Situation in France

Lilac said:
@StarSong, I hate to think of all of the waste & what could be done with that money.

They should all be on the same retirement as the rest of us. Think that would get their attention?
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Administration of any program is expensive, government is especially so. It has always be thus and is true of every country and nearly every level of govt or public programs.

Upcoming SS shortfalls aren't due to waste. Seniors are living longer, and proportionately there are more seniors versus younger people (working and contributing to SS) than at any time in history.

Short of an enormous die-off of people over 60, a hefty increase in immigration of young people, a huge increase in birth rates, or a combination of all three, most industrialized countries that provide a national version of SS, are in the same boat.
 

I agree @StarSong with some of what you said. But there is still too much waste in the government at all levels that should be stopped & that money allocated to where it is needed.

SS payout is being paid out of the General Fund along with SSI Disability & other welfare programs.

SS has never had it's own trust fund which should have been established from the start. All of the SS taxes should have gone into that Trust Fund & those who paid into should have been the only ones to receive that money.

Until they do that, the problem won't be fixed & SS will not be solvent. It can be fixed, but they need to get off of their keisters & get serious about it.
 
Lilac said:
SS payout is being paid out of the General Fund along with SSI Disability & other welfare programs.

SS has never had it's own trust fund which should have been established from the start. All of the SS taxes should have gone into that Trust Fund & those who paid into should have been the only ones to receive that money.
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What makes you think SS is paid out of the General Fund? It does indeed have trust fund.
https://faq.ssa.gov/en-US/Topic/article/KA-02513#!
 
@StarSong, this is where I believe the General Fund pays SS is this link that has a list of questions with a drop down menu & this was #4 on the list: https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/ProgData/fundFAQ.html#a0=7

What happens to the taxes that go into the trust funds? Tax income is deposited on a daily basis and is invested in "special-issue" securities. The cash exchanged for the securities goes into the general fund of the Treasury and is indistinguishable from other cash in the general fund.

I tried to find the link that I was reading before about the general fund & if I can find it I'll forward it.
 
Lilac said:
SS has never had it's own trust fund which should have been established from the start. All of the SS taxes should have gone into that Trust Fund & those who paid into should have been the only ones to receive that money.
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That would have been unconstitutional, which is why it MUST go into the general fund. Keeping track of those funds became what is incorrectly called a "trust" fund, which was simply a fancy term for "reserve account." There are now literally dozens of "trust" funds.

This idiot wrote about it and included relevant links. https://tinyurl.com/2s4m5p38
 
I am not a SS expert, but from all I've read SS taxes are designated to fund SS payments. Exactly how Trust Fund accounting is managed I cannot say, but know the funds are managed separately from general taxes. Otherwise there'd be no predictions of when SS might run out, and shortfalls would be covered through general funds.

When I click on the "special issue" link in your post above, @Lilac, this page pops up:
https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/ProgData/specialissues.html

That page states:

"Trust funds and types of investments
The Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and the Disability Insurance Trust Fund comprise the Social Security trust funds. Both funds are managed by the Department of the Treasury through their Bureau of the Fiscal Service. Since the beginning of the Social Security program, all securities held by the trust funds have been issued by the Federal Government. There are two general types of such securities:

The Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund link states:
"The Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund is a separate account in the United States Treasury. A fixed proportion (dependent on the allocation of tax rates by trust fund) of the payroll taxes received under the Federal Insurance Contributions Act and the Self-Employment Contributions Act are deposited in the fund to the extent that such taxes are not needed immediately to pay expenses. Taxes are deposited in the fund on every business day.

The trust fund provides automatic spending authority to pay monthly benefits to retired-worker (old-age) beneficiaries and their spouses and children and to survivors of deceased insured workers. With such spending authority, the Social Security Administration does not need to periodically request money from the Congress to pay benefits.

Funds not withdrawn for current cost (benefits, the financial interchange with the Railroad Retirement program, and administrative expenses) are invested in interest-bearing Federal securities, as required by law; the interest earned is also deposited in the trust fund."

p.s. Bolding of the last paragraph's font is mine.
 
Lilac said:
@StarSong, that's the right link. It was that page that came up on on that page is question #4 that I cut & pasted on the reply #56.

I'm not an expert either, but @Harry Le Hermit has a good reply as to the funding that is very interesting.
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Harry's comments support what I've been saying. SS is paid out of taxes specifically collected for it, i.e, FICA (Federal Insurance Contributions Act), also known as Social Security funding, and the interest it has earned.

FICA taxes are not used for other purposes, like defense, education, etc.
 
