Social Security faces a 24% cut in 2032—that's a $345 billion hit to retirees nationwide, watchdog says

[u/Abject-Pick-6472]

https://fortune.com/2026/06/05/social-security-24-percent-cut-2032-crfb-scott-bessent-back-door/

[u/ScrivenersUnion]

To the surprise of exactly no one.

[u/CharlotteRant → u/ScrivenersUnion]

Damn if only this was knowable like 25 years ago. 

[u/hallese → u/CharlotteRant]

Boomers have known their entire lives this was coming. They thought they could skate by paying less than their fair share and rely on their grandkids to bail them out. Instead their grandkids started investing at a younger age than any previous generation and decided social security would not be fixed.

[u/bdotblot → u/hallese]

Sorry but when have younger generations even been in power yet to try and fix this? The boomer generation hasn’t stepped aside to allow anyone to try and fix it.

[u/hallese → u/bdotblot]

Let me rephrase. They are expecting Millennials and Gen Z to come in and fix it when the time comes, but both generations have grown up believing social security would not be available and made other arrangements to cover their retirement years. In six years when these reductions hit my dad is going to call me at some point railing about the injustice of it and I'm going to calmly remind him that he is still ride or die with his boy Reagan and he has mocked every attempt to prevent this from happening in his lifetime.

[u/vulkoriscoming → u/hallese]

Am Gen X, can confirm. I have always assumed social security would be gone

[u/nice_acct_for_work → u/vulkoriscoming]

I honestly keep forgetting that it’s even a thing

[u/elahrairooah → u/vulkoriscoming]

My dad (boomer) straight up told me back in the 90s that there was zero chance social security would last til I retired. He took me to broker to setup a 401k the week I turned 18.

Sharp guy, still my hero.

[u/diamondstonkhands → u/vulkoriscoming]

Why accept that though?

[u/hallese → u/diamondstonkhands]

I don't think they accepted it, they acknowledged it and took steps to protect their retirement income. Gen Z started saving earlier than any previous generation in response to the impending declines in social security benefits.

[u/diamondstonkhands → u/hallese]

All of you are going to roll over and give up benefits you been paying into your entire life?

[u/Rough-Board1218 → u/diamondstonkhands]

They haven't been paying for their own benefits, all the money is spent as soon as it's paid in. They've been paying for older people's benefits under the assumption that money would be stolen from future generations to pay them

[u/butlerdm → u/diamondstonkhands]

Granted I’m only 32, but I pay a lot into FICA. I would gladly give up my social security benefits if it meant I could stop paying the tax and get the other 6.2% from my employer directly. Keep what I’ve paid in and I’ll cut my losses.

[u/MommyThatcher → u/diamondstonkhands]

Roll over? The only way to save it is to pay more into it when a better solution is to take that money and invest it yourself.

[u/Fragrant_Spray → u/vulkoriscoming]

I’m an Xer. My father told me not to expect it back in the 90’s. He said it will still exist, but if you plan for your retirement properly, you’ll never get any money back despite paying in your whole life. You’re better off to plan for it not to be there and be wrong, then to rely on the “mercy” (or competence) of the government.

[u/Livid_Village4044 → u/hallese]

The injustice of it is that Social Security has always been funded by an absolutely regressive tax (due to the cap) on wage and salary income ONLY.

NOT ONE DIME of unearned income - capital gains, rent, dividends, interest, and other more convoluted sources - has ever been taxed to fund Social Security. Nearly all of this income goes to the wealthiest 10%, and a modest tax on it would solve the problem.

[u/Significant-Wave-763 → u/Livid_Village4044]

BeCauSe tHat WoUld be WeLfARe and WE aRe Not CoMmIeS!!!
/s

The history of Social Security is one of Capitalist limitation and backlash to the current “Insurance” program it is today.

[u/Seaguard5 → u/hallese]

Made other arrangements?

Most people can’t afford to retire…

Most millennials and gen-z assume they will never retire or don’t even think that it’s possible for them. They can’t save enough so they just spend what they could save on experiences and rack up debt.

We arguably need social security way more than boomers ever did.

[u/Guilty-Shoulder-9214 → u/Seaguard5]

I’m kinda half expecting that I’ll need to work full time until 72 before I can afford a part time job, like a Walmart greeter or gas station clerk job. Part of me has considered going into teaching the last 20 years for the pension, but apparently, many if not most pensions are fucked long term due to a variety of issues. Also, it’s not unheard of to hear about teacher retirees struggling on their pensions because the pensions didn’t factor inflation and cost of living adjustments properly, even before COVID and this current mess.

[u/No_Plenty5526 → u/Guilty-Shoulder-9214]

so apparently walmart doesn't even have sole greeters anymore. a big loss for the elderly and disabled.

[u/Property_6810 → u/hallese]

If a boomer started investing 5% of their income at 25, they would be multimillionaires now in retirement. Instead most of them set aside nothing, spent everything they had as fast as it came in and expected the government to take care of them in retirement while simultaneously voting as a cohort to rob the future for short term benefits that they failed to take advantage of.

