades. The reason for this is the current inflation that is affecting the economy world wide.

 

[Agribotics]

The bad news is that . . .

The Social Security Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund will now be depleted in 2033, a year earlier than previously projected, according to the report. At that time, the trust fund will run out of reserves and the program will be insolvent, with new tax revenues failing to cover scheduled payments. The report estimated that 76 percent of scheduled benefits will be able to be paid out unless Congress changes the rules to allow full payouts.

 

[mageesa]

Haha I'm the person who did the illustrations for that article, coincidentally. And I'm doing another drawing for an article on the future of SS for young people, which will be published either this Wednesday or Friday (probably friday). From reading the author's notes (still in process), it sounds like they'll either raise the ages of eligability (for various levels) or reduce to 80% the amount of payout, absent any congressional action.
[I asked if that was inflation-adjusted 80% or regular 80%, and the editor was going to ping the author. This is how the sausage gets made. If the illustrator is confused, readers probably will be]
It sounds like the article will get into the history of SS and its original purpose; which is how the NYT 'softens the blow', I suppose. SS was probably never intended to be the sole source of retirement income, etc. etc.
Also, it's midterm season; there's politics to be done for the most likely to vote demographic. And this is not going to be the last election. So I don't predict Congress ever cutting SS, though I can see them raising the age.
The article will certainly NOT speculate about that.

 

[Rich One]

Good news for retirees living on Social Security payments. According to a recent NYTimes article the SS payments for next year will be "huge".
The increase will be announced this Thursday. The COLA will be the largest one in decades. The reason for this is the current inflation that is affecting the economy world wide.

Any guess ? Something above inflation of 10%..?

 

[Redpossum]

In a more perfect world, they would cover the SS shortfall out of the obscenely bloated Pentagon budget, but we all know nothing will ever be allowed to touch that gravytrain.

 

[Johnny]

In a more perfect world, they would cover the SS shortfall out of the obscenely bloated Pentagon budget, but we all know nothing will ever be allowed to touch that gravytrain.

They will cover the shortfall. There is no shortage of chicken littles when it comes to this topic. They glory in their negativity.

 

[chris]

Haha I'm the person who did the illustrations for that article, coincidentally. And I'm doing another drawing for an article on the future of SS for young people, which will be published either this Wednesday or Friday (probably friday). From reading the author's notes (still in process), it sounds like they'll either raise the ages of eligability (for various levels) or reduce to 80% the amount of payout, absent any congressional action.
[I asked if that was inflation-adjusted 80% or regular 80%, and the editor was going to ping the author. This is how the sausage gets made. If the illustrator is confused, readers probably will be]
It sounds like the article will get into the history of SS and its original purpose; which is how the NYT 'softens the blow', I suppose. SS was probably never intended to be the sole source of retirement income, etc. etc.
Also, it's midterm season; there's politics to be done for the most likely to vote demographic. And this is not going to be the last election. So I don't predict Congress ever cutting SS, though I can see them raising the age.
The article will certainly NOT speculate about that.

They will raise. the age, not cut. They'd be voted out of office if they cut.

 

[D.B. Cooper]

Any guess ? Something above inflation of 10%..?

The article says the increase would be around 8.7%. That’s huge. We'll have to wait and see what happens tomorrow.

 

[zensailor]

What they have needed to do for some time is eliminate the cap....let the fortunate pay on their FULL income the same way the less fortunate do do.....since the SCOTUS has declared corporations to be people, perhaps they should consider paying their fair share as well.......fair is fair.

 

[Agribotics]

fair share: noun
definition: forcing somebody to pay more into Social Security than they'll ever get back so I can get more from Social Security than I paid in.