This administration is breaking laws left and right and our representatives aren’t doing a thing about it. Social Security is not the Treasury’s money; it’s U.S. citizens’ money, which is totally funded by them.
AND the taxes and social security “contributions” are gonna drop perilously with the number of deportations. Nowhere have I seen figures of the billions that will be missing and how Trusk & the MAGAt House have factored that into the budget.
I started babysitting at 10 and at 14 got a work permit from the board of education* and with a part time job, began paying in. Now at not quite 78, and except for a few years not working, I’ve paid in. Since nearly 44 of those were self-employed, I paid the full boat. You bet I need that check.
*What happens to local boards, and the associations for those who represent them now?
Frustrating to read some of the MAGA men replies to that video all repeating the Social Security fraud the mango man is supposedly weeding out. The fraud is actually their inability to recognize the fraud they're being fed!
Wonder how some of those men on disability who actually still work for cash would feel if that was counted as fraud. My area is full of construction guys, roofers, painters, etc., all on "disability" and all request cash only so it doesn't show up on their disability. I don't know the rules for either federal or union disability and continuing to work.
The ones who actually can no longer do any work at all are the ones I worry about.
Excellent comment, Tully. I know someone who worked a desk job and claimed disability, then would go home and sit at a drawing board for hours. But that kind of person isn't who will get hurt.
I keep seeing Never Trump former Republicans say with authority that no, Trump isn't crazy enough to touch SocSec, but they seem to forget that they spent FUCKING decades trying to figure out a way to fuck our seniors out of their entitlements (that they fucking paid for).
So, whilst you may see them clutching their pearls, they are secretly happy that the destruction of SS, Disability, Medicare and especially Medicaid, cheering on Musk for his "bold maneuver" that they have wanted for as long as they've been alive.
Thank you for using the word entitlements correctly. I am thoroughly pissed that they have somehow conflated their unearned sense of entitlement with our hard-earned actual entitlement.
This was absolutely positively an intentional strategy by the Republicons. By calling social security “entitlements,” they give the false impression that this monthly stipend is unearned and is government charity, making receipt of it less than honorable. All part of the dumbing down of America, brought to you by the Republicon Party.
Then we make a point of calling Social Security an “earned benefit”. That will counter their “entitlement” argument. It actually is an earned benefit because we worked all those years and paid into the fund. Let them argue with the truth.
And our employers contributed an equal amount every payday. So not only would retirees be screwed but their former employers, many small business owners, would have contributed for nothing.
I think using "entitlement" at all in relation to Social Security is misleading. The connotation of getting something one hasn't earned has become much too closely tied to Social Security. It reinforces the incorrect framing.
Precisely. These shitheels think that “entitlement” means handouts that these “grubby people” don’t deserve.
These wealthy fucks then expect their own entitlements in the form of massive tax cuts (and the side benefit of slashing the IRS workforce so that collection/audit/recovery of taxes owed is curtailed) and other hand outs to their pet industries.
Hard-core magats claim to want the fall of civilization. They bloviate about digging their end-times bug-out bunkers, living off freeze-dried gorp, and waving their guns at each other while driving Mad Max vehicles cobbled together from bits of post-apocalyptic rubble. I have to laugh, though, remembering that these "rugged survivalists" are the same people who freaked out a week into the pandemic lockdown because they couldn't get a haircut.
We can just start calling them all the Welfare Queens! Queens intentionally to antagonize them now that they're trying to eliminate all history of women in the military or government.
Reagan and his fucking assholes continually vilified government financial programs and brainwashed the word entitlement into the public consciousness as a pejorative term. Reagan even called Medicare as a "slow, sure slide into socialism," and a gateway to nationalized healthcare, that huge bogeyman of conservatives, the hated and feared socialized medicine. Well, we still don't have it today, 60 years later. Typically for conservatives, it was fear mongering of the highest degree. His audio is available on YouTube. What a giant asshole he was. He was a racist prick who hated everyone but the rich white folks who propped him up.
Prolly preaching to the choir here, but Reagan conducted all out war against, not just the Federal Government, but (American) democracy itself. There is a straight line from the things Ronnie the Senile did to wound democracy to electing the Dumpy Whumpy the Senile Crap Head, not once but twice. The more I look behind the covers of Ron's administration's actions, the angrier I get.
Exactly. Reagan fired the air traffic controllers and broke the unions. Then families were broken because both parents had to work to make the bills. Rs are NOT the party of family values. Never were.
I'm old but I will get a pitchfork and torch and march for my rights to MY SOCIAL SECURITY MONEY.
I would love to ask him why does he think Medicare for all is such a bad plan. It is miles better than his privatised medical care. Medicare for all should be the norm in the wealthiest country in history. His values certainly don’t match those of a majority of people who understand what it really does for people. The GOP is using scare tactics to energise his base. They don’t pay enough attention to realize what a winning program it would be. Sure their taxes should go up a little, but they
1) wouldn’t have to pay private health insurance, and medical care would be available to everyone, regardless of skin color, gender identity, or your voting history.
2) there would be no co- pay, and everyone would receive equal treatment. It’s very sad that the GOP is lying about it. It IS NOT socialism or communism. It is a human right!
It’s just a continuous drumbeat of disinformation, Charles. If they are known as “entitlements,” there will be less blowback when the scummy billionaires steal it all.
Exactly! It's not a "handout." It's not "free money." I paid into Social Security for over half a century with the promise that I would get it back after I retired. Cheatloaf has no clue what it means to work for a living. He needs to keep his tiny hands off MY FUCKING MONEY that I LOANED to the government.
Perfectly stated, the prejudice is baked into the term.
Capital gains are the entitlements, money for doing nothing. Tax loopholes to zero are the entitlements. Being a rich asshole with the soul of a vulture is an entitlement.
No, an "entitlement" is not money for doing nothing. You are "entitled" to things that you pay for. When you pay off your mortgage or car loan, you become "entitled" to your house or auto: the bank transfers to you the "title".
Nope. SS and Medicare are EARNED BENEFITS. not an entitlement.
People think it's an entitlement because they are "entitled" to get their money back. Some people pay into the system for 50 years and die before they collect their earned benefit. It's an insurance policy.
We are entitled to the benefits we as a society agreed to. Which the not 1% paid into for a lifetime. These billionaires are succeeding in stealing OUR federal dollars. They sure as hell didn't pay in like every working stiff did.
We MUST keep reminding Americans that the government Musk is tearing down daily is PAID FOR by our federal taxes and BENEFITS us! Therefore, he’s STEALING from us. This waste and fraud BS is just that—BS! I want my government services. I want my Post Office. I want my Social Security. I want my Medicare. I want NOAA, which does a brilliant job predicting severe weather events. I want CDC to put out next year’s flu vaccine, dammit, I’m a senior and vulnerable to the flu! We PAID for this government and I want it working for ALL of us!!
My mind goes right to —what do they think will happen then, when they take it all away? What kind of world will we have? Do they even look a step ahead? Oh wait, they do not give a fuck. Until it directly affects them. Everybody else, they cannot muster an ounce of empathy.
With the exception of someone like Mark Cuban, most gazillionaires don't give a flying fuck about anyone but themselves. We are now being controlled by the greediest assholes on the planet with Smuk leading the way like an out of control wildfire. However, fires do get brought under control and put out. This fire can't get snuffed out soon enough.
Those of that ilk who are kind and generous are definitely in the minority, but they are there, notably Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, and Bezos's ex-wife McKenzie Scott, and of course the catch-all bogey man of the right wing kookosphere, George Soros
Except for forcing more women to have children since they claim the world is running out of people to do the work for slave pay. That's why Musk actually claimed once why he now has 14 children with 4 women - he figures repopulating the earth started with him. Except it's highly unlikely his children will ever be hurting for anything. They won't be the ones being sent to Venezuela death camps. Maybe. Guess that could depend on whether Musk finally ends up in jail.
Limpdick just painted a bullseye on every republican and billionaires back Stacy… reaping what you sow in a lawless nation for the billionaire class will be the outcome!!
Nowadays, whenever I bring up to Trumpers what these evil idiots are saying/doing, they will reply that they really don’t follow politics. They can’t defend the madness, so they just pretend it didn’t happen. I’m waiting patiently until the leopard eats their face too.
Good start. I just told my friend in Italy that there are two reasons we are here: Putin and Russia pegging Trump years ago as the perfect asset. Catapult that freakishly amoral dick into our body politic, and NO ONE truly appreciates what amoral means. It means stealing an election, it means disappearing people without due process...this is just the beginning and Putin is orchestrating the whole thing through Trump and Musk. Too simple to believe, but there it is. Yes, he's amoral and now, absolutely confident he can get away with ANYTHING including robbing our SS, Fort Knox, anything. He's gotta go. Arrest him now. Call your senators EVERY DAY and demand his removal. We've seen enough.