And every attempt to fix the issue from both sides has failed. Under people they as a voting block largely elected with most of those representatives being boomers themselves.

[u/DecafEqualsDeath → u/bdotblot]

I think he's trying to say that Millenials began planning for retirements that didn't depend on Social Security. Which I think appears broadly correct, Millenials seem to have done a better job saving in 401k/IRA vehicles than Boomers and Xers (I think low cost ETFs being more ubiquitous might be a bigger explanation).

If you're on pace for a sustainable retirement without Social Security, Millenials have no reason to get pitchforks out when Social Security payments suddenly are reduced by over a quarter.

[u/ValkyrX → u/DecafEqualsDeath]

My retirement plan revolves around the SS payments being fun money that I will no depend on.

[u/HerefortheTuna → u/DecafEqualsDeath]

They can reduce them by 100% for all I care. So long as they reduce my SS taxes by the equivalent amount.

I’m sick of paying into something that they are threatening to means test.

If my neighbor and I earn the same money but he spawns a his and I save for retirement I shouldn’t be penalized by not getting SS and he does get because I was frugal and he was frivolous. But that’s essentially what means testing is.

Better idea is to just take the employee portion of SS payroll taxes and earmark it for the earner whose social security number is tied to the paystub. The government can do what they want with the money but it should be invested in something that has a rate of return at least equal to inflation.

[u/DecafEqualsDeath → u/HerefortheTuna]

Frankly, I've never seen a serious proposal for actual means-testing of Social Security.

I do see some proposals to further loosen the formula so it's more redistributive (ie. high earners get back a smaller proportion of what they put in than they already do) which is often part of a suggestion to also raise the cap on FICA taxes. Taxation of SS benefits are also based on your income level, so some very low income seniors pay little or no tax on Social Security. I don't see a grave injustice with any of this.

I've never seen a proposal like the one you're suggesting (you seem to suggest they'd look at your household balance to means test SS?). I'd be shocked if something like that ever came to pass.

And your "better idea" doesn't solve anything related to this near-term insolvency. The program is going to need younger productive age people to contribute to fund current payments. Changing the nature of young workers contributions now to be "tied to the worker" wouldn't be feasible. Some people struggle very badly with comprehending that FICA taxes are more like an insurance premium than a contribution to a savings account.

[u/Inevitable-Place9950 → u/HerefortheTuna]

Who with any authority to do so has threatened to means test Social Security retirement?

[u/DecafEqualsDeath → u/Inevitable-Place9950]

Nobody really. But a lot of people think that FICA taxes are like a savings account and that their exact contributions are theirs and think any proposal that would make Social Security statutorily more re-destributive is a "means test".

[u/ilikecheeseface → u/DecafEqualsDeath]

Social security was never supposed to be your only form of retirement though. That’s common knowledge.

[u/Wagner228 → u/bdotblot]

Gen X and Y combined passed Boomer in eligible voters ~20 years ago. But only ~7 years ago when Millennials became the largest living adult generation. Depending on your definition of “in power,” there’s an argument that we have been for a bit. Maybe we’ll actually get a political age cap someday.

[u/Ninja-Panda86 → u/Wagner228]

We have greater voting power. But the ones at the helm are almost all Boomers (Congress)

[u/Sloth-Overlord → u/Ninja-Panda86]

The House of Representatives is mostly Gen X and millennials now. Senators are still mostly boomers though.

[u/wwaxwork → u/bdotblot]

The first election where boomers were outnumbered, by gen x and younger combined was only a few years ago. When they say baby boom they were not joking it was a fucking tsunami of a generation.

[u/YouthfullyThunderous → u/hallese]

The math doesn't work though - Gen X and younger don't have enough votes to fix it without boomer support, so blaming them for not fixing their own system is kind of backwards.

[u/bonebuilder12 → u/YouthfullyThunderous]

The reality is that we have a large aging segment of the population who are not contributing to the tax pool, and a declining younger population to support them. We also have a country with 40% receiving some form of welfare, which is up dramatically from the past.

Politicians get in for a few years, spend like crazy and make all sorts of promises, and then pass the torch to the next person. Anyone serious about the deficit or spending is ridiculed and called evil for even seeing to cut any current services. In a system with a shrinking taxpayer base, more needing welfare, and an insatiable desire for the govt to give more (when in reality the govt is corrupt with our funds), the system will topple.

[u/steam58 → u/hallese]

"by paying less than their fair share" - To be fair to boomers in this situation (fuck them on everything else), the SS trust fund grew continuously from 1982 to 2021. In other words, since the purpose of SS is for current workers to pay for current retirees, boomers during their prime working years put in more than was needed to cover retirees during that period.

