A little over one year ago, I joined one of the progressive forums on Substack. Why? I figured that since the progressives control most of the Democratic Party agenda, monitoring their thought processes, as noted in the forum's comments section, might provide me a "heads up" on where things were heading in the Biden administration. I learned a lot! They re much more "open" about their goals when discussing them amongst themselves.
The progressives have two main enemies that they hate, rich people and corporations. The rich and corporations control the government through their lackeys, the Republicans. To the progressives, all the actions of the rich, corporations, and Republicans are evil. The rich obtained their wealth undeservingly by inheritance or by corrupt means. Corporations are driven by greed and are akin to a plantation of the Old South with the CEO as the "master" and the workers as the "slaves". The Republicans are stupid anti-democratic Putin-loving insurrectionists and should disbanded and jailed. This worldview drives their agenda (and the Democratic party agenda) and their solutions to our problems.
Foe example, inflation is caused by corporate greed. Corporations have too much power to raise prices as they wish while holding down the wages of workers. The progressive solution: impose a windfall tax on "excess" corporate profits, impose price controls on some products, use antitrust to breakup large corporations, strongly encourage workers to form unions, and have the Fed keep interest rates low. The problem of the rich is solved by eliminated them ("no one needs all that money") with confiscatory marginal tax rates of 75% or more ("it was 90% when Ike was president"). Their solution to the "pension problems" mention by Bill? Simple. Lower the retirement age, increase benefits, and have the rich pay for it!
Needless to say, the progressive solutions would be disastrous to the US! Sorry for the lengthy comment, just had to spill my guts! My two cents...
Thanks for that report and insight from the belly of the beast. It's amazing how these regressives have not learned a thing from history. They don't seem to grasp how their "solutions" never end well.
Ah, yes, itβs a knotty problem, how to control the masses. Pensions, Universal Basic Income, Taxes, Consumption incentives and dis-incentives, Federal and State regulations, Executive orders ..... It is all just a bit too messy. How much simpler if the government just owned and controlled the money - all of it.
We know that all governmental retiring funds in the future wonβt be able to keep their promises. Many reasons , people lives longer , more retirees than workers , mismanagement of the funds and more .
All governments will face the 3 choices , pay less , rise taxes or rise the age of retirements, just kicking the can ...
In Europe the age is 65 in most of the countries , in Portugal 66 and 7 months , I. Germany and Italy 67 . French peoples are almost always protesting , sometimes rightly sometimes wrongly ...
J: I think you hit the nail on the head. The US has raised our pension fund ages many times over the last 15 years. I will probably get my retirement by age 75. Hope there will still be money left. Not counting on it.
If you die before starting to collect Social Security, you get nothing for all the money that you were forced to contribute into the plan. That is why I starting taking it at 62 years, even though most "experts" tell you to wait. You never know when the grim reaper will be coming for you!
Iβm counting on BPR to get me thru the coming years with enough wealth intact to ease past the failing juggernauts of Medicare and Social Security dependence. Never retire, just do enough fun work to keep things going. When my time comes, Iβd like to have the guts to wander off in the wilderness like the old Indians would.
They will tax the rich, but it wonβt be like anyone on this message board thinks. The βconservativeβ politicians wonβt have the power, or the desire, to cap the budget so they will finally admit that MMT is the future. MMT will eventually destroy our economy and by the time rioting in the streets erupts the politicians will all agree to tax the rich. But then, the only rich left in the country will be us poor sots on this email stream with 401kβs that have no remaining political power to stop them from nationalizing every IRA, 401k and pension plan. Good luck!
