Re: [CAUT] pin dropThis may be a bit off topic, but let's say it relates to the health of our ability to retire someday.... Folks, a big reason we are discussing not being able to rely on social security lies in how it is funded, and the income disparity between those paying into the system and those receiving benefits. Since we retire at a higher income than those who are paying in are earning, therein lies the disparity. SS is funded from a percentage of wages of workers at the lower end of the economic totem pole (cutoff is around $102K, which really isn't a lot of money these days). If you make 2 gillion dollars a year, you only pay the 14% up to that cutoff (which is also a big consideration for why 36% income tax brackets aren't such the big deal that they want to make out that they are). Those workers wages have not increased with inflation, in part, because of the rising cost of health care to their employers. We boast that health care insurance provided by our employers constitutes a large amount of income. But the portion funded by our employer (which is what limits the increases in our pay) is not subject to FICA because the FICA portion is set by the gross salary paid to the employee and does not regard employer funded benefits. Therefore, the percentage of income that would go to SS is not increasing with the rising cost of living. Since a portion of SS benefits being paid to retired workers comes from withholdings being currently paid in, there is less revenue being generated to fund the outgoing payments. What my dad earned as a high school graduate would adjust to between 2 and 3 times what I was earning as a CAUT with a college diploma 25 years later. Therefore, what I was paying in as an employee funding his SS was a fraction of what he was paying in to fund his father's benefits. I strongly suspect that had the cost of health care not so substantially increased over the past 25 years, you'd see higher salaries and SS wouldn't be in such a mess. Health care is a leach on the entire system. This also might be considered a subtle encouragement to charge what you're worth. Back to topic, Tanner ----- Original Message ----- From: Mccoy, Alan To: CAUTlist Sent: Friday, October 30, 2009 6:09 PM Subject: Re: [CAUT] pin drop Some call it "socialized." I call it civilized. Alan ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: Chris Solliday <csolliday at rcn.com> Reply-To: CAUTlist <caut at ptg.org> Date: Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:51:48 -0700 To: CAUTlist <caut at ptg.org> Subject: [CAUT] pin drop 59 years old and planning to die in the saddle with my boots on, preferably at sunrise. Probably will cut back on volume and do more hobbies but definitely will not lower my rates. Looking forward to medicare too Fred. Who says socialized medicine isn't a good thing? Chris Solliday RPT -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut.php/attachments/20091031/d163c3b3/attachment.htm>
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