6. The President gives clearance to his ketamine-addicted white South-African civilian co-President, who is destroying the government, to receive U.S plans for war with China from top brass in the most secure room in the country. Said addict, who is a contractor of China, brags to his geek-squad underlings and they, in turn, blab to the media.
7. The President tasks, through an EO, his piss-drunk and dog-killing Sec.'s of Defense & Homeland Security to report back whether to invoke the Insurrection Act by 4/20 (Hitler's Birthday) due to his "crisis" on the southern border.
You know it Susan. I know you understand how it is for people like me, I’m one of the 27% with no other resources. Howard can go to hell, I’m tired of this regime threatening to steal MY money. Between my ex husband and myself, we worked for 117 years, paying into the fund every paycheck. He only worked for 55 years, and died before he could collect, but because I’m a woman, I made less money than he did, even though I worked for 62 years. I’m collecting his SS because it’s more than I would get on my own. You’d better believe I would complain!
Another 27%er here. We have no guns but we do have a pitchfork, a chainsaw, and many other garden tools handed down from Dad and even my grandfather-in-law’s shellaleigh I figure those will do. Picking up a phone to complain? I think not. And haven’t these assholes canceled funding for food banks as well? They don’t want us - or hungry kids and families- to survive.
I'll be there at the end of this year. My job is essentially being eliminated and at 74 it's doubtful I can find another job. Not to mention I'm not sure that I could physically keep working much longer anyway. And thanks to having to replace my roof a few years ago which meant I had to refinance my house, I still have mortgage payments for at least the next 5 years. I don't know how I'm going to manage on just Social Security. This overprivileged prick can kiss my ass.
Put that fear into action, Morgan. Get involved with your local community organizations that are mobilizing to fight for our democracy. Take a look at some of the great writers on Substack that will educate you about the best ways to resist the tyranny. If you have a little plot of dirt where you live, consider a garden. Growing your own is good for the soul and can also be very calming. I wish you well.
I truly appreciate your suggestions. Substack is my "go to" place for solace, information, news and humor. The balance between just living my quiet life and the occasional desperation I feel is a tenuous one and so I'm glad I'm still here, still standing, able to walk my dogs in the canyon/ arroyo around the corner and look at the mountains in the clear skies of central New Mexico, still laughing, enjoying the hell out of my sex life (finally), I'm glad I'm not dead yet !
Yes, there are moments when I slide around and fret about the things I have no control over (see my original comment). But mostly I do what I can, sign petitions, make calls, talk with my neighbors- all of those things that matter. And I read, a lot. Mostly here on substack and bluesky.
On 4/5 I will venture out and use my voice.
Thank you for caring, conversations matter, words matter, our choices matter.
There are difficult moments, however. I wish I had a patch of dirt to grow stuff.... but I don't. I have my dogs. 🙃
Hi Morgan, I’m 74, have 6 dogs, & am still able to hang onto 3 of them at a time & walk them down to the Rio Ruidoso where I can unleash them to run & swim. I plan to be at a Hands Off protest on April 5. Not sure if I’m driving to Las Cruces or to Santa Fe.
That is your money, they're robbing you blind and leaving you scrambling for basic necessities. This must be the biggest and boldest heist in world history
You won't be able to pick up the phone and complain, with their plan to eliminate the phone service at SSA. We'll have to appear in person at one of the offices that they haven't closed.
Yeah...same here. I had a very good paying retail job but I ruined my knees standing on a cement floor for my entire working life and had to retire early--which took away about $300/month from what I should have been receiving. I now have to live and pay my bills on ~$900/month and every month I have to dig into my meagre savings as everything keeps going up and up.
I'm with you, Keith. These rich assholes are forgetting that many have nothing much left to lose. It'll be the back-breaking straw of the century to try to take the little we're due. Work and pay into a program for 50+ years only then to have strutting billionaires threatening to steal it? A fatally flawed plan.
What infuriates me the most is people like me, who through no action of their own, were born in the US as white, male, into a family with enough money to educate them well, thinking that their own prosperity was solely a result of their own actions. Michael Sandel wrote a book condemning this so-called meritocracy for what it is, a rigged system. Those of us who have had the tremendous luck to have succeeded should at very least shut the fuck up if we cannot show humility. .
The fucking billionaires, Stephen! Bezos uses public highways, public airways and innumerable fixed assets - paid for by taxpayers - to operate his business. He makes a gazillion dollars a day and pays ZERO TAXES.
That, my friend, is a fundamental flaw in our current form of capitalism.
truckers including amazon pay $0.29/per delivery---all of those fees only amount to $160 million/yr--not much out of a transportation dept budget $378 billion from taxes
Bezos isn’t the only member of the billionaire criminal coterie to use working class taxpayer funded projects Walt… taxpayers have built the infrastructure and foundations that have lined their pockets. Unregulated capitalism in America was created on Jekyll island, with the creation of the Federally Reserve!!
This is the worst part for me. My Dad passed away after a long illness when I was in my middle 20s and it took me a long time to put my own life back together in my own as a young woman in the 90s, and I know if he had lived longer his friendship and support over the years would have made my life better. People just don't seem to have a sense of when things go well they are experiencing a piece of luck that supported their efforts. I know lots of people who have worked hard their whole lives and had things not break their way somewhere in the middle and it shows later.
Hope you’re right, but I haven’t seen much of an uprising yet at least not like the uprisings in other countries.
A while back, some asshole on Twitter told me to quit complaining about the amount of money that SS gives because seniors can live on their $42K a year SS checks. I asked him where he got that number and he said that everyone knows that that’s how much seniors get and more. WTAF⁉️
What a bunch of greedy fuckheads Trump’s billionaires are!
Having worked for several defense contractors where millions of dollars were spent on non lethal weaponry Nancy , I can tell you openly and clearly, that that old BB gun will only be met with a much greater force, something you’ve never seen, nor heard of before!!
Reminder that AARP used to be the third biggest PAC in the US until the SCOTUS decision that completely screwed up political donations.
AARP is now an organization that seems to solely exist to sell cruises and bus trips to retired people with tons of money, while warning them of the scammers coming to take their money away. ["The scammers" are never the government.]
the first year I had unitedhealthcare it was ok ; they have steadily declined each year. this year is the final straw; they raised premiums and cut their so called OTC benefit in half . I do believe that uhc made obscene amounts of money the past year. arghhhhhhhh
It is now. They used to be the biggest defenders of the SSA and Medicare. They used to constantly put out articles about how they were telling Senator Somebody or Congresscritter Someone how important it was for their senior constituents to keep their retirement funds and their healthcare.
Now the AARP is useless unless you're rich and want to spend your life traveling.
I really wish I could believe that, but we're dealing with people so fundamentally goddamn idiotic that they believed it when Trump claimed elementary schools were abducting and forcibly transitioning kids.
They're so mired in their own willful ignorance they'll just swallow whatever bullshit trump says and end up on a genocidal crusade against trans folks and anyone with more melanin than Casper.
Yes people will grab pitchforks ( aka, guns ) and there will be violence and rioting. My concern is that this might have been planned, not by Trump, but by his 2025 Puppet Masters. Why? As an excuse for him to declare martial law.
If those Puppet Masters didn't want Social Security touched, he wouldn't be touching it.
A t-shirt I saw years ago noted that for old people, "life in prison" doesn't hold nearly the threat it holds for younger people. When this regime decides to take the sole source of support away from people who paid into it for decades, you'll see a lot of extremely pissed-off elders who don't have much to lose.
if they start fucking with SS - that I am eligible for in 4 months for full benefits BTW - the very first thing I will do is go out and buy a hunting rifle...with a scope...and that is a promise, not a threat....if these grotesque cunts wanna see some shit, start fucking with A BENEFIT CONTRACT that I have paid into my entire working life...the space nazi won't be able to go anywhere, cause it won't be me (important disclaimer), but I will bet my house that people go after him...and rightfully so...this world would be a far better place without him in it!...I am rooting for his death, and I couldn't give fuck #1 how it happens
Social Security would have NO issues if millionaires actually paid into SS. The burden of SS rests on the working class. WE support this nation! WE support the wealthy! WE support the poor! WE are the ones getting screwed! It’s not a sin to be wealthy. It’s a sin when you earn that wealth off the sweat of others that you don’t give a shit about!
SS would have no problems if Congress had not illegally raided it at the behest of Dubya Bush to pay for tax cuts for the Rich and his war with Iraq, and misappropriated $1.37 Trillion
It is entirely Bush and the Congress’ fault that SS is close to insolvency now.
W was aggressive in utilizing the social security surpluses that existed during his presidency to give tax breaks to the rich…sound familiar?
Each time a president borrows against social security, a special bond security is issued, kinda like an IOU.
This, from Politico:
“The larger question posed by critics of the trust fund system is if and how the government will provide cash for all the bonds, now totalling $2.8 trillion. These bonds are a special class of securities unique to the Social Security fund that can’t be sold. Because they’re not-marketable, some contend that they’re "worthless IOUs."