I was in the military for many years and then was pushed out by the reduction of the Vietnam bunch. Next I worked in the Oil patch and the Army Reserve. I was offered the choice of retirement at 62 or 65. The sales pitch was that I would make more at 65. I chose the 62. A few years I passed the point where I would have began to make more. The real picture is that I had already saved the difference and was on the way to beating SSI all the way. I pay taxes every year even though I am almost 87. It makes no difference. I have all types of government programs since I was 62. I get a military retirement, SSI, and a disability pay. Most go to stocks, savings or bitcoin. Sorry Mr B. I just like the bitcoin poker game. So far I am winning. When I cash a bitcoin I pay a lot of taxes. I am also years ahead with coins I have sold as loss to help pay taxes. We need to stop looking at who is working and look at who is not working and why. Many are on welfare. Others like me are making money by what you call not productive work, but it may be the new work as machines and border crossers are taking over the physical work. Machines even build the tanks and airplanes. Soon they will be investing and writing investment letters. Who is out of a job next? Of course the fedcoin will end cash and destroy those who do not use banks. Even us in the Metaverse will not be able to eat unless we can buy at the grocery with bitcoin, restaurants do accept bitcoin. So do electric car sales.
Yes William, I know a very wise young man who once said "We need to stop looking at who is working and look at who is not working and why."
I appreciate your service to our nation and your loyalty to your fellow American's, and you are so right at what we need to look at, and how did we get here.
As our wonderful host alluted to, "Most western countries are in the same boat" with these Ponzi scams called Welfare and Disability. Both have emptied our SSI and Medicare for those who have been taken care of from "cradle to grave". Most have no reason to be collecting either, except for their ignorance or loyalty to the left. Those same good folk are the same who are first out to loot and burn down cities when an opportunity presents itself. It's what happens when people have too much time doing nothing.
We know those who are not working, and the why is because it's the solid base of the Democratic Party.
Yes William, you will reap much larger rewards for your insight on crypto's in the future, and wish you many more years of enjoying the fruits of your hard work!
You bring up a great point, Steve. I think the progressive creep weβve seen in society is primarily because...
1. Those pushing it have no occupation but to promote their agenda.
2. We whoβd like to prevent it are too busy working to support/ better ourselves & families that we havenβt the time or energy to fight. And the salt in the wound is that we pay taxes that support the unproductive lifestyle of those in pt.1.
Well, PG, maybe not ALL humans. Iβve worked around a few with very...ahem, loose moral standards, and theyβll do just fine. Itβs not called the oldest occupation for nothing π€£π€£
Sorry Aaron, guess you haven't seen the "Sex Bots" coming out of China...just as a precaution, wear a mask and make sure you're "Double Boosted" before enjoying...
Good for you Starboard - you're obviously smart and industrious enough to have thought this through with the energy to commit. Most aren't like that, so, as an oldie, appreciate your generosity, just don't expect to see it replicated generally.
Nobody expected people to live as long as they now do when pensions were first dreamed up. Consequently it really doesn't matter how it's cut and diced they are, and will remain, unaffordable. Two workers for every beneficiary? - I don't see that as a long term plan and neither should anyone else, because it isn't.
If us oldies (the vast majority of the commentators here I suspect) don't think that at some stage in the future some bright young thing isn't going to point out that an awful lot of their hard earned income is going towards keeping alive dribbling old idiots in their third decade of retirement, who contribute nothing, you have a slightly more benign view of human nature than I do.
Been there, done that - yet still pay confiscatory money against my will every week, and it is a SUBSTANTIAL amount.
I'm likely not quite as old as some (most?) people here, and I have Respect and Appreciate for the Wisdom and Efforts of those who come before me. I say take it (SS) when you can and live it up. I long ago gave up the notion that SS would be around to play any significant part in my having a "comfortable" retirement, so I made other plans. So far, so good - but I still wake up at 4:30a and put in full days to the ongoing benefit of a LOT of geezers who aren't me.
I worked at a utility that did not contribute a penny to our pension fund after 1987. They reduced benefits and by my retirement it was a billion plus over funded. The government will reduce benefits and our socialist brothers will want it to come out of the rich peoples pockets. In addition, they will raise taxes on the rich. The problem is the tax is based on wages. How many rich people earn wages versus income? It is all a ponzi scheme that will eventually bankrupt the already bankrupt government. How many workers do we have per retiree? When it first started there were 20 plus workers per retiree I believe the number now is about 2. The system is unsustainable. Changing it could mean political suicide therefore it will be time to eat the rich.
