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Comment by jmclnx | Hacker News Reader

I have to say, the people in France really know how to live!

Here in the US, people do not give a sh**. Already benefits have been reduced to the point were you cannot live on Social Security unless you pitch a tent next to a dumpster outside of a restaurant.

Not only that, every year the retirement age is increased. For people born after 1960 full retirement is 67. The GOP in congress is trying to raise it to 70.

Do US people care, no they do not. If this happened in France I think the full government would be dragged out and "guillotined".

I admire the French for standing up for their rights.

https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/agereduction...

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> Here in the US, people do not give a sh*. Already benefits have been reduced to the point were you cannot live on Social Security unless you pitch a tent next to a dumpster outside of a restaurant.

This is a problem with Congress not managing the Social Security system properly over the last 85 years.

> Not only that, every year the retirement age is increased. For people born after 1960 full retirement is 67. The GOP in congress is trying to raise it to 70.

See the life expectancy and demographic tables published here by none other than the SSA: https://www.ssa.gov/history/lifeexpect.html

That's because the combination of benefits times life expectancy times demographics is either going to result in a 25% reduction in benefits that the SSA can pay out or result in a high tax burden on workers (read: major economic drag and recessions) or some kind of half-assed compromise in between.

Had Congress continuously and properly managed the retirement ages, contributions, and SS trust funds properly over the last 85 years we would not be having this conversation. But they haven't, and now there will be pain for almost everyone because of it.

>This is a problem with Congress not managing the Social Security system properly over the last 85 years.

Correct, but most of this issue is because on Party has been trying to eliminate it since its inception.

>demographics is either going to result in a 25% reduction in benefits that the SSA can pay out or result in a high tax burden on workers

Right now the Tax cap is 160,200, Congress should eliminate that tax cap, then there will be plenty of $. That cap is about equal to 9300 in 1938. Lots of people in Mang. makes well over that amount.

Social security recipients got a +8.7% increase this year. It was +5.9% in 2022.

Pretty sure employee wages aren't tracking anywhere near that.

8% of nothing is still nothing. No one gets enough Social Security to live on without other sources of income.

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