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Howard, what do you think about Bernie Sanders' proposal to abolish the SS maximum tax vs. reducing benefits or raising the retirement age as ways of keeping the SS Trust Fund solvent?

Don't understand why you EVER thought Trump wanted to cut social security. I am not a huge fan of his, but gladly voted for him over the brain dead alternative. Seems like you have at least a mild case of TDS. Republicans have parents on social security too. Everyone seems to recognize SS must be REFORMED to survive. This is not the same as CUTTING benefits to current or near retirement beneficiaries.

Thanks for sharing Howard.

Yea they may not have plans to cut it. What are their plans to FIX IT? Republicans have been gunning to get rid of SS and Medicare for years

Good numbers Howard.

Thanks for your videos, Otter. I truly appreciate the info.

Well could they be addressing the problem by doing nothing? Let the system run out of money and payments would be reduced?

I’m concerned about my pension check. I worked for a company where there is a union in place. Now that I’m retired, I receive a modest pension check, but every little bit helps. It seems like many companies are struggling to keep employees. Without long standing employees ( making contributions ), it makes it hard for any union to survive. I sometimes wonder if the pension checks will dissolve. We’re living in uncertain times.

BUT and this is scary.....he can set the stage for it. 1)Blow up the debt ceiling and run HUGE DEFICITS while cutting taxes for the rich 2)Don't do anything to fund it more, such as raising the tax on the employer contribution. 3) As the years go by, say OH WE DO NOT HAVE MONEY FOR THAT. After they run incredible deficits for fattening up the rich and maybe STARTING WARS. Republicans are evil.

Good video . I figured this would happen.

Get rid of the cap so that the wealthy pay their 6.2% on all their income, like the rest of us.

Republicans will let social security wither on the vine.

Why are they forever warning / threatening to cut Social Security, VA benefits - But never funding for foreign aide, welfare benefits - especially for illegal aliens or pointless pork belly projects?

Am I off base not to be worried? By 2050 most of us Boomers will be gone, and there will be fewer people to send SS checks to. The workforce will be smaller, yes, but technological advancements will probably keep GDP high, if not higher. It's probably not a matter of whether we're able to fund it, but whether we are willing, and perhaps whether Congress and the People will ever be willing to listen to the expertise of the bureaucrats who probably already know good solutions.

Well Done! Love your data derived conclusions. Thanks. Keep tracking the "DOGE Performance" would be a Great source of future YT videos for you. Please, always show your info/data sources. Important for your viewers to confirm your info/sources. Thanks Again.

The Government gets money from workers to pay for the Social Security benefits .. and if they are short .. then they can transfer money from the general budget. I don't know what the current shortfall is now but it can be done....by cutting Federal Govt employees, military spending, foreign aid and stopping illegal immigrants from entering our country - burning up our resources , trying to get people off of Food Stamps , free school breakfast- lunch programs and cutting down on unemployment . For example more males in their prime age 24-55 are not working today than any other time in US history. We need to open up more factories in the USA and get Americans working. More vocational programs are needed to get men working again.

Howdy hi hi, Social Security cuts are always a hard sell in congress. And for very good reason. No one wants to see grandma lose her home and end up either on the couch or on the street. This will be Trump's second term. The only things I can see him working on are those things that will benefit him personally. Cuts to medicare won't do that for him. I think it is safe to say he will never be elected to another office.

Thank you

Cutting 1 trillion is better than adding 2 or 3 trillion like we've been doing

I think Trump is disinterested in Social Security which most likely means nothing will be done/changed etc while he is in office. No one has mentioned this but I bet Social Security could save a lot of money by changing the number of years used in the benefit calculation from 35 to 40 years. Has anyone mentioned this? Basically its a benefit cut that doesn’t look like a benefit cut. But one advantage is that they might not need to raise the collecting age which would be extremely unpopular I think.

Trump is always selling wolf tickets.

A government for billionaires run by billionaires.

Perhaps the bigger concern is doctor Jiz and his desire to put every retiree into a Medicare advantage plan. Not to mention Dr Worm in the Brain.

.... 😂 OMG you take Johnson and Trump at their word. 😂😂😂 That's hysterical 😅

I appreciated the short, informative, unbiased, reporting on our government’s social security narrative. Much better than the propaganda on most news networks.