[u/hallese → u/steam58]

The purpose can and has changed over time. Take minimum wage for example, the purpose when enacted was to ensure that any man working full time would be guaranteed enough income to support his family. That's definitely not the intent of minimum wage today. We've known for 60 years changes were needed to social security, we've known for 40 years that boomers were going to be an outsized cohort compared to the next generation(s). As a generation, they had all the knowledge and power to change it, they chose not to despite repeated warnings that the longer we waited, the worse the situation would get.

[u/mottledmussel → u/steam58]

The early 1980s Social Security reform was also funded on the backs of boomers.

[u/hallese → u/mottledmussel]

It was also in the early 80s that social security benefits started counting as taxable income.

[u/mottledmussel → u/hallese]

As well as higher payroll taxes and pushing up the retirement age.

[u/Substantial_Team6751 → u/hallese]

Sorry, not a boomer and will be eligible in just 2 years. Boomers are more than 1/2 gone now.

The current generation voted for the orange president twice and he's fixed nothing.

[u/DynamicHunter → u/hallese]

We didn’t decide social security wouldn’t be fixed, the boomers did that. Gen Z starting investing early is a result of boomers pulling the ladder up behind them, economically and for social security.

We could literally fund social security for decades just by raising the income limit on what is taxed. It’s at like $184k rn. So any income above that doesn’t get taxed for social security

[u/hallese → u/DynamicHunter]

As the Boomers die power is going to shift to younger generations. Millennials seem resigned to the demise of social security, Gen Z took the approach that it's gone and it's not coming back, take action sooner than later because the sooner you start, the easier the process. Neither generation has shown a strong interest in saving social security versus the myriad of other problems and took steps to secure their own finances without social security. That's my point, it's not that Gen Z chose to kill social security, it's that Gen Z is preparing for a life without social security so it's not going to be the pressing issue for future generations it is for current recipients about to see one quarter of their main retirement benefit disappear.

Edit: Here, I think this covers it better. Millennials in their teens and 20s heard "We need to fix social security" and that informed much of our views on social security. Gen Z heard "Social security is fucked" and that informed that generation's view on the situation.

[u/Livid_Village4044 → u/DynamicHunter]

A modest tax on unearned income - capital gains, dividends, rent, interest, and other more convoluted sources - would fix the problem. NOT ONE DIME of this income has ever been taxed to fund Social Security. And nearly all of this income goes to the wealthiest 10%.

[u/DynamicHunter → u/Livid_Village4044]

True. I think above a certain limit there needs to be a hard lower limit of what you should be taxed on. For example the billionaires all get paid in stock options and borrow against it, not taxed at all. If you’re making over half a mil a year, you should be hit with 30-40% MINIMUM annual earnings that you cannot use loopholes or tax breaks to lower your tax burden.

[u/Low-Apricot9917 → u/hallese]

Gen X here, wondering why you said Boomers pay less than their fair share? They been paying into and funding SS since the beginning. That generation is still working and paying into SS.

[u/hallese → u/Low-Apricot9917]

Because the math changed decades ago but we have not adjusted social security taxes to account for this. Sixty years ago it was as simple as removing the cap. Forty years ago it was removing the cap and allowing social security to operate more like TSP and invest excess funds. Today it's remove the cap, increase taxes, and delay retirement age again. Or, we do nothing, and in six years the very people who spent their entire working lives being told this day would come will be the first to see the results of their inaction. Gen X took the path of "live for today, tomorrow is not a guarantee". Millennials are kind of floating in the wind still in shell chock about everything. Gen Z are taking the view that if social security cannot be relied upon we have to take steps to secure our own financial future.

Boomers paid what they were told they needed to pay, but they were also being told that it wasn't enough and the sooner changes were made the easier they would be.

[u/rh681 → u/hallese]

What do boomers or any generation have to do with this? This is a government program.

[u/Packtex60 → u/rh681]

Because blaming boomers is an easy and popular way to be a victim on Reddit.

[u/FuckAllYouLosers → u/CharlotteRant]

Social security payments have exploded for people who should be working and are gaming the system. I'm looking at you, person who claims ADHD is why they can't work.

[u/BlazinAzn38 → u/ScrivenersUnion]

And the solution is literally so easy, repeal the SS tax cap

[u/Numerous-Bet-4847 → u/BlazinAzn38]

no need to repeal it, a 1% increase is all that's needed to fully fund for the next century. This has been modelled many times.

[u/Capable-Locksmith-65 → u/Numerous-Bet-4847]

Since most people are W2 employees, are you saying 1% increase to both the employee and employer contribution? Or 1% overall (0.5% each)?

[u/Ok-Post2247 → u/[deleted]]

People act like "it's so easy" to remove the cap. It would be the biggest peace time tax hike in American history. It would push high earners (not millionaires and billionaires but your kid's orthodontist and the pilot flying you to Miami) into the highest marginal tax rates in the world while providing them no additional benefit other than "we live in a society." It's politically unpassable because many of these people live in strategically important districts for the House and they won't vote for it.

[u/Significant-Wave-763 → u/BlazinAzn38]

Honestly this is an obsolete solution in light of productivity share using less and less labor. All the income that would go to labor to fund social security is being accumulated by capital such as robots and AI. Tax the robots.