“These special-issue things, they’re all in a filing cabinet in West Virginia. That’s the entire trust fund," Smith said in an interview. "There’s no trust, and there are no funds."
Experts told us there's no question that the Treasury will repay the Social Security surplus (including what was accumulated during the Bush years) when the trust fund starts redeeming the bonds in 2020. Otherwise, says Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times, "you’d have to march 40 years worth of Treasury, Labor, Health and Human Services secretaries, Social Security commissioners, and public trustees -- Republicans and Democrats -- into prison."
they had no problem putting their dirty hands into the cookie jar
isn't it about that time again when congress starts whining about how difficult it is to pay for 2 homes raise a long distance family take vacations (congressional sponsored junkets ALL ON OUR TICKET!?
I’m fine with that, Walt. Let the marching begin! Need to throw a few Congress critters in there with them- Dems and RepubliCONS both. They voted for it.
I am in agreement with you as well, Mary. The laughably low cap on SS deductions is yet one more gift to the Rich. By their faithful lapdogs, the aforementioned Congress critters. Of both Parties. They are the same in one important way- they are dependent on Rich donors to be re elected and will do their bidding to the detriment of the rest of us.
Let’s face it- the real two Parties are the haves and the have nots.
Time to face this fact no matter where your loyalty lies. Maggats haven’t realized yet that trump and his Rich buddies have nothing for them, quite the opposite- they want to take away what was once freely given. No more with this Administration.
I’ve heard many conflicting stories about the solvency of social security in my life. As one of, if not the most successful program in our government’s history, social security has been the target of the Republicons disinformation campaign for decades. Why? Because they want to steal it. They simply cannot stand the fact that there is a large pot of money sitting there and they can’t have it. They call them “entitlements” to make it appear that these dollars are unearned and less than honorable.
We've been hearing the same "bankrupt in 5 yrs" crap since the early 80's. If you do nothing right now, it would go to 2034 and even after then pay out around 80%. There shouldn't even *be* a cap; why should anyone that makes more than 168k pay nothing on that? Oh yeah, "trickle down".
The working class pay Social Security on 100% of their earnings while the 1% pay a tiny percentage of their earnings. If the minimum wage had been raised in accordance with inflation SS and MED would be funded no problem but our government works for the big corporations that don't want to pay more so they can keep their stockholders happy.
I swear rich people hate math. 10% of 0 is 0. 10% of $300b is another matter altogether. Buffet called the Bs out and lectured investors at the last Berkshire meeting for not paying their fair share and that he's happy to pay big taxes on selling apple because the US gvmt is SO GOOD TO BUSINESS.
It's not their money, it's our money. We The People ! It's quite evident that they do not pay taxes compared to working chumps. Did not pay in and are now poised to rob our government blind and leave us in the lurch
And they damned sure should NOT!! SS was meant to be a safety net for those who, through many circumstances, some not in their control, find themselves at retirement age without sufficient savings or investments to be able to live with even a modicum of dignity. I don’t believe it was ever intended to be paid to people with significant wealth.
He probably bought his MiL a place to live, and she only needs to call up her daughter to get all the money she needs. Shame on the rest of us who didn't give birth to a kid who married a billionaire.
Lutnick personifies the type of sociopathic ravening greed that enables one to become a billionaire. Because much of his wealth is increase in the value of securities, he doesn't pay a lot in taxes until he sells them and then he pays at the capital gains rate so he is not contributing to Social Security and Medicare. But he doesn't think that people who pay into the system deserve their monthly benefit. This time the revolution is going to be the Social Security Generation clubbing the Oligarchs with their canes and dragging them behind their power scooters to the guillotines.
These greedy billionaires need a mega pot of money to offer Trump to support a tax cut for them. They don’t need small change here. They need $5 trillion.
On Social Security there are 75 million people averaging $1500 month. That means $112.5 billion per month taken out of our economy. ($1.3 trillion/year) Think about that in the context of your state. Every small business and restaurant in America would go out of business. It is a stupid idea, from unempathetic billionaires. Only fraudsters would yell? That is dumb, nonsensical bullshit from a true idiot. From where does that contrived wisdom come? Where does Trump find these pseudo people? Lutnick took better care of the Canter Fitzgerald family. He has lost it mentally if he thinks his mother is representative of people at large. A billionaire’s mother is not relying on her $800/month Social Security check. Does he think people are stupid? https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/a-just-movement?r=3m1bs
Carl, while the monthly outflow of social security cash is significant, I would need to know what the inflow is monthly, too. One thing I do know is that government stooges have been borrowing from social security for many years. That may have something to do with the projected solvency of the program.
What's curious is maga people are still saying they aren't going after social security, even when they say stuff like this. The denialism is mind boggling.
absofucknlutely right!! I have my pitchfork at the ready and just waiting for the signal. when are we all going to be in the streets? how much more of this illegal immoral fuck you all crap are we going to take? JFK got it fk'n right: Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. As did ol' B Franklin: We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately. Let's wake up, people!
I will help! I may not be strong enough to do that on my own, but together with others and a righteous fury we will get him hoisted up and make a damn good example of him and his stupid comments. Stupid m'fer.
Love the Mussolini theme you used John, when lifeless bodies are hanging like rotten fruit from trees and flag poles around this country, our message will finally be realized!!
"Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?" Two hundred years later and these amoral douchebags are still sprouting the same vile nonsense. You ever wonder where they find these people? Look no further than the buffet line at Mar-a-Lardo. Any shrink worth his or her salt will tell you it's Projection. Accuse others of YOUR personal issues and deep, dark transgressions. Orange Jabba has spent his miserable life doing this. And play the victim at every opportunity. The guy should have been sent to the Graybar Hotel on FOUR different crimes. But the limpdick Democrats, in their misguided efforts to seem impartial, screwed the pooch . . . royally. And here we are. To come full-circle on some Dickensian irony, we can only hope the spirit of Ira Hayes or a Tuskegee airman comes by to haunt Piss-Drunk Pete . . . if they haven't been scrubbed from the afterlife.
I am not going to disengage from your posts. I am one of the 27%. I just got back onto AR Medicaid Arkansas Seniors so they are paying my Medicare Part B premium which is $185 a month. That means I got a raise of $185 a month on my Social Security because it was being taken out before I ever got paid.
I worked at hourly jobs for 46 years prior to 2013. I had to retire early at 62 to become a full time caregiver for my last wife who was dying from cancer. I got in Social Security what I took home on hourly jobs here in 1974. I live in the same house that I did in 1974, and have the same electric company. I have central heat and air now instead of an attic fan. So my utilities were $350 this month. I expect that to go down as the weather changes.
Trump and Musk never worked at jobs or do much of anything. Most billionaires don't have to worry about paying bills or buying groceries. They don't have to drive a 27 year old car. Most don't drive. Trump doesn't even dress himself.
I hope to be here another 15-20 years and still do what I do now. If I have to go back to work to survive, I am not sure that I can last that long. My one surviving long time friend of 55 years (he is 70) is not sure what he will do because he is not able to go back to work.
What about those on disability and those in nursing homes? Are they supposed to die?
My Medicare Advantage Plan had a company send me a medic alert that I have to wear around my neck. What will prospective employers think about that?
Speaking of nursing homes, Darrell, did you see where Dr Mehmet Oz, our new director of the Center for Medicaid and Medicare, stated that nurses are an unnecessary luxury in nursing homes? He believes the residents of nursing homes will be just fine with virtual nursing support.
When your 90 year old granny in a nursing home needs to go to the bathroom at 2 AM, Oz thinks a zoom call will get the job done.
Oz has proven himself to be a scammer and a fraud, just like his cult leader. Selling smarmy products with little to no value to unsuspecting MAGATS is his niche. Now he will be in charge of our elderly and the infirm’s care across our country. What could go wrong?
Lesson never learned: Putting one's trust and faith in TV celebrities, believing that they're experts who care about their fans. The entire foundation of Trump/MAGA, Musk, Oprah, Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz, Dr. Ingraham, etc., etc., plus (for the young) a new generation of halfwit "influencers." They're all narcissistic frauds.
It's astounding a man with a medical degree and who was once considered a decent cardiac blade is so vacuous. He of all people should know that any facility whether it's independent, assisted, rehab or a group home relies on payment from Social Security. That's how facilities pay for staff, overhead, utilities, contractors and vendors. That one missed check could negatively impact many lives and small businesses. The billionaire boys club is devoid of empathy and look down on the rest of us for wanting what we worked for.
Another clueless dipshit with an MD next to his name. He's obviously never been in a nursing home and seen what these patients needs are. Oz like the rest of this incompetent administration is out of his fucking mind.
Actually I think what they mean is that low paid nursing aides & orderlies are all the staff you need on site, then have an actual licensed person on call virtually, for any questions that come up. I do not agree with that, but that’s definitely the fantasy of the big corporations who own those nursing homes.