SS taxes go for SS payments & I believe we both agree on that, @StarSong. It's just the payment is out of the General Fund. Take a look at post #57.

https://www.gao.gov/blog/u.s.-general-fund-americas-checkbook

The U.S. General Fund ā€“ ā€œAmericaā€™s Checkbookā€​

Posted on July 26, 2021

When you make a deposit to or withdraw cash from an ATM, your bank adjusts your account accordingly and provides your account balance. Similarly, the U.S. General Fund performs this function for the federal governmentā€”reflecting the cash activity for all federal entities. However, balancing ā€œAmericaā€™s Checkbook,ā€ is a challenging yet critical responsibility.
Todayā€™s WatchBlog post looks at the fiscal year (FY) 2020 Schedules of the General Fund, and some of the challenges in auditing the schedules.

The Schedules of the General Fund
The Schedules of the General Fund reports activity and balances, and includes components like cash inflows (deposits) and outflows (withdrawals). They also include other important financial metrics, such as the U.S. budget deficit. Our report provides the results of our audit of these schedules.

Inflows and outflows reported by the General Fund in FY 2020

flow chart.jpg
 
StarSong said:
Harry's comments support what I've been saying. SS is paid out of taxes specifically collected for it, i.e, FICA (Federal Insurance Contributions Act), also known as Social Security funding, and the interest it has earned.

FICA taxes are not used for other purposes, like defense, education, etc.
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My comments DO NOT support what you are saying. FICA taxes are collected, set to a ledger for FICA ('trust fund'), and the monies are then added to the general revenue fund to be spent on darn near anything and everything... including S.S.

Using FICA taxes for just Social Security would be unconstitutional, which is why congress established the bookkeeping method, now called the trust fund.
 
Social Security is a very complicated topic. Just some issues:

The number of Americans 65 and older will increase from about 58 million in 2022 to about 76 million by 2035.
https://www.ssa.gov/news/press/factsheets/basicfact-alt.pdf

Sources of Trust Fund Income. During 2021, an estimated 179 million workers had earnings covered by Social Security and paid $981 billion in payroll taxes. Employees pay a 6.2 percent contribution from earnings up to a maximum of $147,000 in 2022, which their employers match. Self-employed workers pay both shares of the contribution, or 12.4 percent. Generally, more than 40 percent of current beneficiaries pay income taxes on part of their benefits, and those taxes go to the OASDI trust funds and Medicare's Hospital Insurance Trust Fund. In 2021, income to the combined OASDI trust funds from the taxation of benefits amounted to $38 billion. The trust funds also earned $70 billion in interest payments on their accumulated reserves.
[and much more]
https://www.ssa.gov/policy/trust-funds-summary.html

Social Security Trust Funds | (Full Guide) To How They Work
https://ssofficelocation.com/resour...I,as well as the families of deceased workers.
If the above link does not work, then google "Social Security OASDI trust funds"
[have fun reading it]

BTW, the actual running of the of the Social Security Administration (paying employees, etc.) is part of the annual Congressional Budget and does NOT come out of the Trust Funds.


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It is a sad state of affairs, when the President feels that
he must by-pass the Parliament to implement a new law,
that he thinks that they will not agree to.

Perhaps if he explained to them what is the reason for the
change, then let the politicians explain to the voters what
the future will look like without change, the people might
eventually see why it is needed.

How long can current system last I wonder, 75% of their
earnings for life?

What will happen when the Country runs out of money and
goes Bankrupt, who will get the blame?

I hope that it gets resolved, before all the beautiful buildings
all over France are destroyed.

Mike.
 
It would have been better if the retirement age was raised in only monthly increments spread over a number of years, so much fewer would be affected in the near term; avoiding this reaction.
 
WhatInThe said:
A woman is being charged with insulting French President Macron on Facebook. She called him 'filth'

https://www.thenationalnews.com/wor...l-for-insulting-president-macron-on-facebook/

Says she's targeted because she is a yellow vest protest supporter. Coincidence a nation wide strike going on and a protest supporter singled out?
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If everyone that in the U.S. were fined that amount for disparaging a president... The national debt would be near zero, by now.

Oops! I shouldn't be giving anyone... any ideas. /s
 
WhatInThe said:
A woman is being charged with insulting French President Macron on Facebook. She called him 'filth'

https://www.thenationalnews.com/wor...l-for-insulting-president-macron-on-facebook/

Says she's targeted because she is a yellow vest protest supporter. Coincidence a nation wide strike going on and a protest supporter singled out?
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"Punish one, educate one hundred" (Mao).
The same in Germany during the Corona protests.
If I remember it right, someone slapped Macron in the face and got a three year imprisonment.
 

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