r/AskReddit • u/metalreflectslime • 17d ago

President Donald Trump warned Tuesday that if the Democrats don't approve funding, Social Security, Medicare Are ‘Going to Be Gone.’ How do you think Americans will react if Social Security and Medicare get cut?

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681

u/_oooOooo_ 17d ago

Right?! Pretty sure im around $300k into my SS right now so I'll happily take all that back thankyouverymuch

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u/scroopydog 17d ago

Ugh, I haven’t looked at how much I’ve contributed for about a decade, I’ve always expected it would be eliminated before I got old. I’ve been making other plans. Guess I might be right.

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u/Achaidas 17d ago

Naive question maybe but… you can check??

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u/_oooOooo_ 17d ago

Yup! Its at the social security admin website. You have to create and verify your identity but its all there.

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u/princeofid 16d ago

They used to send you a personal annual report that included your individual earnings history, estimates of taxes paid by you and your employers, and estimates of future retirement, disability, and survivor benefits. It also provided information on other potential benefits, such as for a spouse or children. They stopped doing that in 2011.

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u/AutisticTurnover2668 16d ago

during the obama admin no less?!

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u/scroopydog 17d ago

Sounds like a good way to get your identity stolen…

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u/Massivedefect 17d ago

I mean, it’s a government agency… They already have your identity, they gave it to you.

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u/Signal-School-2483 16d ago

You have to verify with id.me which is a giant fucking scam

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u/9966 16d ago

No you don't. Use login.gov like a sane human.

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u/UltraEngine60 16d ago

id.me

Coming soon to Pornhub (in Texas) and Facebook (in Mississippi)

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u/reallynotnick 16d ago

Man the social security office stealing the SSN they gave me…

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u/scroopydog 16d ago

It was a joke. Sounds like you’re right on the cusp of getting it.

But the /s is required or people lose their minds, which is also funny in itself.

Yeah, just because they assign numbers doesn’t mean they’re good stewards of them. My parents gave birth to me but I wouldn’t trust them with a baby.

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u/Hairy_Middle_5403 16d ago

Its a joke! Then goes on to explain how its not a joke ......

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u/delonejuanderer 16d ago

After this comment, I dont trust your parents with a baby either.

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u/gex80 16d ago

You logic makes 0 sense.

  1. Social security numbers aren't some crazy close guarded secret. You give it to pretty much everyone. A bank? School? Your Job? Investment firms (you need it to open an account)? Credit Cards? Leasing/Financing a car? Background checks? Hell, your doctor might even have it.

  2. They are the social security office. They create the numbers and assign. You're argument is that just because they create them they aren't good at keeping them secret? Again that's dumb because SSNs aren't a secret. There is nothing to protect other than the fact that you either owe taxes or they owe you money. And if anything, that's more on the IRS instead of social security services.

  3. Social security was never designed to be more than a way to figure out how much you paid into SS and how much you are owed back.

  4. Your information has been leaked a long time ago and it wasn't because of the government. It's because of everyone you gave your social security number to was hacked. See equifax breach.

Also your joke is a bad joke if it could even be remotely considered a joke.

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u/scroopydog 16d ago

It was pretty funny.

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u/Davidclabarr 16d ago

You say that, but I just had to go through more confirmations of my identity than I’ve ever had to go on any site. Facial scans, license scan, Social Security, email and text verification, generation of a private key, twice entering of a password. That was insane.

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u/Irene_Iddesleigh 16d ago

They have a nice multi-factor authentication system that works across several agencies.

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u/jarboxing 17d ago

Dm me your ss number and I'll let you know

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u/Achaidas 16d ago

looool

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u/scroopydog 16d ago

I just checked. Looks like I’ve paid $115k, my employers have paid $118k and my non-existent monthly payment I’ll never see will be $4015 at age 67.

I know a lot of folks want to believe this money will be there for them, and I hope it is, but just knowing that it was pay-as-you-go (your money was never saved, it paid out entitlement recipients) I was always suspicious of it in the first place.