I don't know what they expect disabled people to do except to die. I am one of them. I was seriously and permanently disabled before retirement age due to an accident. I was messed up for quite a while. My gosh, was I ever glad I had insurance coverage? I think a modest estimate of my time in this hospital (ER, ICU, ortho ward, inpatient rehab, home rehab) was close to $ 1 million. And I manage living on my own and plugging away, dreading when the time comes for another surgery. This shit is making me crazy. All this talk about losing SSDI and these maniacs in the administration: I never contemplated this level of cruelty, stupidity, and malicious intent with everything they do. I used to get riled up over political differences, but that was just a walk in the park. I will be ready; you can bet on that if they push it to the point of all of us having to fight back. I would not recommend they try us.
I haven't found a way to get back on FL faux Medicaid (instituted during covid). Reminds me to try again, thanks. My so-called physician has given up on reimbursements, apparently. Going back to work not an option, as I am 76 and retired 12 years.
So many of us are in that situation. I try to sell items online and work on stuff to make a little extra money. I have worked harder in retirement than I did on lots of the jobs I had. My Medicare Advantage Plan signed me up on AR Medicaid. My daughter in law runs the DHS office in Hope so I expect smooth sailing as long as they still have Human Services to offer.
That the present government doesn't care about anyone but themselves is plain to see. They are the parasites, not veterans or the people who worked all their lives.
My wife and I have discussed that, too, Charles. Living a long life seems like a worthy goal initially, but, at what cost? What will the value of our life be living in MAGATLAND and being ruled by a skeevy creep like Elmo Musk?
I hear you. But keep the faith. You're here, so you're here for a reason even if you don't know it. Don't let them win. They can't take the you from you and you have something to offer your community.
I hear you, Daryl! I'm i the 27%, too and have a part time seasonal job that pays about the same as McDonalds. I'm 72, and live alone. I keep telling the dog and cat that it's OK to eat me when I die in the house, and no one notices ( which may happen sooner rather than later under this Nazi regime).
Cheri, I know it’s not truly funny, but when you said that about giving your animals permission to eat you if you died at home unnoticed, I just busted out laughing. Mainly because one of my nephews has said that about my six dogs several times before. 😆
As somebody who counts on Social Security to get through the month, this asshole Howard Lutnick deserves to be struck by lightning where he stands.
My Social Security check comes in late this month, and I'm living on what's in my freezer and pantry while fending off creditors—and I'm one of the FORTUNATE ones that I have a freezer with food in it to eat!
I had to beg my doctor for a sample of my breathing medication because I can't afford the co-pay until my Social Security check comes in—and I'm one of the FORTUNATE ones that I have a doctor who's willing to do that for me!
Yeah, my brother lived on SS income alone for 5 years, after getting brain cancer at the age of 64. Fooled by his good health, he had chanced going without health insurance for the 1 year after retirement until Medicare kicked in. Bad idea. His first brain surgery cost more than 2 years' income. He had to sell off everything but $2K and his house and car to get Medicaid. Then when he died the state of Florida demanded their $40K back from the sale of his house. There were many many single seniors down there in the same boat, living on SNAP for food and a couple $1000 a month. So many had no one to depend on for help.
And sadly, so many never understood that everything they depended on for income from the government was only available thanks to those liberals they hated.
Give these assholes hell, Jeff! I live to see them get everything they deserve. And every time I get out of control over our current oligarchy, I hear your advice at the end of your posts in my head and it helps me practice self care! You are the best, Jeff. Keep on truckin!
have a good day, folks. and, as always, feel free to discuss down here in the comments all the stuff I didn't get to write about
Fly safe!
Safe travels my friend!
Stay safe....make sure "your papers are in order!!🤣🤣🤣
Happy landings, my favorite sick mothereffer!
Hope it's not United - they might kick your ass off the plane mid-flight.
Safe travels.
Have a great trip!
Jeff, a must watch video on Trump & Musk’s changes to SS.
https://youtu.be/R7kJeGEEHZ8?si=93NZkTAv5aQ74cM8
This administration is breaking laws left and right and our representatives aren’t doing a thing about it. Social Security is not the Treasury’s money; it’s U.S. citizens’ money, which is totally funded by them.
AND the taxes and social security “contributions” are gonna drop perilously with the number of deportations. Nowhere have I seen figures of the billions that will be missing and how Trusk & the MAGAt House have factored that into the budget.
I started babysitting at 10 and at 14 got a work permit from the board of education* and with a part time job, began paying in. Now at not quite 78, and except for a few years not working, I’ve paid in. Since nearly 44 of those were self-employed, I paid the full boat. You bet I need that check.
*What happens to local boards, and the associations for those who represent them now?
Frustrating to read some of the MAGA men replies to that video all repeating the Social Security fraud the mango man is supposedly weeding out. The fraud is actually their inability to recognize the fraud they're being fed!
Wonder how some of those men on disability who actually still work for cash would feel if that was counted as fraud. My area is full of construction guys, roofers, painters, etc., all on "disability" and all request cash only so it doesn't show up on their disability. I don't know the rules for either federal or union disability and continuing to work.
The ones who actually can no longer do any work at all are the ones I worry about.
Excellent comment, Tully. I know someone who worked a desk job and claimed disability, then would go home and sit at a drawing board for hours. But that kind of person isn't who will get hurt.
Safe travels with these fucktards controlling the friendly skies, Jeff 🙏
Have a safe flight!
If these assholes fuck with social security, people will grab their pitchforks and there will be another revolution. This is unconscionable.
I keep seeing Never Trump former Republicans say with authority that no, Trump isn't crazy enough to touch SocSec, but they seem to forget that they spent FUCKING decades trying to figure out a way to fuck our seniors out of their entitlements (that they fucking paid for).
So, whilst you may see them clutching their pearls, they are secretly happy that the destruction of SS, Disability, Medicare and especially Medicaid, cheering on Musk for his "bold maneuver" that they have wanted for as long as they've been alive.
Fuck ALL of them, sideways, with a rusty chainsaw
Thank you for using the word entitlements correctly. I am thoroughly pissed that they have somehow conflated their unearned sense of entitlement with our hard-earned actual entitlement.
This was absolutely positively an intentional strategy by the Republicons. By calling social security “entitlements,” they give the false impression that this monthly stipend is unearned and is government charity, making receipt of it less than honorable. All part of the dumbing down of America, brought to you by the Republicon Party.
goddamn it's difficult to write when some punk is 'taking our government' away from its citizens. but the message is easy ... FUK YOU DONNIE BOY!
on a side note ... appreciate all the likes and comments folks
and have ruined the term entitled which once was neutral
Then we make a point of calling Social Security an “earned benefit”. That will counter their “entitlement” argument. It actually is an earned benefit because we worked all those years and paid into the fund. Let them argue with the truth.
You are SO right, Sharon! Perfect choice of words.
And our employers contributed an equal amount every payday. So not only would retirees be screwed but their former employers, many small business owners, would have contributed for nothing.
I think using "entitlement" at all in relation to Social Security is misleading. The connotation of getting something one hasn't earned has become much too closely tied to Social Security. It reinforces the incorrect framing.
Precisely. These shitheels think that “entitlement” means handouts that these “grubby people” don’t deserve.
These wealthy fucks then expect their own entitlements in the form of massive tax cuts (and the side benefit of slashing the IRS workforce so that collection/audit/recovery of taxes owed is curtailed) and other hand outs to their pet industries.
Fuck all of them.
Welfare in the form of tax cuts. Socialism for the rich!
And rugged self-sufficiency for everyone else
Hard-core magats claim to want the fall of civilization. They bloviate about digging their end-times bug-out bunkers, living off freeze-dried gorp, and waving their guns at each other while driving Mad Max vehicles cobbled together from bits of post-apocalyptic rubble. I have to laugh, though, remembering that these "rugged survivalists" are the same people who freaked out a week into the pandemic lockdown because they couldn't get a haircut.
We can just start calling them all the Welfare Queens! Queens intentionally to antagonize them now that they're trying to eliminate all history of women in the military or government.
Reagan and his fucking assholes continually vilified government financial programs and brainwashed the word entitlement into the public consciousness as a pejorative term. Reagan even called Medicare as a "slow, sure slide into socialism," and a gateway to nationalized healthcare, that huge bogeyman of conservatives, the hated and feared socialized medicine. Well, we still don't have it today, 60 years later. Typically for conservatives, it was fear mongering of the highest degree. His audio is available on YouTube. What a giant asshole he was. He was a racist prick who hated everyone but the rich white folks who propped him up.
Prolly preaching to the choir here, but Reagan conducted all out war against, not just the Federal Government, but (American) democracy itself. There is a straight line from the things Ronnie the Senile did to wound democracy to electing the Dumpy Whumpy the Senile Crap Head, not once but twice. The more I look behind the covers of Ron's administration's actions, the angrier I get.
Absolutely. A direct line from Reagan to now.
Your last sentence - same as with Trump, except Trump is more malevolently retaliatory and corrupt.
Exactly. Reagan fired the air traffic controllers and broke the unions. Then families were broken because both parents had to work to make the bills. Rs are NOT the party of family values. Never were.