On January 31, 1940, the first monthly retirement check was issued to Ida May Fuller of Ludlow, Vermont, in the amount of $22.54. Miss Fuller, a Legal Secretary, retired in November 1939. She started collecting benefits in January 1940 at age 65 and lived to be 100 years old, dying in 1975.
Ida May Fuller worked for three years under the Social Security program. The accumulated taxes on her salary during those three years was a total of $24.75. Her initial monthly check was $22.54. During her lifetime she collected a total of $22,888.92 in Social Security benefits.
What about the 4th option. Government finally admits the scam and pays for it with inflated dollars which is a tax on everyone especially the poor. Whatβs a few trillion more on our way to Argentina
And then we have the biggest fund managers Executive Suite, controlling global funds such as Blackrock, now dictating to industry what they, in line with ESG, can do & are not allowed to do. Fossil fuel and Climate Control are the only things that now matter.
WEF etc and global oligarchs (not just Russian), military industrial complex in control of the world, with politicians as their lapdogs and government βpublic servantsβ pawns.
The economic infrastructure for civilized living is totally fractured. Turkey earthquake or Eastern Ukraine post Russian denazifying, is the portent of our over spent societies.
Kind of like those CERB checks eh.? You know the elites, decided who was essential and who wasn't a short while back. And I haven't forgotten that legal plunder is still intact, and who's not essential in its strictest term needs little debate. Ignorance preceeds stupidity. God help us.
A little over one year ago, I joined one of the progressive forums on Substack. Why? I figured that since the progressives control most of the Democratic Party agenda, monitoring their thought processes, as noted in the forum's comments section, might provide me a "heads up" on where things were heading in the Biden administration. I learned a lot! They re much more "open" about their goals when discussing them amongst themselves.
The progressives have two main enemies that they hate, rich people and corporations. The rich and corporations control the government through their lackeys, the Republicans. To the progressives, all the actions of the rich, corporations, and Republicans are evil. The rich obtained their wealth undeservingly by inheritance or by corrupt means. Corporations are driven by greed and are akin to a plantation of the Old South with the CEO as the "master" and the workers as the "slaves". The Republicans are stupid anti-democratic Putin-loving insurrectionists and should disbanded and jailed. This worldview drives their agenda (and the Democratic party agenda) and their solutions to our problems.
Foe example, inflation is caused by corporate greed. Corporations have too much power to raise prices as they wish while holding down the wages of workers. The progressive solution: impose a windfall tax on "excess" corporate profits, impose price controls on some products, use antitrust to breakup large corporations, strongly encourage workers to form unions, and have the Fed keep interest rates low. The problem of the rich is solved by eliminated them ("no one needs all that money") with confiscatory marginal tax rates of 75% or more ("it was 90% when Ike was president"). Their solution to the "pension problems" mention by Bill? Simple. Lower the retirement age, increase benefits, and have the rich pay for it!
Needless to say, the progressive solutions would be disastrous to the US! Sorry for the lengthy comment, just had to spill my guts! My two cents...
Thanks for that report and insight from the belly of the beast. It's amazing how these regressives have not learned a thing from history. They don't seem to grasp how their "solutions" never end well.
Sorry brother, but we need to fight once more, and clean up the mess we createdβ¦
Ah, yes, itβs a knotty problem, how to control the masses. Pensions, Universal Basic Income, Taxes, Consumption incentives and dis-incentives, Federal and State regulations, Executive orders ..... It is all just a bit too messy. How much simpler if the government just owned and controlled the money - all of it.
We know that all governmental retiring funds in the future wonβt be able to keep their promises. Many reasons , people lives longer , more retirees than workers , mismanagement of the funds and more .
All governments will face the 3 choices , pay less , rise taxes or rise the age of retirements, just kicking the can ...
In Europe the age is 65 in most of the countries , in Portugal 66 and 7 months , I. Germany and Italy 67 . French peoples are almost always protesting , sometimes rightly sometimes wrongly ...
J: I think you hit the nail on the head. The US has raised our pension fund ages many times over the last 15 years. I will probably get my retirement by age 75. Hope there will still be money left. Not counting on it.
If you die before starting to collect Social Security, you get nothing for all the money that you were forced to contribute into the plan. That is why I starting taking it at 62 years, even though most "experts" tell you to wait. You never know when the grim reaper will be coming for you!
