My main objective if I was politician currently would be to create as many polices as possible that target the 50th-75th percentile range of Americans.
By target, do you mean cutting their taxes? oof. Who's paying taxes then? Listening to a podcast today on American debt (government primarily) and three points stuck with me:
1. The federal government is basically an insurance company with a standing army
2. Every dollar spent is a tax. Either today or in the future (where it will cost even more than $1)
3. Our biggest social safety nets were envisioned during times when we didn't live as long and we died much more quickly. We've not responded with tax policy that ameliorates that problem. Instead we just balloon deficits.
You would pay for it the same way we pay for Boomers retirement/medicare, military, and the rest of the welfare state, through inflation.
People complain about the K economy, but don't want to fix it. You have two options, cut spending drastically (not happening because Boomers won't vote for it) or targeted tax cuts.
Things we could do:
Raise the SS cap
Single Payor (with AI to diminish administrative bloat). Sorry docs. You're taking a haircut.
Reduce the deficit so that interest payments on government debt aren't exceeding 6% of GDP.
We almost can't cut spending in any meaningful way outside of the military. Our entire society and economic model is based on getting SS at 62-70 and medicare at 65. those are promises made. Can't rug pull now. No way.
Like I said earlier, the only way out may be through a radical change fueled by AI. The cost of labor will be so cheap that taxing it won't do shit anyway.
Say you raise the SS cap from 185 to 250. Who gets hurt? Not as much the people pulling in mid to high six figures. Hardly at all those demanding salaries in the millions. It's the people making between $185-$250K who see a lot of their income go out the door.
ie. the upper middle class. And if that's the Democrats platform, "Tax the upper middle class", so be it. But to date most of them seem too cowardly to say that.
"We want to tax the highly leveraged family of five who makes a good but not great salary to make it harder to put away for their kids college education, pay their mortgage, car payments and groceries"
Run on that.
Options are getting slim to nonexistent. Nobody's voting in a reduction of SS or Medicare benefits.
We almost can't cut spending in any meaningful way outside of the military. Our entire society and economic model is based on getting SS at 62-70 and medicare at 65. those are promises made. Can't rug pull now. No way.
At the same time, where is the accountability and responsibility in this country? It was lost by the Boomers. I'm keenly aware that the GOP was even more responsible for the accumulation of deficits that led to today's debt burden. But, this isn't simply a "raise the taxes" problem. Boomers did nothing to reform SS or Medicare, despite improvements in life expectancy. They didn't save for shit (approximately 43% of Americans aged 55 to 64 have no personal retirement savings, and nearly half of all Boomers have less than $100,000 saved) despite the best economy and most wealth creation in history.
My main objective if I was politician currently would be to create as many polices as possible that target the 50th-75th percentile range of Americans.
By target, do you mean cutting their taxes? oof. Who's paying taxes then? Listening to a podcast today on American debt (government primarily) and three points stuck with me:
1. The federal government is basically an insurance company with a standing army
2. Every dollar spent is a tax. Either today or in the future (where it will cost even more than $1)
3. Our biggest social safety nets were envisioned during times when we didn't live as long and we died much more quickly. We've not responded with tax policy that ameliorates that problem. Instead we just balloon deficits.
You would pay for it the same way we pay for Boomers retirement/medicare, military, and the rest of the welfare state, through inflation.
People complain about the K economy, but don't want to fix it. You have two options, cut spending drastically (not happening because Boomers won't vote for it) or targeted tax cuts.
Things we could do:
Raise the SS cap
Single Payor (with AI to diminish administrative bloat). Sorry docs. You're taking a haircut.
Reduce the deficit so that interest payments on government debt aren't exceeding 6% of GDP.
We almost can't cut spending in any meaningful way outside of the military. Our entire society and economic model is based on getting SS at 62-70 and medicare at 65. those are promises made. Can't rug pull now. No way.
Like I said earlier, the only way out may be through a radical change fueled by AI. The cost of labor will be so cheap that taxing it won't do shit anyway.
Say you raise the SS cap from 185 to 250. Who gets hurt? Not as much the people pulling in mid to high six figures. Hardly at all those demanding salaries in the millions. It's the people making between $185-$250K who see a lot of their income go out the door.
ie. the upper middle class. And if that's the Democrats platform, "Tax the upper middle class", so be it. But to date most of them seem too cowardly to say that.
"We want to tax the highly leveraged family of five who makes a good but not great salary to make it harder to put away for their kids college education, pay their mortgage, car payments and groceries"
Run on that.
Options are getting slim to nonexistent. Nobody's voting in a reduction of SS or Medicare benefits.
Over here pal. And an eligibility age increase.
GWB had an answer in 2005 as well.
I would likely get behind some kind of mandatory savings plan. Privatized ish, etc. Communist Capitalism I always say. Jack Bogle is my hero.
Age increase? Just means fewer and fewer jobs for younger americans. Even more prescient with AI getting ready to obliterate swaths of luddite level white collar employment.
yeah, no argument from me. My sister is a year younger than me. Made good money. But had a buttload of kids of which only one (maybe two, I have some hope) will go to college or learn a trade. She’s fucked.
but 55-64 ain’t boomers anyMore. That’s GenX. I’ll be fine but I know many, probably majority, chased consumerism and have maybe a house to show for it.
again, probably time for a mandatory savings plan (not SS) to get serious consideration.
We almost can't cut spending in any meaningful way outside of the military. Our entire society and economic model is based on getting SS at 62-70 and medicare at 65. those are promises made. Can't rug pull now. No way.
At the same time, where is the accountability and responsibility in this country? It was lost by the Boomers. I'm keenly aware that the GOP was even more responsible for the accumulation of deficits that led to today's debt burden. But, this isn't simply a "raise the taxes" problem. Boomers did nothing to reform SS or Medicare, despite improvements in life expectancy. They didn't save for shit (approximately 43% of Americans aged 55 to 64 have no personal retirement savings, and nearly half of all Boomers have less than $100,000 saved) despite the best economy and most wealth creation in history.
As I said, it is time...
Some boomers are poor but most are loaded. American boomers are expected to pass on around $90 trillion to their kids. Should spark some early retirements I would think.
We almost can't cut spending in any meaningful way outside of the military. Our entire society and economic model is based on getting SS at 62-70 and medicare at 65. those are promises made. Can't rug pull now. No way.
At the same time, where is the accountability and responsibility in this country? It was lost by the Boomers. I'm keenly aware that the GOP was even more responsible for the accumulation of deficits that led to today's debt burden. But, this isn't simply a "raise the taxes" problem. Boomers did nothing to reform SS or Medicare, despite improvements in life expectancy. They didn't save for shit (approximately 43% of Americans aged 55 to 64 have no personal retirement savings, and nearly half of all Boomers have less than $100,000 saved) despite the best economy and most wealth creation in history.
As I said, it is time...
Some boomers are poor but most are loaded. American boomers are expected to pass on around $90 trillion to their kids. Should spark some early retirements I would think.
Confiscate it all and this nation is back on track!