I'm old but I will get a pitchfork and torch and march for my rights to MY SOCIAL SECURITY MONEY.
I would love to ask him why does he think Medicare for all is such a bad plan. It is miles better than his privatised medical care. Medicare for all should be the norm in the wealthiest country in history. His values certainly don’t match those of a majority of people who understand what it really does for people. The GOP is using scare tactics to energise his base. They don’t pay enough attention to realize what a winning program it would be. Sure their taxes should go up a little, but they
1) wouldn’t have to pay private health insurance, and medical care would be available to everyone, regardless of skin color, gender identity, or your voting history.
2) there would be no co- pay, and everyone would receive equal treatment. It’s very sad that the GOP is lying about it. It IS NOT socialism or communism. It is a human right!
I earned it, so I'm entitled to it!
It’s just a continuous drumbeat of disinformation, Charles. If they are known as “entitlements,” there will be less blowback when the scummy billionaires steal it all.
EARNED ENTITLEMENTS!
Earned BENEFITS, not entitlements.
Exactly! It's not a "handout." It's not "free money." I paid into Social Security for over half a century with the promise that I would get it back after I retired. Cheatloaf has no clue what it means to work for a living. He needs to keep his tiny hands off MY FUCKING MONEY that I LOANED to the government.
Money you loaned the government with no interest, much less compound interest, for over a half century
Consider just the interest earned/time value of the money these fucks held over a 40-year career!!!
Perfectly stated, the prejudice is baked into the term.
Capital gains are the entitlements, money for doing nothing. Tax loopholes to zero are the entitlements. Being a rich asshole with the soul of a vulture is an entitlement.
No, an "entitlement" is not money for doing nothing. You are "entitled" to things that you pay for. When you pay off your mortgage or car loan, you become "entitled" to your house or auto: the bank transfers to you the "title".
Nope. SS and Medicare are EARNED BENEFITS. not an entitlement.
People think it's an entitlement because they are "entitled" to get their money back. Some people pay into the system for 50 years and die before they collect their earned benefit. It's an insurance policy.
Yes. That’s what the word “entitled” means. You are entitled to things that you have earned and paid for.
The problem is that "entitlement", like many english words, has two different meanings:
1) The fact of having a right to something
2) The belief that one is inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment
We are entitled to the benefits we as a society agreed to. Which the not 1% paid into for a lifetime. These billionaires are succeeding in stealing OUR federal dollars. They sure as hell didn't pay in like every working stiff did.
I believe you have missed my point. Getting money as the oligarchs do, from capital gains because they have excess money IS the entitlement.
Don’t take the prejudicial term literally Robert.
Here ya go!
“When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’
’The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’
’The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master — that’s all.”
Beg to differ. An "entitlement" requires that you pass a means test to see if you qualify (are entitled) for the benefit, such as SNAP, welfare, etc.
SS and Medicare are NOT entitlements, they are EARNED BENEFITS. Simply put, SS is an insurance policy that the government makes you buy.
Right on!
We MUST keep reminding Americans that the government Musk is tearing down daily is PAID FOR by our federal taxes and BENEFITS us! Therefore, he’s STEALING from us. This waste and fraud BS is just that—BS! I want my government services. I want my Post Office. I want my Social Security. I want my Medicare. I want NOAA, which does a brilliant job predicting severe weather events. I want CDC to put out next year’s flu vaccine, dammit, I’m a senior and vulnerable to the flu! We PAID for this government and I want it working for ALL of us!!
My mind goes right to —what do they think will happen then, when they take it all away? What kind of world will we have? Do they even look a step ahead? Oh wait, they do not give a fuck. Until it directly affects them. Everybody else, they cannot muster an ounce of empathy.
The Republicans motto: I’ve got mine so fuck you.
It's always been thus. Now it's visible but has been there all along. Selling the Horatio Alger myth to Rubes who'll never join the Rich Fucks club.
Ragged Dick, indeed.
With the exception of someone like Mark Cuban, most gazillionaires don't give a flying fuck about anyone but themselves. We are now being controlled by the greediest assholes on the planet with Smuk leading the way like an out of control wildfire. However, fires do get brought under control and put out. This fire can't get snuffed out soon enough.
Those of that ilk who are kind and generous are definitely in the minority, but they are there, notably Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, and Bezos's ex-wife McKenzie Scott, and of course the catch-all bogey man of the right wing kookosphere, George Soros
I wonder what their "Plan B" is when Soros croaks
Their absolute conviction is that anyone who isn't obscenely wealthy should just die and "decrease the surplus population".
Except for forcing more women to have children since they claim the world is running out of people to do the work for slave pay. That's why Musk actually claimed once why he now has 14 children with 4 women - he figures repopulating the earth started with him. Except it's highly unlikely his children will ever be hurting for anything. They won't be the ones being sent to Venezuela death camps. Maybe. Guess that could depend on whether Musk finally ends up in jail.
Limpdick just painted a bullseye on every republican and billionaires back Stacy… reaping what you sow in a lawless nation for the billionaire class will be the outcome!!
Nowadays, whenever I bring up to Trumpers what these evil idiots are saying/doing, they will reply that they really don’t follow politics. They can’t defend the madness, so they just pretend it didn’t happen. I’m waiting patiently until the leopard eats their face too.
I'm running out of some of that patience although I know the leopards are coming!
Oh yeah they are the most heartless selfish shits ever.
Castrate them with a rusty tin can!
Dammmnnn! You’re not really pissed are you 😆. Please put the can down now…
Love your idea Carol.. sign me up!!
👏👏👏👏👏
I have said it from day one..It is those fucking MORONS who are stabbing us all in the back by pretending to be ouraged..
Good start. I just told my friend in Italy that there are two reasons we are here: Putin and Russia pegging Trump years ago as the perfect asset. Catapult that freakishly amoral dick into our body politic, and NO ONE truly appreciates what amoral means. It means stealing an election, it means disappearing people without due process...this is just the beginning and Putin is orchestrating the whole thing through Trump and Musk. Too simple to believe, but there it is. Yes, he's amoral and now, absolutely confident he can get away with ANYTHING including robbing our SS, Fort Knox, anything. He's gotta go. Arrest him now. Call your senators EVERY DAY and demand his removal. We've seen enough.
6. The President gives clearance to his ketamine-addicted white South-African civilian co-President, who is destroying the government, to receive U.S plans for war with China from top brass in the most secure room in the country. Said addict, who is a contractor of China, brags to his geek-squad underlings and they, in turn, blab to the media.
7. The President tasks, through an EO, his piss-drunk and dog-killing Sec.'s of Defense & Homeland Security to report back whether to invoke the Insurrection Act by 4/20 (Hitler's Birthday) due to his "crisis" on the southern border.
𝙴𝚡𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚕𝚢 𝚃𝙷𝙸𝚂, 𝙱𝚞𝚛𝚔𝚎.
You know it Susan. I know you understand how it is for people like me, I’m one of the 27% with no other resources. Howard can go to hell, I’m tired of this regime threatening to steal MY money. Between my ex husband and myself, we worked for 117 years, paying into the fund every paycheck. He only worked for 55 years, and died before he could collect, but because I’m a woman, I made less money than he did, even though I worked for 62 years. I’m collecting his SS because it’s more than I would get on my own. You’d better believe I would complain!
Another 27%er here. We have no guns but we do have a pitchfork, a chainsaw, and many other garden tools handed down from Dad and even my grandfather-in-law’s shellaleigh I figure those will do. Picking up a phone to complain? I think not. And haven’t these assholes canceled funding for food banks as well? They don’t want us - or hungry kids and families- to survive.
I'll be there at the end of this year. My job is essentially being eliminated and at 74 it's doubtful I can find another job. Not to mention I'm not sure that I could physically keep working much longer anyway. And thanks to having to replace my roof a few years ago which meant I had to refinance my house, I still have mortgage payments for at least the next 5 years. I don't know how I'm going to manage on just Social Security. This overprivileged prick can kiss my ass.
I'm another one in the 27%. It's all I have, no savings, no stash under the mattress , that's it. My rent takes 70% of the 1300 I get.
I live in fear right now and the physical manifestations of that emotional turmoil are wearing on me. At 71, I have few options for survival.
I'm angry and frightened.
Put that fear into action, Morgan. Get involved with your local community organizations that are mobilizing to fight for our democracy. Take a look at some of the great writers on Substack that will educate you about the best ways to resist the tyranny. If you have a little plot of dirt where you live, consider a garden. Growing your own is good for the soul and can also be very calming. I wish you well.
May I recommend finding a Protest Buddy? Show up somewhere April 5 - with a friend - and Just Say NO.
It feels good to say no.
Great idea, Greg.
thats my plan .
I truly appreciate your suggestions. Substack is my "go to" place for solace, information, news and humor. The balance between just living my quiet life and the occasional desperation I feel is a tenuous one and so I'm glad I'm still here, still standing, able to walk my dogs in the canyon/ arroyo around the corner and look at the mountains in the clear skies of central New Mexico, still laughing, enjoying the hell out of my sex life (finally), I'm glad I'm not dead yet !
