----- Original Message ----- From: "Gary Denton" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <brin-l@mccmedia.com> Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2005 1:34 PM Subject: Re: Social Security Facts:
> > No, but I would suggest that proposals while there are GOP majorities > in the House and Senate and a GOP President will go nowhere. That is > likely when something real will happen on the political equation that > only Nixon could go to China. Only the Democrats will be able to get > the support for a real fix. The last fix, which was bigger than this one needs to be, was with Reagan as president. I think it would be possible for Bush to push through the plan I suggested....especially if he illustrated that he was putting a high cap on SS. > There are also some hidden bias in the example you use. By the time > someone will be able to get 90K a year in benefits run through what > their income subject to FICA would have to be. (Interesting how > increasing this FICA high endcap is also one of the proposals on the > table so the GOP doesn't see this as the problem.). Sure, they'd be making a lot of income: roughly two 160k incomes/year. But, that's really the point....as real average wage income rises, so does SS payments. I'm proposing a cap on benefits at roughly 25.25k for a single earner, at roughly 38k for a 1 wage earner couple, and at 50.5k for a two wage earner couple (2005 dollars). This is well above the poverty line. After that, it seems reasonable for people to fund their own retirement. >All though this > is something that can be pointed to as an example of a system > supposedly out of control the real fiscal problems do not come from > this maximum wage earners but the low end and the median. It's not so much out of control as needs to be tweaked. In 25 years it would require a massive correction. With my proposal, people now making 30k/year would be maxed out in '45, and folks now making 20k/year would be maxed out around '60. Is there a problem with benefits at the levels I'm suggesting? Dan M. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