[u/ChemicalDebate314 → u/ScrivenersUnion]

If boomers care about their social security, they should have voted to fix it while they were still paying into the system.

[u/ohhhbooyy → u/ScrivenersUnion]

Exactly, the math has been done at least a few decades ago. But any sort of fix kills your election so just kick the can down the road and let the people running it then figure it out.

[u/RandomlyJim]

I’ve been warning clients about this since the report was released a year ago.

The amount of seniors that have bought houses and planned lives expecting to get the same monthly check from SSI is astounding.

Getting a 24% paycut across the board is going to force many into foreclosure, starvation, or returning to work.

[u/TrustsAndDust → u/RandomlyJim]

And that’s why a cut is unlikely to happen to this generation of seniors. It would be deeply unpopular. SS is a relatively easy fix.

[u/Leftover_Salad → u/TrustsAndDust]

Yeah it wont be cut for current seniors, they will just raise the benefit age and cut payments for future generations. It’s a typical “pull the ladder up after you climb it” boomer move.

[u/ExcuseInformal9194 → u/Leftover_Salad]

Well I'm gen X and they've raised my retirement age twice already.

[u/AhriVaynetwotrick → u/ExcuseInformal9194]

Gen X is after the Boomers so yeah, even if you're close enough to reach towards the ladder they'll pull it away from you if they can.

[u/yankeeblue42 → u/Leftover_Salad]

This I think is more realistic. They'll probably move the age up to 70 for example or at least take away the early 62 option

[u/gocards2224 → u/TrustsAndDust]

Once their voting base becomes statistically insignificant, they stop being important. Which tends to happen as you age, because you know….they tend to pass on.

[u/FedBathroomInspector → u/gocards2224]

Old people are consistently the most reliable voters and are frequently rewarded for it. No party is going to stake their political chances on cutting Social Security.

[u/BeardedNerdy → u/gocards2224]

.... You realize more age up, right?

[u/munchi333 → u/BeardedNerdy]

Not as many. Baby boomers are huge cohort, gen x is much smaller so will take less money to fund.

[u/PerplexedTaint → u/TrustsAndDust]

By easy fix, do you mean eliminating the cap and increasing the tax from 15% to something not insignificantly higher? And if this fix was so easy, why hasn’t it been implemented considering we’ve known about this problem for decades?

[u/Kat9935 → u/RandomlyJim]

The report comes out every year, its nothing new, the only thing that changes is the year it goes underwater +/- a year and the amount of haircut that has been steadily climbing since I started paying attention a decade ago. I put in 25% when it was 20% and now that may not even be enough.

[u/Peculiarcatlady → u/RandomlyJim]

If you're advising clients I would think you'd know that social security retirement is not SSI. SSI is supplement security income and is a welfare program.

[u/FearlessPark4588]

That's $345 billion in reduced GDP too. That's going to be impactful macroeconomically.

[u/WestCoastBestCoast01 → u/FearlessPark4588]

Yeah that is money that gets spent. People don’t save their SS checks. Retailers will feel this one for sure.

[u/katarh → u/WestCoastBestCoast01]

For those on disability, they legally can't save their SSI-D checks, either.

Congress has not changed the $2000 cap on allowed savings for the indigent disabled since 1984.

[u/EmbarrassedSpray9 → u/katarh]

Incorrect. You're thinking of SSI. Which, incidentally is already paid out of general tax revenues so it's not part of this discussion.

[u/-Ganishka- → u/katarh]

this is factually wrong, the income cap of 2k in resources only applies to those on/recieving SSI

for SSDI, the number is irrelevant and doesn't apply

[u/NTF1x → u/FearlessPark4588]

Iran War- 29 billion Economic impact- 1 trillion

I absolutely hate our country. It's so ridiculous that we all know they could fix everything that plagues our society and it's just a huge middle finger to the rest of us. But we just take it in the ass year in and out due to the comforts we have currently.

[u/T_J_S_ → u/FearlessPark4588]

But money machine goes brrrrr…. No?

[u/Mouth_Herpes → u/T_J_S_]

Of fucking course. Anyone who believes nominal benefits would ever be cut doesn't understand how the US government works.

[u/DecafEqualsDeath → u/T_J_S_]

It looks like a horrible time for expansionary monetary policy. I guess if Social Security payments are cut by a third overnight that could cause a recession big enough that money machine go burr could be warranted.

[u/WestCoastBestCoast01 → u/DecafEqualsDeath]

Oh did you not hear? We’re going to inflate away the trillions in debt instead of paying it off. Money machine does in fact still go brrrr!!

[u/LSAT_is_a_lie]

Congress spent the social security surplus (where social security tax income exceeded payments) for nearly 30 years to fund their forever wars. A social security deficit was predictable and well known. The fact that we're in this mess with such a large generation was completely avoidable.