Yes, there are moments when I slide around and fret about the things I have no control over (see my original comment). But mostly I do what I can, sign petitions, make calls, talk with my neighbors- all of those things that matter. And I read, a lot. Mostly here on substack and bluesky.
On 4/5 I will venture out and use my voice.
Thank you for caring, conversations matter, words matter, our choices matter.
There are difficult moments, however. I wish I had a patch of dirt to grow stuff.... but I don't. I have my dogs. 🙃
In the words of Monty Python " I'm not dead yet ! "
Morgan, I am also a Dogfather. The time spent with those 2 rascals each day keeps me grounded and sane.
Hi Morgan, I’m 74, have 6 dogs, & am still able to hang onto 3 of them at a time & walk them down to the Rio Ruidoso where I can unleash them to run & swim. I plan to be at a Hands Off protest on April 5. Not sure if I’m driving to Las Cruces or to Santa Fe.
That is your money, they're robbing you blind and leaving you scrambling for basic necessities. This must be the biggest and boldest heist in world history
💔💔💔
I forgot. We have a wood chipper too. Didn’t some guy feed his wife into one of those?
Fargo, the movie
Didn't he feed Buscemi ?
He did.
Yes
That woodchipper scene was, as we used to say, “some gnarly shit.”
Walt, I can’t wait until the Cohen Brothers do a movie about Scump.
The blood covered snow.
I have a meat cleaver and several fine-gauge steel crochet hooks….
A guy in Connecticut did it for real. The Insinkerator was too small.
The original version of Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater was based on a real case in 18th century Scotland (a "neeper" is someone who lives on turnips):
Peter, that neeper, had a wife but wouldna keep 'er
So he put her in the wall and let the mice eat 'er
I looked it up. It's NIPPER, not neeper. Damn QWERTY keyboards!
You won't be able to pick up the phone and complain, with their plan to eliminate the phone service at SSA. We'll have to appear in person at one of the offices that they haven't closed.
Yes, Cheryl, this is the billionaires shameful intent. It is their revolting form of “Degrowth.”
Yeah...same here. I had a very good paying retail job but I ruined my knees standing on a cement floor for my entire working life and had to retire early--which took away about $300/month from what I should have been receiving. I now have to live and pay my bills on ~$900/month and every month I have to dig into my meagre savings as everything keeps going up and up.
Reagan led the way to start taxing SS benefits. Asshole
We are still waiting for Reagan’s “trickle down “ effect to materialize…
I'm one of the 27% percent too. 50 years and counting of paying into ss
I'm 76, single man, trying to survive on benefits from what I alone paid in. It may not get any worse than that.
Unfortunately for my husband and myself we both earned the "maximum" and therefore aren't able to get "widow/ers" benefits.
i own my compound i've had ZERO debt for the last 30+ years
i live on less than $10k a year ... it will be a major mistake when you fuk with my VA my SS
PEACE but FUK YA ANYWAY BITCHES!
In the most heavily armed country in the world it sure as hell won't be pitchforks we are using.
Well, we can tenderize them with those first....
Poke and see if they're done.
A pitchfork with a meat thermometer!
😂😂😂😂
ha ha ha
NO QUARTERS! TAKE NO PRISONERS!
i'm old i'm proud i'm NOT A NICE GUY!
I'm with you, Keith. These rich assholes are forgetting that many have nothing much left to lose. It'll be the back-breaking straw of the century to try to take the little we're due. Work and pay into a program for 50+ years only then to have strutting billionaires threatening to steal it? A fatally flawed plan.
our secret weapon? many of us have never been rich
we may not like it but we still survive on less
us boys and girls know survive
except for the SUKING part being poor ain't so bad!
I will be at the front of the line, helping keep the tar hot and gooey and plenty of feathers.
How about giving them a hot tar enema, Jeffry?
Ouch! 🤣
What infuriates me the most is people like me, who through no action of their own, were born in the US as white, male, into a family with enough money to educate them well, thinking that their own prosperity was solely a result of their own actions. Michael Sandel wrote a book condemning this so-called meritocracy for what it is, a rigged system. Those of us who have had the tremendous luck to have succeeded should at very least shut the fuck up if we cannot show humility. .
The fucking billionaires, Stephen! Bezos uses public highways, public airways and innumerable fixed assets - paid for by taxpayers - to operate his business. He makes a gazillion dollars a day and pays ZERO TAXES.
That, my friend, is a fundamental flaw in our current form of capitalism.
Not a flaw but a feature. When bankers write the laws, what do we expect them to be?
truckers including amazon pay $0.29/per delivery---all of those fees only amount to $160 million/yr--not much out of a transportation dept budget $378 billion from taxes
Bezos isn’t the only member of the billionaire criminal coterie to use working class taxpayer funded projects Walt… taxpayers have built the infrastructure and foundations that have lined their pockets. Unregulated capitalism in America was created on Jekyll island, with the creation of the Federally Reserve!!
I readily admit, all the time, that I was born lucky and have been blessed ever since.
Must be nice!!
This is the worst part for me. My Dad passed away after a long illness when I was in my middle 20s and it took me a long time to put my own life back together in my own as a young woman in the 90s, and I know if he had lived longer his friendship and support over the years would have made my life better. People just don't seem to have a sense of when things go well they are experiencing a piece of luck that supported their efforts. I know lots of people who have worked hard their whole lives and had things not break their way somewhere in the middle and it shows later.
Hope you’re right, but I haven’t seen much of an uprising yet at least not like the uprisings in other countries.
A while back, some asshole on Twitter told me to quit complaining about the amount of money that SS gives because seniors can live on their $42K a year SS checks. I asked him where he got that number and he said that everyone knows that that’s how much seniors get and more. WTAF⁉️
What a bunch of greedy fuckheads Trump’s billionaires are!
🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️ #42K??? Sign me up. Ridiculous.
I’d love to know where these assholes get their info. Probably from Fox Propaganda. 🙄
Or out of their ass.
Mind numbing ignorance Susan!!
Oh, it will be a lot more than pitchforks!!
I have an old BB gun I'm going to pull out.
Having worked for several defense contractors where millions of dollars were spent on non lethal weaponry Nancy , I can tell you openly and clearly, that that old BB gun will only be met with a much greater force, something you’ve never seen, nor heard of before!!
Reminder that AARP used to be the third biggest PAC in the US until the SCOTUS decision that completely screwed up political donations.
AARP is now an organization that seems to solely exist to sell cruises and bus trips to retired people with tons of money, while warning them of the scammers coming to take their money away. ["The scammers" are never the government.]
They're mainly shills for UnitedHealthcare
Worst for-profit insurance company.
the first year I had unitedhealthcare it was ok ; they have steadily declined each year. this year is the final straw; they raised premiums and cut their so called OTC benefit in half . I do believe that uhc made obscene amounts of money the past year. arghhhhhhhh
For health insurance, yes. Overall, that "honor" goes to Allstate.
Mayhem, indeed.
AARP is worthless
It is now. They used to be the biggest defenders of the SSA and Medicare. They used to constantly put out articles about how they were telling Senator Somebody or Congresscritter Someone how important it was for their senior constituents to keep their retirement funds and their healthcare.
Now the AARP is useless unless you're rich and want to spend your life traveling.
Or buying more life insurance.
Its the Let Them Eat Cake mentality. did not go well for the French aristocracy.
I'm gonna start wearing my GUILLOTINE necklace again.
I want one!
Amazing how pathetically soulless Limpdick and the techbro billionaires class have become Susan
I also like transposing the 1st & 4th letters of his name & making it Nutlick
so do I
I really wish I could believe that, but we're dealing with people so fundamentally goddamn idiotic that they believed it when Trump claimed elementary schools were abducting and forcibly transitioning kids.
They're so mired in their own willful ignorance they'll just swallow whatever bullshit trump says and end up on a genocidal crusade against trans folks and anyone with more melanin than Casper.
Yes people will grab pitchforks ( aka, guns ) and there will be violence and rioting. My concern is that this might have been planned, not by Trump, but by his 2025 Puppet Masters. Why? As an excuse for him to declare martial law.
If those Puppet Masters didn't want Social Security touched, he wouldn't be touching it.
A t-shirt I saw years ago noted that for old people, "life in prison" doesn't hold nearly the threat it holds for younger people. When this regime decides to take the sole source of support away from people who paid into it for decades, you'll see a lot of extremely pissed-off elders who don't have much to lose.
Great point. Bring it on!!