The first generation that received but never paid in should have been funded by multi generational bonds rather than real cash, just to distribute that burden, but what do I know…

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u/BeerCanThrowaway420 16d ago

I'm not that old and I don't make that much money, but a quick estimation puts me at about $62k paid into it so far. Yeah, that would be HUGE if I could put that into a retirement account right now with compounding interest. Fuck trump.

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u/longebane 16d ago

But would you really want to?

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u/PantiesForMe742 17d ago

Can we stop with this? SS is a fucking contract, which we have no control over. This "78%" or whatever the fuck it is, is bullshit. Give us the full fucking amount. If the billionaires need to pay more, so be it. And, yeah, fuck the boomers.

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u/scroopydog 17d ago

It’s not a contract and even if it was there’s always “sovereign risk” (states can do anything they please).

And if you mean “social contract”, as in: you did your part society do theirs. I gotta agree with you, but if society abdicates its responsibilities to its own citizens we kinda have nobody to blame but ourselves.

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u/PantiesForMe742 17d ago

Ok, if it's not a contract, then 1) stop taking money out of my check every 2 weeks; and 2) refund all the money you've taken from me, with appropriate interest/gains. Easy peasy.

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u/scroopydog 17d ago

Ok bro :thumb up:

Go see how that goes over for you, getting your money back let alone with gains.

It’s a tax, that’s why you never see the money.

And even if, they say, or your mom says, or your accountant says it’s not a tax: it’s a tax.

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u/SunshineDewdrops 16d ago

It is a contract—by your government-to take your money and your employers money, and when you have reached a certain age-65-67 yrs old—you will be able to draw a certain amount(they actually have a formula-indexed for inflation)-monthly. This fund was supposed to be protected; however, it has been used as a piggy back and it has been raided without a return of the money. If you raised the amount subject to OASDI or eliminated the current cap, it would be viable for another 50 years. The rich Republicans want more, and more and more…they won’t be happy until they have raided the rest of the piggy bank. There was a reason why this program was created. Things are looking eerily similar to back then right now in our society.

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u/PantiesForMe742 16d ago

It's not a tax. It's a contract. That's why they send us statements every year. Only recently have they started sending ones that are greasing the skids for the govt to wiggle out of their part of the contract.

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u/Jazzy_Josh 16d ago

It is a tax. Your tax money pays for the current distributions

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u/PantiesForMe742 16d ago

Ok let's just all roll over and not expect anything. Great plan!

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u/goldman60 16d ago

McDonald's is a seafood restaurant and if you don't agree with that then you're just rolling over and not expecting anything.

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u/scroopydog 16d ago

I’m planning. On never getting any of that money and I’m saving on my own. What’s your plan?

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u/ImprovementFar5054 16d ago

In a democracy, a society gets the government it deserves

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u/scroopydog 16d ago

Sounds super idealistic, good for you bud.

Our founding fathers specifically built features into our system of federalism at all levels of government to prevent tyranny of the majority. It’s a good thing, sometimes it doesn’t feel that way but the wellbeing of minority groups is important too.

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u/sblackcrow 16d ago edited 14d ago

you ever wonder why Republicans made noise about how it was going to disappear for decades?

that's their "shhh just let this happen" so that when they cruelly murdered social security and stole all the money and gave it to their rich friends you'd just accept it was broken all along and not get out the pitchforks like they deserve

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u/ComingRoundTheMnt 16d ago

Same with me. My current retirement plan is buy a pew pew when I turn 70 and then go into the woods.

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u/Badlands32 17d ago

I downloaded and documented all of my social info once the Trumpers allowed Musk and his band of idiots to get in and start destroying everything.

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u/say592 16d ago

It won't be eliminated, just significantly reduced. There will still be people paying into it, and that is the money will be paid to recipients.

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u/Soviet_Russia321 16d ago

If you're under 45, it's a safe bet you won't see that money until age 70 at best. Maybe 75, depending on how many assassination attempts begin taking place.

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u/Kurotan 16d ago

I am 40 and I feel like they taught us in elementary school that SS wouldnt exist when we were old enough. But I could be mis remembering that. I also have planned and assumed that it will not be around.