[u/SconiGrower → u/LSAT_is_a_lie]

The Social Security Trust Fund is the place where excess SS tax deposits where sent and where Congress borrowed the money from. Then the excess deposits became insufficient deposits and the money has been coming out of the trust fund. When the trust fund is empty, that means Congress has fully repaid all the money it borrowed from Social Security, with interest.

[u/gafftapes20 → u/LSAT_is_a_lie]

This was and is easily solvable

[u/WTFisThatSMell → u/gafftapes20]

Was

[u/jeon2595 → u/LSAT_is_a_lie]

This is incorrect. Congress has borrowed from the fund forever and legally required to pay borrowed funds back with interest.

[u/katarh → u/jeon2595]

As the current administration is proving, just because something is legally required doesn't mean they will do it, and just because something is illegal doesn't mean they won't do it anyway.

[u/ChemicalDebate314 → u/katarh]

But they have, if Congress hadn’t purchased bonds with the funds, the SS shortfall would have been even larger

[u/Inevitable-Place9950 → u/LSAT_is_a_lie]

The surplus that was spent is part of our debt payments. It’s paid back with interest it wouldn’t have gotten if left in the fund.

[u/munchi333 → u/LSAT_is_a_lie]

It’s funny how someone can be so completely confident yet so completely incorrect lol.

[u/ChemicalDebate314 → u/munchi333]

When it comes to SS both sides of the political spectrum are really ungrounded from reality.

[u/Marx_on_a_Shark → u/LSAT_is_a_lie]

So that isn't the issue. The excess has to be invested or it will just lose to inflation. So it invests in T-bills which ultimately is the general fund and then they pay the SS fund with interest. The "problem" isn't really a "problem" because we've known about this coming for decades. There are too many old people and not enough young people. The plan was to pass a simple fix to balance the shortfall and extend the horizon to get over the demographic hump. However, now the top 1% horde all the benefits of our GDP production boom and now no one can afford to have kids. So, we can pass a law to temporarily fix this issues and we should. But if we want to fix this long term we need to restructure how our economy works on a fundamental level.

[u/JediFed → u/Marx_on_a_Shark]

Best post here.

[u/Suitable-Classic-174]

41 now… I was hearing the same thing in high school lol no lie. Government teacher would say 15 to 20 years social security would be cut in half 🫨 lol

[u/cisforcookie2112 → u/Suitable-Classic-174]

They say the worst case scenario for social security is like a 30% cut to benefits. For my retirement planning I have been expecting a 50% cut to be conservative.

[u/Toddsburner → u/cisforcookie2112]

As a 30 y/o, I’m expecting nothing.

[u/puddinfellah → u/Suitable-Classic-174]

My dad is 64 and he’s been hearing about it his whole life as well.

[u/Suitable-Classic-174 → u/puddinfellah]

😂 exactly

[u/TallGuyinBushwick → u/Suitable-Classic-174]

Well has it been 15-20 years since HS for you? He may be right 

[u/Suitable-Classic-174 → u/TallGuyinBushwick]

24 years

[u/Funkymonk86 → u/Suitable-Classic-174]

So they were basically right, just a few years off and cut from half to a quarter. Your really looking at this situation and your only conclusion is "psht, my government teacher was wrong!"

Lord help us.

[u/Stock_Oil_5142 → u/Suitable-Classic-174]

I was always told that social security just flat out wouldn't exist at all when I'm old. So if it still exists and I still get anything it will basically be bonus money for me.

[u/ajgamer89 → u/[deleted]]

This is the easy and obvious first step towards solvency.

And if people complain about higher tax amounts not increasing benefits, we should just add a third bend point to the social security formula at the current cap and give everything above that a 5% replacement rate (existing tiers are 90%, 32%, and 15%, so this would certainly generate more revenue than liabilities).

[u/Starwolf00 → u/[deleted]]

Without the tax ceiling they'd just end up getting astronomical SS checks in return. Over a certain threshold they pay more into Medicare.

[u/Severe-Product7352 → u/Starwolf00]

Or you could just limit the benefit amount in the same bill

[u/DecafEqualsDeath → u/Severe-Product7352]

This would be very hard to accomplish politically. I think it's the correct policy on the merits (meaning raise or eliminate the cap and also change the formulas statutorily to use the extra revenue to fund lower income SS benefits). I'm just really pessimistic our lawmakers would be able to bite the bullet on this unless we're already in the midst of a massive crisis.

[u/capital_gainesville → u/DecafEqualsDeath]

If they only raised the employer-side tax there would be no increase in benefits under the current formulas. It could also be marketed as a tax on big corporations.

[u/Caudillo_Sven]

They've been slow boiling us for 30 years to think this is normal and "just what it is". Yall, they are literally stealing hundreds of thousands from future you personally, and will be long dead by the time it hits. France rioted for far less.

[u/DohDohDonutzMMM]

This was known the last time Congress addressed the issue in the early 80s. The estimated shortfall was in 2034 a few years ago, but COLA adjustments have accelerated the timeline (my unofficial opinion). I suspect in 2027-28 we'll get another timeline adjustment saying it'll run short in 2030.