In Japan I think, there are elder people who shoplift to get out of poverty when they don't have any resources left.
if they start fucking with SS - that I am eligible for in 4 months for full benefits BTW - the very first thing I will do is go out and buy a hunting rifle...with a scope...and that is a promise, not a threat....if these grotesque cunts wanna see some shit, start fucking with A BENEFIT CONTRACT that I have paid into my entire working life...the space nazi won't be able to go anywhere, cause it won't be me (important disclaimer), but I will bet my house that people go after him...and rightfully so...this world would be a far better place without him in it!...I am rooting for his death, and I couldn't give fuck #1 how it happens
I think many feel the same
I definitely feel the same & have said many times that if I wasn’t old & somewhat disabled, I, by god, would do it myself.
Same.
Does anyone else feel like we’re all on a Roman galley chained to the bench and holding a fuckin’ oar?
beatings will continue until moral improves .
Social Security would have NO issues if millionaires actually paid into SS. The burden of SS rests on the working class. WE support this nation! WE support the wealthy! WE support the poor! WE are the ones getting screwed! It’s not a sin to be wealthy. It’s a sin when you earn that wealth off the sweat of others that you don’t give a shit about!
SS would have no problems if Congress had not illegally raided it at the behest of Dubya Bush to pay for tax cuts for the Rich and his war with Iraq, and misappropriated $1.37 Trillion
It is entirely Bush and the Congress’ fault that SS is close to insolvency now.
Irresponsible and probably criminal as well!
The raid on Social Security was started under Reagan. The Dems were complicit I’m sad to say, Ole
It is the cap on the SS deductions. Like about everything else, if one makes enough money then after that point it's all YOURS, I, Me, Mine.
George W Bush raided it didn't he??
W was aggressive in utilizing the social security surpluses that existed during his presidency to give tax breaks to the rich…sound familiar?
Each time a president borrows against social security, a special bond security is issued, kinda like an IOU.
This, from Politico:
“The larger question posed by critics of the trust fund system is if and how the government will provide cash for all the bonds, now totalling $2.8 trillion. These bonds are a special class of securities unique to the Social Security fund that can’t be sold. Because they’re not-marketable, some contend that they’re "worthless IOUs."
“These special-issue things, they’re all in a filing cabinet in West Virginia. That’s the entire trust fund," Smith said in an interview. "There’s no trust, and there are no funds."
Experts told us there's no question that the Treasury will repay the Social Security surplus (including what was accumulated during the Bush years) when the trust fund starts redeeming the bonds in 2020. Otherwise, says Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times, "you’d have to march 40 years worth of Treasury, Labor, Health and Human Services secretaries, Social Security commissioners, and public trustees -- Republicans and Democrats -- into prison."
Politico:
they had no problem putting their dirty hands into the cookie jar
isn't it about that time again when congress starts whining about how difficult it is to pay for 2 homes raise a long distance family take vacations (congressional sponsored junkets ALL ON OUR TICKET!?
GET A JOB IN A MARSHMALLOW FACTORY CRY BABIES!
YES CAPS DO REFLECT ANGER!
Raise the SS income cap. Most huge societal problems have no simple, easy solutions. This does. DO IT !
I’m fine with that, Walt. Let the marching begin! Need to throw a few Congress critters in there with them- Dems and RepubliCONS both. They voted for it.
I am in agreement with you as well, Mary. The laughably low cap on SS deductions is yet one more gift to the Rich. By their faithful lapdogs, the aforementioned Congress critters. Of both Parties. They are the same in one important way- they are dependent on Rich donors to be re elected and will do their bidding to the detriment of the rest of us.
Let’s face it- the real two Parties are the haves and the have nots.
Time to face this fact no matter where your loyalty lies. Maggats haven’t realized yet that trump and his Rich buddies have nothing for them, quite the opposite- they want to take away what was once freely given. No more with this Administration.
Great information Walt.
Yes
Exactly, Ole.
I’ve heard many conflicting stories about the solvency of social security in my life. As one of, if not the most successful program in our government’s history, social security has been the target of the Republicons disinformation campaign for decades. Why? Because they want to steal it. They simply cannot stand the fact that there is a large pot of money sitting there and they can’t have it. They call them “entitlements” to make it appear that these dollars are unearned and less than honorable.
We've been hearing the same "bankrupt in 5 yrs" crap since the early 80's. If you do nothing right now, it would go to 2034 and even after then pay out around 80%. There shouldn't even *be* a cap; why should anyone that makes more than 168k pay nothing on that? Oh yeah, "trickle down".
Trickle down economics is just another way to describe that golden shower of the rich pissing on hard working Americans!
The working class pay Social Security on 100% of their earnings while the 1% pay a tiny percentage of their earnings. If the minimum wage had been raised in accordance with inflation SS and MED would be funded no problem but our government works for the big corporations that don't want to pay more so they can keep their stockholders happy.
It's a rigged corrupt system.
Capitalism at its finest! 🤬🤬🤬
I swear rich people hate math. 10% of 0 is 0. 10% of $300b is another matter altogether. Buffet called the Bs out and lectured investors at the last Berkshire meeting for not paying their fair share and that he's happy to pay big taxes on selling apple because the US gvmt is SO GOOD TO BUSINESS.
Nobody to complain to: all fired.
Right? And just in case, they're turning off the phones so there's nobody to take your call anyway
Great comment,Lisa!
Well said Lisa, couldn’t agree more!!
It's not their money, it's our money. We The People ! It's quite evident that they do not pay taxes compared to working chumps. Did not pay in and are now poised to rob our government blind and leave us in the lurch
Brava, Lisa!
Yep. When I hear people advocating for a flat tax, my response is, "Great! Let's start with FICA."
Lutnick is a real shitstain on the US. He's so fucking out of touch and HE DOESN'T CARE!! Fuck him and his MiL.
And we thought it was bad that GHWB didn't know what a grocery store bar code was or how it worked.
And I'll bet he started collecting his SS check when he turned 62.
I wonder how many mega millionaires and billionaires collect Social Security.
All that are eligible
And they damned sure should NOT!! SS was meant to be a safety net for those who, through many circumstances, some not in their control, find themselves at retirement age without sufficient savings or investments to be able to live with even a modicum of dignity. I don’t believe it was ever intended to be paid to people with significant wealth.
He probably bought his MiL a place to live, and she only needs to call up her daughter to get all the money she needs. Shame on the rest of us who didn't give birth to a kid who married a billionaire.
His MIL is 94, she may have Alzheimers, & THAT'S why she wouldn't complain.
But they cut the research for a cure, and set it back at least 20 years.
That was heartbreaking.
Lutnick personifies the type of sociopathic ravening greed that enables one to become a billionaire. Because much of his wealth is increase in the value of securities, he doesn't pay a lot in taxes until he sells them and then he pays at the capital gains rate so he is not contributing to Social Security and Medicare. But he doesn't think that people who pay into the system deserve their monthly benefit. This time the revolution is going to be the Social Security Generation clubbing the Oligarchs with their canes and dragging them behind their power scooters to the guillotines.
We can polish off the phrase the French used before: "Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité" (Liberty, Equality, Fraternity),
The bloodied heads in bucket days are coming, billionaires like Lugnut will be at the front of the line!!
Like the way you think
The maga-cult always confuses decency and logic with cruelty and stupidity.
These greedy billionaires need a mega pot of money to offer Trump to support a tax cut for them. They don’t need small change here. They need $5 trillion.
On Social Security there are 75 million people averaging $1500 month. That means $112.5 billion per month taken out of our economy. ($1.3 trillion/year) Think about that in the context of your state. Every small business and restaurant in America would go out of business. It is a stupid idea, from unempathetic billionaires. Only fraudsters would yell? That is dumb, nonsensical bullshit from a true idiot. From where does that contrived wisdom come? Where does Trump find these pseudo people? Lutnick took better care of the Canter Fitzgerald family. He has lost it mentally if he thinks his mother is representative of people at large. A billionaire’s mother is not relying on her $800/month Social Security check. Does he think people are stupid? https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/a-just-movement?r=3m1bs
Carl, while the monthly outflow of social security cash is significant, I would need to know what the inflow is monthly, too. One thing I do know is that government stooges have been borrowing from social security for many years. That may have something to do with the projected solvency of the program.
True dat Walt!!
Raise the cap, Duh !
Excellent question, Walt!
Taking Social Security&Medicare is what will take even the most ignorant, gun toting MAGA over the edge.
Trump can’t blame Biden for this, Musk, Lutnick etc talk about it incessantly.
Trump thinks his base will love him no matter what, but that would be a bridge too far.
Yes, Suki! MAGAts need to FEEL the truth about Trump.
do i make a payment on my double wide, my minivan or throw fate into the air opting for food and medicine for my family?
What's curious is maga people are still saying they aren't going after social security, even when they say stuff like this. The denialism is mind boggling.
Leigh, you misspelled his name . It’s Howard Nutlick!
For hereafter going forward it shall be NutLick!
Perfect, and it rolls off the tongue.
He is an Evil shithead, no question.
First *snort* of the day.
I think events have made me lose my sense of humor.
Slutnick would be an insult to sluts.
OMG. 😆👍
😂😂
David ! Thats disgusting !!🤣🤣
b jac
I should have posted it with a warning:
“Do not try to visualize this!”