Hopefully he'll be too busy with idiotic quest for Greenland, renaming places on the globe, dodging promise he made to bring down the cost of everyday goods, etc. lol

I want to hear what Trump will do to save SS and Medicare.

Of course no cuts in these benefits !

Thanks for sharing!!!

get rid of the fillibuster, realizing when the liberals retake the senate it will be awful

Attacking and reducing SS and Medicare will be a death knell for the Republicans and any future power of the Republican Party. A lot of big talk at this point. Same as the first term this will be entertaining if nothing else. There are several ways to overcome the SS future deficit with the most feasible being to minimally increase the SS contribution in stages depending on age of the current labor force.

Thank God.

I agree nothing but hyperbolic chatter for the next four years… the third rail in politics is always a procrastination we’ll see what happens. Thanks for your video Howard.😅

Once we help the poor, each and every dollar should return the same amount! No bend over points! No penalties for being a higher age earner!

What? You're opening my mail? 🤣😂

Good video. Being the higher earner with a much younger spouse makes when to file much more difficult.

Wow, that is interesting. I am 63 and working one more year. I look at my SSAN account every month and I assumed once I stopped working those future amounts would stay the same. I too am a high earner, and I was planning on waiting a couple years before applying for my benefits. This is new information and I will have to run the numbers. Thank you so much! I always enjoy learning something new!! Have a great day!!!

The “bend over” calculations need to stop! Rich folks don’t want the cap increases, because they can afford to gamble, and lose, the money the rest of us contribute to SS! Boost low earners, then simply pay the same return per qualifying dollar “invested” in SS! No 45,55,90% return shiite! Once the cap is lifted, liberals need to STFU, when wealthy people are drawing 20, 30, 40, k and up per month! I am upper middle class (@160-k), and I don’t appreciate being told my SS is “too generous “! Bite me!!! Life’s not fair, but I am sick and tired, of bearing the burden of the poor, while rich people skate. But I am not a hypocrite! Raise the deduction to 7%/7% and away we go!

Republicans have spent the last 70-80 years, attacking the New Deal, and single income families, via anti union, pro corporate policies! I don’t trust Musk, or Ramaswamy, any further than I could throw them!

Wow your making good money. What kind of work did you do?

What about the adjustment for the bend points? Are you sure those are the numbers you will receive? Underatand that you will receive approx. 90% of the first $1100.00. after that, you will only receive approx. 32% of the rest of benefit.

It is a pretty good sum to live on - does it adjust annually based on CPI ???. The bad news is that DOGE in order to make any dent to make their hundreds of billions in budget cuts are going to touch either social security or medicare.

I have lot of zeros and very low numbers in my record from all the years of schooling in my 20s and early 30s where I didn't pay SS tax and from working in the food industry - but even so, I find that working and contributing to the SS pool now in "retirement" doesn't change the SS projections to a meaningful degree for me. For me, delaying SS payments past 62 changes the projections much more than substituting low numbers with higher numbers. I assume that's because each year is only 1/35th of the total calculation, and even small numbers in the 70s and 80s are multiplied by an inflation factor. I find that working in retirement before SS does help to pay the bills and give peace of mind while waiting to take SS at my FRA. I used to focus on 70 as the number to shoot for, but between health challenges and wanting to be truly done with working, FRA seems like a reasonable compromise. Hoping the projections hold true for future years.

Good info. When you are married, planning your social security together is critical, especially if there is a difference in age. I am 5 years older than my wife and have much higher earnings. I took my social security at FRA and she will be doing the same which will make her eligible for 50% of mine which is a higher rate than her own record. If your earnings record is much higher than your spouse's and you are older in age, you MUST understand there are two separate reductions in payment schedules for claiming benefits before FRA. One when claiming as a spouse and the other when claiming as a survivor. The impact of the age difference before the younger person reaches FRA must be considered against both spousal benefits and survivor benefits. They are two different schedules for taking those benefits earlier than FRA.

Looks like you had a good paying job to draw over twice the average every month.

Wait until Trump gets done with you

It's going to get a lot worse.

Lets not forget no one is promised tomorrow, take what you can get now when you pass it doesnt matter anymore you are not going to take it with you period.

You were blessed.

I retired at 61 but don't plan on taking social security until at least 67. I went to the social security calculator and entered zero as amount of future earnings and it didn't change the amounts of my social security payments. Even if it would have, l was done with having a stressful working life and so glad to be retired. Life's too short.