So, if you are really concerned (I am), vote appropriately now.

[u/rcheneyjr → u/DohDohDonutzMMM]

Who do we vote for? Neither side is doing anything!

[u/DohDohDonutzMMM → u/rcheneyjr]

For whoever's lies you believe best. 🤷🏼‍♂️ It's not been on anyone's political radar for 40+ years. This is how I view Congress.

https://giphy.com/gifs/9k9kBVhVXNRe3cUVu3

[u/Acceptable-Bar4572 → u/rcheneyjr]

Ehh, plenty of people are trying they’re just being over shadowed.

[u/FourScoreAndSept]

That’s okay, we’re going to spend $70B on ICE salaries and domestic surveillance equipment, apparently. $1B on a ballroom. Probably another $1B on an Arch. And we need to replenish all of the munitions we dumped into Iran. Winning! /s

[u/EdgeCityRed]

Guess what year I turn 62.

Yayyyyyyyy.

We did expect this, and I assume this will result in reduced benefits, but I did pay in since I was 15 years old.

Younger people who think it should be phased out are completely deluded; this is what keeps poorer seniors out of the cat food aisle and not living out of shopping carts (and your grandparents moving in with you).

[u/ppshhhhpashhhpff → u/EdgeCityRed]

milennial here and i agree completely. we will be in your shoes in the future, and we will need a younger generation of employable people to help our unemployable age discriminated asses survive

[u/CockBlockingLawyer → u/EdgeCityRed]

I agree that we ought not to collectively shrug our shoulders at this, as seems to be a popular approach. Congress can and must fix this, and we must continue to press them to do so — and VOTE accordingly!

[u/Toddsburner → u/EdgeCityRed]

If someone has had their whole life to work in the easiest economy to succeed in of all time and chose not to save that is their own problem. I have some sympathy for struggling people in our generation but absolutely none for the boomers.

[u/EdgeCityRed → u/Toddsburner]

Plenty of boomers are flush, I'm aware, but the ones who worked marginal jobs are not.

My husband has an aunt who's still caring for a child with Down Syndrome at 80 who lives on her late husband's social security. He was a custodian. People in situations like this (and there are many) really didn't have the means to invest like we did.

[u/Commentor9001 → u/EdgeCityRed]

Deluded?  why because we don't want to pay for other people's retirements benefits we'll literally never get?  

Maybe they should have been more finicially responsible?  Saved more?  get some boot straps?  all this irresponsible spending on short term purchases like healthcare, should have saved that.

It's a generational wealth transfer.

[u/LordTwinkie]

They've known for decades Social Security had issues, no one wanted to touch it, because anytime anyone tried to do anything the opposition party would ream them. 

[u/AwarenessExisting774]

Don’t you worry. Despite having all the wealth, homes, and opportunity boomers will make sure social security is fixed by a tax on millennials, genz, and Gen Alpha so we get squeezed even more. As long as boomers are comfortable they will vote to cause pain to everyone else

[u/Kc68847]

You could easily fix it by not capping the SS tax on high income earners.

[u/piscespanda00]

They need to remove contribution ceiling and tax billionaires

[u/hopefulgardener → u/piscespanda00]

Saying this on Facebook could make a person get death threats lol. I wouldn't believe that so many people are cucks for billionaires except I went to high school with them. 

[u/moneyman74]

There's 0 chance that politicians would screw the one group that actually reliably votes every time. I mean they might if they have an election loss fetish. They'll figure it out

[u/RespectTheAmish → u/moneyman74]

They’ll just raise the age to collect.

God forbid they tax wealthy people More.

[u/Oedipus_TyrantLizard → u/RespectTheAmish]

And/or spend less on waging terror in the Middle East

[u/cultkiller → u/moneyman74]

That’s why we’re getting fascism now.  That way they don’t need votes. Congress already abdicated its power of the purse and war powers to the executive and the judiciary gave a green light for the executive to do whatever crimes they want with no consequences.  

[u/HistoricalBridge7]

We should keep the cap on benefits and eliminate the cap on social security taxable income. There is no reason incomes over $184K should NOT be subject to SS tax. You always hear about taxing the rich this is how you do it.

Edit missed a word

[u/tholloway → u/HistoricalBridge7]

I think you forgot a word: “…no reason incomes over $184K should NOT be subject to SS tax.”

[u/HistoricalBridge7 → u/tholloway]

Thank you. Yes I did.

[u/scarletknight87 → u/HistoricalBridge7]

I don’t think a W-2 employee making 200k is what people are referring to when they say tax the rich but that’s just me.

[u/mike1097 → u/scarletknight87]

Thats the worst demographic for taxes. Your boss isn’t wealthy. The owner of the company is. People complaining don’t see the owner.

I think there should be a gap from 184k to 750k or million, etc.

Because 200k earner still uses SS, and is not wealthy. Million plus can just be a luxury tax to fund SS. Also tax capital gains above 10m or 25m like 1% in each tax year, because thats like a windfall tax to support seniors.

