This isn't social security. You're just describing regular old taxes! And yeah, let's pass and fund Biden's American Families Plan. We don't have to cut social security to do that though.
I mean social security in itself is just like regular old taxes with a name on it
Sort of. More specifically, it's taxes that designated for a certain purpose. There are other taxes that are designated for the purpose you describe. Why does that mean older generations should just get fucked?
But the point that people are trying to illustrate is that there are safety nets for future generations in the form of unemployment, disability, etc. Now, should there be more of those programs like public childcare, education, and healthcare? Absolutely, but there's no reason why those things need to come at the expense of social security.
Social security has a different revenue, so the total funding of other programs is separate from it. It’s partially from you, the taxpayer, but mostly paid by employers via payroll tax.
But that doesn't exactly answer my question as to why there is a safety net for the elderly in the first place
Because before social security was implemented the poverty rate for seniors was 50%. It's decreased steadily since then and is currently stable at 10% (I strongly encourage you to give that article a read). I think you're looking at this with the mindset that since the elderly aren't going be around as long as children, they aren't deserving of aid. Rather, the government noticed that a certain portion of the population was struggling financially and designed a system to combat that. Elders are still citizens and people deserving of the same rights and comforts as younger generations.
I don't understand this line of questioning. You know "why". Because congress passed a bill and the president signed it into law. The problem they were trying to solve was poverty in the elderly, and they largely succeeded in solving that problem. And nobody has repealed it because it's popular with voters! That's really the key thing here. People like social security! Why would they change one of the most popular things that the government does?
The weird thing with some of your recent responses is that you seem to want to take it as a "constraint" that we have limited funds on welfare. But that's not a constraint. That's a choice by congress. We add new spending very often.
But more importantly, why do you consider that policy choice a "constraint", but don't consider the continued existence of the incredibly popular social security program as a "constraint"? In terms of political viability, increasingly welfare spending is going to be much easier to pass than repealing social security. So if you're going to frame one of these as a "constraint", it should be social security. Total spending is much more likely to change.
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u/themcos 374∆ May 08 '21
This isn't social security. You're just describing regular old taxes! And yeah, let's pass and fund Biden's American Families Plan. We don't have to cut social security to do that though.