does that mean we stop paying INTO Social Security, as well?

7/27/2011 2:08:35 PM

nope
[Edited on July 27, 2011 at 2:09 PM. Reason : -->

7/27/2011 2:09:40 PM

that'd be assuming that everything was working as intended - we'll continue to pay in even if nothing is ever paid out

7/27/2011 2:09:47 PM

Poor Obama.


Clearly Congresses fault.

Yet he'll be blamed because nobody knows who or what congress is or does.

7/27/2011 2:11:05 PM

So it becomes the "Reckless Abandonment" Government Fund?

7/27/2011 2:12:17 PM

yeah my parents may not get their checks

7/27/2011 2:25:45 PM

damn baby boomers

7/27/2011 2:27:33 PM

my dad just got to the age where it is relevant and now boom goes the security.
my father has served in 3 fucking wars, 3 tours THIS war and it all goes away right when he needs his country. What next, take away soldier's pensions? police officers pensions?

7/27/2011 2:30:16 PM

7/27/2011 2:30:31 PM

^^ and that's why we should have never made people dependent on SS in the first place. ponzi schemes always fall apart, government ones should be no different.


but, all of this shit is fear-mongering. If the debt-limit doesn't get raised and seniors don't get their checks, it will be Obama's fault, because he is the one who gets to decide what gets paid, and there is plenty of money to pay the SS checks. he's fearmongering, just like he always does

7/27/2011 2:33:11 PM

i really hope our credit rating gets downgraded...when it happened to GB, they fixed their biggest problems and then were upgraded once they showed the world they knew how to responsibly handle money again

7/27/2011 2:35:10 PM

does that include death benefits?

7/27/2011 2:36:25 PM

what is a ponzi scheme? SS? I don't follow...SS worked fine, it's the people running the country that USED UP the resources SS produced, SS didn't bottom out on it's own.

7/27/2011 2:36:41 PM

If the surpluses SS ran at hadn't been spent elsewhere, SS would be more than a ponzi scheme.

A ponzi scheme is some sort of investment which promises great returns, but the money being paid into the investment is being used to pay investors who want out. The returns people believe they are getting on their initial investment usually causes the 'victim' to leave their money in and add to it. A ponzi scheme's downfall comes when more people want money out of the system than is coming in to the system. Bernie Madoff ran a huge one.

As it is, SS takes the money being paid in and pays it out to those collecting which is a total ponzi scheme. They are concerned about it collapsing because not enough people will be contributing. If they money past generations had contributed hadn't been spent elsewhere there would be much less issue here if any.

Social Security checks will go out, and there is already a mechanism in the Social Security trust fund to sell Treasury bonds to come up with the cash to pay them.

[Edited on July 27, 2011 at 2:47 PM. Reason : ]

7/27/2011 2:44:39 PM

I hope it doesn't stop.. idk what my grandma would do

7/27/2011 2:48:27 PM

how long until those treasury bonds get "ponzied"?

7/27/2011 2:49:11 PM

The Social Security trust fund holds about $2.4 trillion in U.S. Treasury bonds, which its trustees are legally entitled to redeem whenever Social Security is running a current account deficit. I'm not certain how long this would last for. It's my understanding the federal budget in total needs 1.2 trillion to operate until Spring 2012, but I could be off on that one.

7/27/2011 2:52:20 PM

Quote :

". What next, take away soldier's pensions? "

Actually, we hit the ceiling back in May and started using soldier pension funds to fund the government since then.

7/27/2011 9:20:53 PM

I am more on the side of the Dems than the GOP in this (lately, anyway), but fuck SS. We should be phasing it out.

We have to pay on the obligations we've already made, but the program needs to be cut off at the knees.

7/28/2011 9:03:46 AM

Quote :

"fuck SS. We should be phasing it out. We have to pay on the obligations we've already made, but the program needs to be cut off at the knees."

i'm with you, but i'm also more socialist than you are...i'd say trash social security, but maintain medicare/medicaid and institute socialized medicine for the population

it used to be that people planned for the future by saving (and investing if they were the gambling type) appropriately...you don't save, you don't have spending money when you're older...but i truly believe everyone is entitled to basic healthcare

[Edited on July 28, 2011 at 9:07 AM. Reason : .]

7/28/2011 9:05:44 AM

This whole situation had been making life at work



Hooray for working in the financial industry! And Hooray for a shit ton of overtime thanks to this

7/28/2011 10:28:27 AM

7/29/2011 7:50:42 AM

lmao aaronburro, ensuring that a chit chat thread on the debt ceiling has appropriate levels of stupidity

7/29/2011 9:22:39 AM

Quote :

" it will be Obama's fault, because he is the one who gets to decide what gets paid"

Wrong.

Just like nearly everything you post.

7/29/2011 9:24:58 AM

Everybody's so goddamn busy pointing fingers at each other as to whose fault this is that nobody's realizing it's ALL our asses if we don't get together and fix this fuckin thing - and for that to happen there's going to have to be cooperation on both sides. Sadly, that's not going to happen because both sides are too satisfied with throwing their hands up and name-calling. Then, they use both use this exact same argument against each other, while both of them are unwilling to concede a damn thing.

It's mega :rolleyes:

7/29/2011 9:35:01 AM

that cartoon made me giggle

7/29/2011 9:35:31 AM

Quote :

"that cartoon made me giggle weep bitterly"

7/29/2011 10:27:16 AM

Quote :

"Everybody's so goddamn busy pointing fingers at each other as to whose fault this is that nobody's realizing it's ALL our asses if we don't get together and fix this fuckin thing - and for that to happen there's going to have to be cooperation on both sides. Sadly, that's not going to happen because both sides are too satisfied with throwing their hands up and name-calling. Then, they use both use this exact same argument against each other, while both of them are unwilling to concede a damn thing. It's mega :rolleyes:"

No what's rolly-eyes is the lack of understanding that leads to thinking this is a two-sided problem

7/29/2011 10:34:30 AM

actually it is a two-sided problem: republicans and centrists

7/29/2011 10:39:11 AM

Democrats have no fault at all? That seems suspect

7/29/2011 2:06:59 PM

they do, and who notices where the goalposts have moved lately

7/29/2011 2:07:53 PM

Round to the side yard so old man McGillicuddy across the street won't come out waving his cane anymore when the ball goes into his yard.

[Edited on July 29, 2011 at 2:09 PM. Reason : *]

7/29/2011 2:09:20 PM

^^^

I will say that the last plan that I saw from the dems cut >1Trillion in spending, maintained all tax cuts and sought to increase tax revenues only by closing existing loopholes.

It wasn't perfect, but should have been considered a victory for the republicans, nonetheless. However, the GOP balked, and have basically been holding the economy hostage.

So right now, fuck the assholes in the GOP.

7/29/2011 2:23:29 PM

Quote :

"nope "

LAMO

7/29/2011 2:42:32 PM

^^ pretty much.

this is not shaping up to be the election where I start voting again.

7/29/2011 4:00:40 PM