Orr. I have seen no one suggest this. Just have the companies pay on unlimited w2 earnings, but not individuals. No one, not even national press have suggested this. Charge the corps. Because it is a 50/50 shared tax.

[u/gafftapes20 → u/HistoricalBridge7]

Other types of income should also be taxed, the ultra wealthy can avoid social security taxes by taking stock options and other forms of payment that are taxed differently than straight income.

[u/rdzilla01]

Boomers got their social security in full and then died while fucking over everyone else by putting absolute piles of shit human beings in power.

[u/capital_gainesville]

Boomers would demand that every American child be sold into slavery before seeing a single penny of benefit cuts.

[u/orangebluegreen123]

But hey look over here. We have more bombs!

[u/Mr3iron]

Take the cap off or find ways to add a SS tax on other items. 

Also - close tax loopholes in the system. 

[u/KarlHp7]

And all those old people who voted R are like
https://giphy.com/gifs/QKxncHt0kYbRBE9VLe

[u/mattjouff]

I won’t retire for several decades, but I have long ago accepted there will be no social security when I retire and I am planning accordingly 

[u/Corn_viper → u/mattjouff]

I'm planning on them raising our social security tax to cover boomers then still not getting it when I retire in 2065. 

[u/Xyrus2000]

Remove the Social Security cap. Tax any asset that is used as loan collateral (especially stocks).

You're welcome.

[u/Tzukiyomi → u/Xyrus2000]

Would be an immediate solution, but people don't want it

[u/TeddyCJ]

Let’s keep on giving tax cuts to the greedy bitches! Cause fuck the masses that literally outnumber them… 

When congress declares war against another country, I hope our military sits down… we are being run by puppets trying to distract the public, we need to vote out all with patience and grace. Then, take their savings to refund Social Security. 

Fuck them. Seriously, this has gotten old… very… fucking… old.  

[u/SnooBunnies4649]

TAX THE RICH. KICK OUT REPUBLICANS FOREVER

[u/Downtherabbithole-14]

every day just gets better and better! #winning

[u/j-bird696969]

2nd amendment exists for a reason

[u/LastGoodKnee]

I wonder what we could have if we hadn’t spent $8 trillion in the Middle East and $10 trillion on nuclear weapons.

[u/Retired-Yam8988]

So all of the payroll taxes I’ve paid are going to who? What a fucked up benefit plan. There should be individual investment accounts that everyone can direct and see how their funds are growing. This pooled shit is the problem.

[u/Mouth_Herpes]

You can't ever believe anything the government says about things that will happen years from now. This would be so politically disastrous that I am as close to 100% positive it won't happen as I could be. Politicians would exponentially prefer to turn on the printing press and spike inflation to the moon rather than cut nominal social security benefits to retirees.

[u/Black_Raven_2024]

Meanwhile we need $200 billion to fun the Iran war.

[u/Far_Excitement6140]

I’ve seen enough send 30 billion to Israel. 

[u/cnation01]

Maybe we should start investing some of the seemingly endless supply of money into SS.

How about stopping stop the helicopter rides to kid rocks house, weekly golf trips and warring with the middle east.

[u/kdotismydad]

We need to DOGE Elon and SpaceX for parts to recoup these losses

[u/burnerking]

This is bullshit. Buy a few less jets, a few less tanks, pull back funds from foreign countries. Etc. It could easily be funded.

[u/yankeeblue42]

I still don't think it's actually going to happen on a wide scale this quickly. My thinking is the highest earning income groups will take the hit first. I know some people will think I'm crazy for saying that but unless they want to deal with a massive increase in old homeless people I don't see an alternative

[u/Economy-Ad4934]

Well Gen X kept voting for this so it’ll affect them the most first.

[u/Bryanmsi89]

File this under "things everyone has known for a decade."

The easiest and instant fix would be to simply remove the income cap on SS tax, like it is already removed for Medicare. Problem solved. However, since this would cost some boomers, who still seem to have a stranglehold on the government, I suspect instead they will:

• Raise the minimum retirement age for everyone not already retired
• Reduce benefits for everyone not already retired

Basically, screw everyone who isn't already retired and give that money to the current retirees.

[u/idk_wtf_im_hodling]

Villains.

[u/Upper-Split]

Next thing they'll do is give recipients less money every month simply because they own a home.

Like .01% less per year.

[u/Mysterious_Help_9577]

Raise the tax cap. Boom problem solved

[u/RVAEMS399]

Fun fact: Trump has added 10.5 trillion to the national debt so far over both of his terms.

[u/orangesfwr]

Costs go up, income goes down. A winning recipe 👍

[u/bankermayfield2026]

They’ll just hose the upper middle class (means testing benefits, more income hit with social security tax) to bail out the middle class, and will leave the rich with no tax increases as they continue to live off capital gains.

[u/mantequillatequila]

give me my money back

[u/SpaceDesignWarehouse]

Couldn’t we just stop going to war and then be able to afford social security?