Or an emoji of him kneeling in front of ... ok ok , you get the picture!!
😱
I absolutely want him referred to as Nutlick, because that’s what he is.
absofucknlutely right!! I have my pitchfork at the ready and just waiting for the signal. when are we all going to be in the streets? how much more of this illegal immoral fuck you all crap are we going to take? JFK got it fk'n right: Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. As did ol' B Franklin: We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately. Let's wake up, people!
Howard Nutlick deserves to be strung up by his toes and used as a pinata by us undeserving social security recipients.
I will help! I may not be strong enough to do that on my own, but together with others and a righteous fury we will get him hoisted up and make a damn good example of him and his stupid comments. Stupid m'fer.
Love the Mussolini theme you used John, when lifeless bodies are hanging like rotten fruit from trees and flag poles around this country, our message will finally be realized!!
I can think of another orifice on his body that he can be hung from.
Nicely painted picture Marlene!!
Like Mussolini.
Exactly, although he was shot as a mob closed the circle that surrounded him Linda!!
He was hung by the feet after he was killed. A lovely image to contemplate . . .
Women lined up to pee on his face.
"Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?" Two hundred years later and these amoral douchebags are still sprouting the same vile nonsense. You ever wonder where they find these people? Look no further than the buffet line at Mar-a-Lardo. Any shrink worth his or her salt will tell you it's Projection. Accuse others of YOUR personal issues and deep, dark transgressions. Orange Jabba has spent his miserable life doing this. And play the victim at every opportunity. The guy should have been sent to the Graybar Hotel on FOUR different crimes. But the limpdick Democrats, in their misguided efforts to seem impartial, screwed the pooch . . . royally. And here we are. To come full-circle on some Dickensian irony, we can only hope the spirit of Ira Hayes or a Tuskegee airman comes by to haunt Piss-Drunk Pete . . . if they haven't been scrubbed from the afterlife.
It’s like a bad soap opera, DJ.
"As the Stomach Turns."
I am not going to disengage from your posts. I am one of the 27%. I just got back onto AR Medicaid Arkansas Seniors so they are paying my Medicare Part B premium which is $185 a month. That means I got a raise of $185 a month on my Social Security because it was being taken out before I ever got paid.
I worked at hourly jobs for 46 years prior to 2013. I had to retire early at 62 to become a full time caregiver for my last wife who was dying from cancer. I got in Social Security what I took home on hourly jobs here in 1974. I live in the same house that I did in 1974, and have the same electric company. I have central heat and air now instead of an attic fan. So my utilities were $350 this month. I expect that to go down as the weather changes.
Trump and Musk never worked at jobs or do much of anything. Most billionaires don't have to worry about paying bills or buying groceries. They don't have to drive a 27 year old car. Most don't drive. Trump doesn't even dress himself.
I hope to be here another 15-20 years and still do what I do now. If I have to go back to work to survive, I am not sure that I can last that long. My one surviving long time friend of 55 years (he is 70) is not sure what he will do because he is not able to go back to work.
What about those on disability and those in nursing homes? Are they supposed to die?
My Medicare Advantage Plan had a company send me a medic alert that I have to wear around my neck. What will prospective employers think about that?
Speaking of nursing homes, Darrell, did you see where Dr Mehmet Oz, our new director of the Center for Medicaid and Medicare, stated that nurses are an unnecessary luxury in nursing homes? He believes the residents of nursing homes will be just fine with virtual nursing support.
When your 90 year old granny in a nursing home needs to go to the bathroom at 2 AM, Oz thinks a zoom call will get the job done.
The Wizard of Oz is just another bastard tool.
Oz has proven himself to be a scammer and a fraud, just like his cult leader. Selling smarmy products with little to no value to unsuspecting MAGATS is his niche. Now he will be in charge of our elderly and the infirm’s care across our country. What could go wrong?
Yes, Walt, and so is Dr. Phil…a real bald-faced dick!
Lesson never learned: Putting one's trust and faith in TV celebrities, believing that they're experts who care about their fans. The entire foundation of Trump/MAGA, Musk, Oprah, Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz, Dr. Ingraham, etc., etc., plus (for the young) a new generation of halfwit "influencers." They're all narcissistic frauds.
Spot on, Sharon!
What could possibly go wrong ?
It's astounding a man with a medical degree and who was once considered a decent cardiac blade is so vacuous. He of all people should know that any facility whether it's independent, assisted, rehab or a group home relies on payment from Social Security. That's how facilities pay for staff, overhead, utilities, contractors and vendors. That one missed check could negatively impact many lives and small businesses. The billionaire boys club is devoid of empathy and look down on the rest of us for wanting what we worked for.
Another clueless dipshit with an MD next to his name. He's obviously never been in a nursing home and seen what these patients needs are. Oz like the rest of this incompetent administration is out of his fucking mind.
The fine print on many long-term care insurance policies requires on-site nursing staff before they'll pay out any benefits.
I hate that fucker!
Or a medical emergency.....
Actually I think what they mean is that low paid nursing aides & orderlies are all the staff you need on site, then have an actual licensed person on call virtually, for any questions that come up. I do not agree with that, but that’s definitely the fantasy of the big corporations who own those nursing homes.
Holy shit.
I don't know what they expect disabled people to do except to die. I am one of them. I was seriously and permanently disabled before retirement age due to an accident. I was messed up for quite a while. My gosh, was I ever glad I had insurance coverage? I think a modest estimate of my time in this hospital (ER, ICU, ortho ward, inpatient rehab, home rehab) was close to $ 1 million. And I manage living on my own and plugging away, dreading when the time comes for another surgery. This shit is making me crazy. All this talk about losing SSDI and these maniacs in the administration: I never contemplated this level of cruelty, stupidity, and malicious intent with everything they do. I used to get riled up over political differences, but that was just a walk in the park. I will be ready; you can bet on that if they push it to the point of all of us having to fight back. I would not recommend they try us.
I haven't found a way to get back on FL faux Medicaid (instituted during covid). Reminds me to try again, thanks. My so-called physician has given up on reimbursements, apparently. Going back to work not an option, as I am 76 and retired 12 years.
So many of us are in that situation. I try to sell items online and work on stuff to make a little extra money. I have worked harder in retirement than I did on lots of the jobs I had. My Medicare Advantage Plan signed me up on AR Medicaid. My daughter in law runs the DHS office in Hope so I expect smooth sailing as long as they still have Human Services to offer.
That the present government doesn't care about anyone but themselves is plain to see. They are the parasites, not veterans or the people who worked all their lives.
I'm spending my retirement working the System so I can continue to eat, which I like to do. It's work. "Work Sets You Free."
Well stated, Darrell.
My apologies for misselling your name earlier, Darreii!
This is a totally shitty thought, but would survival even be worth it?
My wife and I have discussed that, too, Charles. Living a long life seems like a worthy goal initially, but, at what cost? What will the value of our life be living in MAGATLAND and being ruled by a skeevy creep like Elmo Musk?
I hear you. But keep the faith. You're here, so you're here for a reason even if you don't know it. Don't let them win. They can't take the you from you and you have something to offer your community.
I hear you, Daryl! I'm i the 27%, too and have a part time seasonal job that pays about the same as McDonalds. I'm 72, and live alone. I keep telling the dog and cat that it's OK to eat me when I die in the house, and no one notices ( which may happen sooner rather than later under this Nazi regime).
Cheri, I know it’s not truly funny, but when you said that about giving your animals permission to eat you if you died at home unnoticed, I just busted out laughing. Mainly because one of my nephews has said that about my six dogs several times before. 😆
You tell 'em, Jeff. Unbelievable shitheads. the lot of them.
As somebody who counts on Social Security to get through the month, this asshole Howard Lutnick deserves to be struck by lightning where he stands.
My Social Security check comes in late this month, and I'm living on what's in my freezer and pantry while fending off creditors—and I'm one of the FORTUNATE ones that I have a freezer with food in it to eat!
I had to beg my doctor for a sample of my breathing medication because I can't afford the co-pay until my Social Security check comes in—and I'm one of the FORTUNATE ones that I have a doctor who's willing to do that for me!
So Howard Lutnick? Can go fuck himself.
Yeah, my brother lived on SS income alone for 5 years, after getting brain cancer at the age of 64. Fooled by his good health, he had chanced going without health insurance for the 1 year after retirement until Medicare kicked in. Bad idea. His first brain surgery cost more than 2 years' income. He had to sell off everything but $2K and his house and car to get Medicaid. Then when he died the state of Florida demanded their $40K back from the sale of his house. There were many many single seniors down there in the same boat, living on SNAP for food and a couple $1000 a month. So many had no one to depend on for help.
And sadly, so many never understood that everything they depended on for income from the government was only available thanks to those liberals they hated.
Give these assholes hell, Jeff! I live to see them get everything they deserve. And every time I get out of control over our current oligarchy, I hear your advice at the end of your posts in my head and it helps me practice self care! You are the best, Jeff. Keep on truckin!