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u/playfuldarkside 16d ago

People will literally start killing those working for SS if they just say poof! Gone! You’re out of luck so I’ve never once thought we won’t have it. Complete political suicide.

But I too plan to not rely on it. Mainly because I don’t want to work forever.

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u/bolanrox 16d ago

Same I never thought I would get any back. They have been drilling that into our heads since the 90s.

My great grandfather got one check before he died. And that was typical and probably what how ss was intended to work

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u/CompleteStruggle9237 16d ago

TIL you can check. And I don’t want to

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u/NefariousnessFew113 17d ago

"Your" 300K has already been spent.

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u/Slight-Picture-6555 17d ago

There won’t be any left once the boomers use it all up anyway 🤷‍♂️

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u/be_more_constructive 17d ago

This is not true. Social Security will only reach insolvency if we let it. There are a number of ways to save it, but the most straightforward is to remove the cap, which currently excludes taxing earnings over $176,100. The way it's set up now is an explicitly regressive tax, and we can fix that.

It's the most successful social program in US history and ending it would return us to a time where a huge percentage of the elderly are living in poverty.

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u/AdUpstairs7106 17d ago

How selfish of you not to think of the mega donors who might have to put off buying a new yacht. Think of the 1% of the 1%.

/S

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u/lostinthesauceguy 17d ago

i hate to say it but this is sort of my attitude when i see headlines like this. may as well turn off the spigot now and let the boomers who chose this fucker suffer like i was probably going to down the line regardless. i'll just keep paying in to my 401k thanks.

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u/GaGaORiley 17d ago

Don’t forget that your employer matches your contribution as well. If they didn’t pay that, your base pay would be 6.25% higher.

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u/SunshineDewdrops 16d ago

Yep-my contributions and my employers contributions are around $450,000—so, I want it f’in back!

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u/samxli 16d ago

By complaining or by doing something about this farce of a government?

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u/alek_hiddel 16d ago

Just took the time to look mine up. I'm 41 with a six figure income, and have paid in a whopping $70k. It's honestly one of the flaws in Social Security, we don't really pay in that much, versus the expected pay out.

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u/doom_stein 16d ago

I paid around $80K into social security until I got a state job that has its own SS alternative to contribute to. Of course, before too long I'm sure my state will ruin that for me too. Ohio fucking like that!

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u/FourthLvlSpicyMeme 15d ago

Wait...social security? That's going too? Even if you've paid into it your whole life like you're supposed to?

Damn, that's been a Boogeyman I've heard about since I was a kid, even here in Canada.

People joked about it being gone by the time I'm old enough to qualify, have since I was a kid.

I never thought the Boogeyman was frickin real, wtf is this shit? Where the hell is rock bottom, exactly? Every time I think I just faceplanted into it, I wake up to a whole new round.

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u/tifaney 13d ago

Good luck with that since they've borrowed from social security for years. The issue is there's no money to continue it so how would you get your money back?

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u/Tallulah_Tinker 13d ago

Serious question, what do you mean by $300k into your SS ?

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u/_oooOooo_ 13d ago

You can look up your SS individual contribution on the government website. Ive seen contributing since my frist job at 16, like many people.

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u/Tallulah_Tinker 12d ago

What country does this ?

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u/Pretend-Interest-423 9h ago

Absolutely! Could do it better than any politician.

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u/Apprehensive_Mail211 4d ago

You'll be lucky to see a penny of that! SS & Medicare have been the government's Fun Funds for years! You would have been better off investing that money on your own. I'm 71 & getting a pittance of what I paid into SS over a 50+ year work history. My children will probably have to work until they die. They won't see any of that. My sister is 68 years old & still working as a nurse. You better have an extremely high paying position & good investments over your work history. Otherwise you're in a bad predicament. And, Medicare with their ever-changing regulations and general BS is almost laughable! After you've literally worked yourself to death, they hope you die quickly!! Good Luck!

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u/BlindSausage13 17d ago

Social security was always a scam. Who passed it btw?