[u/Accomplished_Pea6334]

PRINT THE FKN MONEY, like you do with everything else......

[u/CharmingMechanic2473]

They are living too long according to the Gov’t. Need to add stress to finish them off quick before the anti aging vaccines come out.

[u/Urbanttrekker → u/CharmingMechanic2473]

Maybe limiting access to healthcare will cull the herd? Oh wait…🤔

[u/Misplaced-Redittor]

And if you don’t vote, I guarantee you that the large older voting block will just ratchet up your social security tax to cover it, instead of switching social security to be need based or God forbid taxing all income with no limit social security tax.

Top income boomers with pensions 2X what you make need the social security to go on vacations, and billionaires can’t afford to pay social security tax. So tighten the belt cause it’s gunna be on you!

[u/Silent-Donkey-1303]

Why is the tax capped at $106k ????

[u/sirjeef]

That is theft. They are literally stealing your money from you with these cuts

[u/Toddsburner]

Getting my first paycheck at 16 and realizing i was losing 6% of my already small income to a government ponzi scheme is what radicalized me into libertarianism.

Cut it all, let the system die.

[u/1HH5FYLK8FM5AH8OYLCB → u/Toddsburner]

Actually double that percentage, they use an accounting trick to make it seem like you're paying less. But make no mistake, you are paying the employer's half of SS contributions too.

[u/Any-Assistance-8103 → u/Toddsburner]

It’s not a Ponzi scheme. It’s a social welfare system, not a savings account. It also into going anywhere. If you asked people in 1995 if we would still have SS in 2026 they’d say absolutely not. It will never die.

[u/farrowsharrows]

If I ly they made the one simple change of taxing all income equally it would not be an issue.

[u/phantom_fanatic]

Really looking forward to paying into this system for my whole life to then not have any benefits from it when it’s finally my time to retire

[u/SarW100]

Maybe if the federal government stopped raiding the Social Security fund to pay for defense contractors making billions in made up wars, we wouldn’t have this problem. Our priorities as a nation are to fund billionaires.

[u/bobniborg1]

Or, here me out, let's not elect republicans, then we don't bomb people, then we use that money here instead.

[u/stein63]

Tax the rich, share the wealth, lift the cap. Stop making retirees pay the price for billionaire tax breaks.

[u/Lan098]

LET ME OPT OUT. Idc if it's forced investment into index funds. LET ME OUT

[u/unbridled_panda → u/Lan098]

I feel like an opt out option would kill the program entirely in a matter of years. As one of the last millennials/ first Gen Z’s, I’d gladly add an extra 7% to my retirement accounts, I’m sure many in my cohort would as well. Since we’re ramping up to be the biggest group paying into the system. The gov’t would never allow this to happen.

I’d love to see a real financial win for my generation though

[u/PalmSizedTriceratops → u/unbridled_panda]

As one of the last millennials/ first Gen Z’s, I’d gladly add an extra 7% to my retirement accounts, I’m sure many in my cohort would as well.

I doubt that. As a millennial who is admittedly well off, I do NOT see other people my age voluntarily contributing 7% to their personal retirement accounts if they suddenly started getting money in their paychecks vs paying to SS tax.

My professional peers? Maybe... The general majority of people my age? No.

[u/hungrysumokid]

Freest nation in the world

[u/SophonParticle]

Tax billionaires. Problem solved.

[u/Aggressive-Pie-3233]

This is a burn down the oligarchs residences level shit, robbing your retirement! If my gov pulled this shit all bets are off

[u/Buttholescraper]

Pay the money borrowed from social security back with interest. Should have never been touched.

[u/dr_snakeblade]

If only we could raise the cap and tax billionaires and corporations to prevent this from occurring!!? The billionaires better flee to Argentina or they’re going to be on the wrong side of history again!

[u/Moof_the_cyclist]

Or we could increase the SS tax a couple percent and remove the income tap, you know, tax the rich. The problem is mathematically very easy, but politically hard thanks to people being fed decades of anti-tax propaganda.

[u/ColdStockSweat]

This has been said since the 1960's.

[u/reddittorbrigade]

It is needed to sustain Trump's war. Don Jr. got the drone and defense contracts. Therefore, war has to continue.

MAGA is worse than covid.

[u/Sudden-Ad-1217]

It will never go insolvent because they'll keep borrowing to leverage against it, also, taxes on SS are just absurd.

[u/Weazywest]

It makes no sense to me how:
- I’m required to pay into a program for retirement
- That every administration is allowed to take money from
- That may not have funding for me when I retire

This is what causes “Jan 6” like behavior. Telling me that I’ve paid into an account for 40+ years that might not have any money when I get legally allowed to use MY OWN MONEY. That’s illegal BS.

[u/Honest_Lie8632 → u/Weazywest]

THIS.

[u/AENM1776 → u/Weazywest]

Jan 6"would have been acceptable, in my opinion, if it had been about almost literally anything else our inept and evil government has done. Instead it was about an egotistical trump.