Iβm counting on BPR to get me thru the coming years with enough wealth intact to ease past the failing juggernauts of Medicare and Social Security dependence. Never retire, just do enough fun work to keep things going. When my time comes, Iβd like to have the guts to wander off in the wilderness like the old Indians would.
It's been 250 years, hasn't it?
France is due for another revolution...lol
What is this 'retirement age' nonsense anyway?
You retire when you have enough money to retire.
If you don't have enough money to retire, keep working until you do.
They will tax the rich, but it wonβt be like anyone on this message board thinks. The βconservativeβ politicians wonβt have the power, or the desire, to cap the budget so they will finally admit that MMT is the future. MMT will eventually destroy our economy and by the time rioting in the streets erupts the politicians will all agree to tax the rich. But then, the only rich left in the country will be us poor sots on this email stream with 401kβs that have no remaining political power to stop them from nationalizing every IRA, 401k and pension plan. Good luck!
I was in the military for many years and then was pushed out by the reduction of the Vietnam bunch. Next I worked in the Oil patch and the Army Reserve. I was offered the choice of retirement at 62 or 65. The sales pitch was that I would make more at 65. I chose the 62. A few years I passed the point where I would have began to make more. The real picture is that I had already saved the difference and was on the way to beating SSI all the way. I pay taxes every year even though I am almost 87. It makes no difference. I have all types of government programs since I was 62. I get a military retirement, SSI, and a disability pay. Most go to stocks, savings or bitcoin. Sorry Mr B. I just like the bitcoin poker game. So far I am winning. When I cash a bitcoin I pay a lot of taxes. I am also years ahead with coins I have sold as loss to help pay taxes. We need to stop looking at who is working and look at who is not working and why. Many are on welfare. Others like me are making money by what you call not productive work, but it may be the new work as machines and border crossers are taking over the physical work. Machines even build the tanks and airplanes. Soon they will be investing and writing investment letters. Who is out of a job next? Of course the fedcoin will end cash and destroy those who do not use banks. Even us in the Metaverse will not be able to eat unless we can buy at the grocery with bitcoin, restaurants do accept bitcoin. So do electric car sales.
Yes William, I know a very wise young man who once said "We need to stop looking at who is working and look at who is not working and why."
I appreciate your service to our nation and your loyalty to your fellow American's, and you are so right at what we need to look at, and how did we get here.
As our wonderful host alluted to, "Most western countries are in the same boat" with these Ponzi scams called Welfare and Disability. Both have emptied our SSI and Medicare for those who have been taken care of from "cradle to grave". Most have no reason to be collecting either, except for their ignorance or loyalty to the left. Those same good folk are the same who are first out to loot and burn down cities when an opportunity presents itself. It's what happens when people have too much time doing nothing.
We know those who are not working, and the why is because it's the solid base of the Democratic Party.
Yes William, you will reap much larger rewards for your insight on crypto's in the future, and wish you many more years of enjoying the fruits of your hard work!
You bring up a great point, Steve. I think the progressive creep weβve seen in society is primarily because...
1. Those pushing it have no occupation but to promote their agenda.
2. We whoβd like to prevent it are too busy working to support/ better ourselves & families that we havenβt the time or energy to fight. And the salt in the wound is that we pay taxes that support the unproductive lifestyle of those in pt.1.
You are spot on my brother!
SL. Yeah if these fools had jobs they would be too busy to protest.
Yep, paid democrat slaves...
Well, PG, maybe not ALL humans. Iβve worked around a few with very...ahem, loose moral standards, and theyβll do just fine. Itβs not called the oldest occupation for nothing π€£π€£
Sorry Aaron, guess you haven't seen the "Sex Bots" coming out of China...just as a precaution, wear a mask and make sure you're "Double Boosted" before enjoying...
Hi Aaron -
Au Contraire. The oldest profession is NOT what everybody thinks.
Gen. 2:15
"So the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to keep it and take care of it."
This was before He even made Eve.
Just sayin'...
I'm 93, retired at 74; retirement isn't that dream land, I work hard to make my hours PRODUCTIVE.
1960's. Bretton Woods and GOLD endangered. I figured out that investing long term meant
Good for you Starboard - you're obviously smart and industrious enough to have thought this through with the energy to commit. Most aren't like that, so, as an oldie, appreciate your generosity, just don't expect to see it replicated generally.
Nobody expected people to live as long as they now do when pensions were first dreamed up. Consequently it really doesn't matter how it's cut and diced they are, and will remain, unaffordable. Two workers for every beneficiary? - I don't see that as a long term plan and neither should anyone else, because it isn't.
If us oldies (the vast majority of the commentators here I suspect) don't think that at some stage in the future some bright young thing isn't going to point out that an awful lot of their hard earned income is going towards keeping alive dribbling old idiots in their third decade of retirement, who contribute nothing, you have a slightly more benign view of human nature than I do.
Hi John -
Been there, done that - yet still pay confiscatory money against my will every week, and it is a SUBSTANTIAL amount.
I'm likely not quite as old as some (most?) people here, and I have Respect and Appreciate for the Wisdom and Efforts of those who come before me. I say take it (SS) when you can and live it up. I long ago gave up the notion that SS would be around to play any significant part in my having a "comfortable" retirement, so I made other plans. So far, so good - but I still wake up at 4:30a and put in full days to the ongoing benefit of a LOT of geezers who aren't me.
Y'all are welcome... :)
I worked at a utility that did not contribute a penny to our pension fund after 1987. They reduced benefits and by my retirement it was a billion plus over funded. The government will reduce benefits and our socialist brothers will want it to come out of the rich peoples pockets. In addition, they will raise taxes on the rich. The problem is the tax is based on wages. How many rich people earn wages versus income? It is all a ponzi scheme that will eventually bankrupt the already bankrupt government. How many workers do we have per retiree? When it first started there were 20 plus workers per retiree I believe the number now is about 2. The system is unsustainable. Changing it could mean political suicide therefore it will be time to eat the rich.
On January 31, 1940, the first monthly retirement check was issued to Ida May Fuller of Ludlow, Vermont, in the amount of $22.54. Miss Fuller, a Legal Secretary, retired in November 1939. She started collecting benefits in January 1940 at age 65 and lived to be 100 years old, dying in 1975.
Ida May Fuller worked for three years under the Social Security program. The accumulated taxes on her salary during those three years was a total of $24.75. Her initial monthly check was $22.54. During her lifetime she collected a total of $22,888.92 in Social Security benefits.
Macron is best served comforting soccer teams after they lose World Cups with over the top kisses and hugs.
I don't think I would like being kissed by Macron! A hug, maybe, as long as it wasn't a bear hug.
Ewwwww...
To me Macron is another Trudeau.
Kevin. Yeah total globalist. Worthless.
What about the 4th option. Government finally admits the scam and pays for it with inflated dollars which is a tax on everyone especially the poor. Whatβs a few trillion more on our way to Argentina
And then we have the biggest fund managers Executive Suite, controlling global funds such as Blackrock, now dictating to industry what they, in line with ESG, can do & are not allowed to do. Fossil fuel and Climate Control are the only things that now matter.
WEF etc and global oligarchs (not just Russian), military industrial complex in control of the world, with politicians as their lapdogs and government βpublic servantsβ pawns.
The economic infrastructure for civilized living is totally fractured. Turkey earthquake or Eastern Ukraine post Russian denazifying, is the portent of our over spent societies.
Hi John -
Portent or Unavoidable Result?
Could go either way, but you're probably more right with Portent as we likely have a LOT further to fall...
Kind of like those CERB checks eh.? You know the elites, decided who was essential and who wasn't a short while back. And I haven't forgotten that legal plunder is still intact, and who's not essential in its strictest term needs little debate. Ignorance preceeds stupidity. God help us.
Hi Pete -
"Ignorance precedes stupidity."
My Dad used to say that they were first Cousins, but closer to sisters. They look alike from a distance and very hard to tell apart up close...
Hahahahaha
I guess the French donβt have that luxury being tied to the Euro