Npr on driver shortage... Good info for new drivers

Nope, it's less than fifteen percent that live in poverty now. In the process of creating all of these new vets, taxes were cut and funding for their programs were cut. I guess funneling more billions to few thousand rich people will solve that problem too.

 

Perhaps true. But let's not forget that ss was never meant to be a full retirement. It has always been a safety net insurance program. It's a fall back safety net system. Nothing more. Work hard your entire life and pay your taxes and if all your plans come crashing down, at least you won't starve to death in your elder years.

Also we have known the social security program has been on a path of bankruptcy for over 30 years. None of us have any excuse for not planning and saving towards retirement.

 

No, SS is not going broke, and it can be fixed easily. There is no political will to do that because the politicians are bought and the media wants you to be against it, because it's owned by some of the same people that have bought the politicians. Where do you save all of these earnings for retirement? At the bank that pays .7% interest? Or in a 401k that Wall St is going to crash eventually because those bought politicians removed all the safeguards protecting it? Whether it's a 401k, mutual fund, or if you deal with your own broker/planner, if you don't have millions in the market you are days behind what's really happening.

 

Well in my entire life that's the first time someone has tried to suggest ss is solvent and doing well.

I'll agree with you on one thing. It could and should be solvent. But it's not, and it won't be. For decades Washington has diverted funds from ss to other things. At this point the sad truth is that the only way to fix it is cut benefits and increase the age requirement to draw benefits.

 

I'm an old man, Danch, and I trucked on the '80's, (wow, those truck stop parking lots were really something) came back OTR 4 years ago. I made some good, positive posts, check me out.

Danch, are you 100% sure it's other drivers experience that's putting you off? Nothing about hard work, or being alone in unfamiliar places all the dang time, or adhering to regulations, nothing like that? No worries about a girl getting restless, buddies driving your car/pickup, you just want to accept a few complaining drivers posts with "I'm going to take my chances with low but consistent pay at a job that sucks." Really? Well, maybe that'll mean one more load for me this year. I don't think you are telling us the entire story, though. Good luck with that dead-end job that sucks, in your own opinion, Danch.

 

Okay, you agree with me that SS could work. Let's build on that. When SS was established the baby boomers hadn't been born yet. Eventually it was realized that when the boomers retired, there would be more people drawing than paying in, and that wouldn't work. So congress and Reagan worked together to fix it. I think it could have been a better fix, but it was supposed to be fixed. Two things have gone wrong. One, median income is only half of what it was supposed to be now. So that's less revenue. Two, close to half the country was supposed to be at maximum SS tax which had been raised to like 88k I think. Some of my numbers might be a little off, but I'm close. We're no where near that, so that's less revenue. I'm not saying SS is doing fine, there will have to be adjustments made. The cap can be raised or completely removed, or the benefits could be means tested. Increasing labor demand and raising wages would go a long way too. Once the boomers have exhausted their benefits, changes can actually be rolled back.
Wealthy people do not want SS. They don't want to pay it, and bankers want access to the money. That's why it is sold as doomed. I'm not insulting or attacking you, but you are listening to the wrong voices on this subject. SS is, and has been a stabilizing force in the US economy. Imagine what that last recession might have been like if the retired weren't getting those checks and didn't have that income to put back into the economy at the grocery stores, gas stations, etcetera.

 

Drivers, let's remember one (or two) things about the earlier days in America '50's, '60's, '70's, so on. In those days, what we call "the economy" was more reasonably distributed. A major CEO earned maybe 70 or 100 times what a skilled journeyman earned in a year. Now, major corporate CEO's earn 3,000 -5,000 TIMES what a skilled journeyman earns. In the decades prior to Reagan, there were 1 or 2 billionaires. Now? I believe we're over 500, in America.

Our system of government works, but it works a lot better up there on top. If you read financial news, it's called "The upward migration of wealth." Would you like me to tell you why that is? It's because people with money make the rules. We working Americans, not so much. My $.02. So some of what we're wresting with is based on those facts. The top 1% of wealth owners don't drive trucks.

It's not funny, but it's true that if we didn't have Wall Street and the Casino there rigged so hard for rich people to get richer, there'd be a lot of money for people actually doing the work. It doesn't help to complain, but it does make me feel that I'm doing what's possible for me, and doing it as well as I can do it. It's like being a Dad, I'm not perfect, and I won't be perfect, but I did the best I could, and I still am doing the best I can.

You know:

 

The SS is not "going broke" Spyder. That's propaganda by people who call Social Security an "entitlement." I've paid SS fees for 55 years, and if that's an entitlement, I'll kiss your hairy....whatever.

Also, if you heard it first here on TTR, you need to spread out your access to news. You are not getting the full story, on SS for sure. Although, it's true that truth is hard to find in public media.

The problem with SS is that our contributions go into the General Fund, not into a special holding for SS alone, so politicians have access to those monies. Need I say more? Anyway, keep on keepin' on, it's our best move. J

 

Of course, those multi-millionaires and billionaires I mention draw full SS benefits, is that fair? I guess it's legal, but it skews the funding, leaving working Americans supporting rich people who hardly need our tax dollars to survive quite comfortably.

 

I heard on some satellite news channel (maybe the dreaded NPR) that of those 15% of Americans living in poverty, 97% of them own cell phones, and 91% (more or less, can't remember the exact stat) own flat screen TV. Only in America. Is that really poverty? Hungry children in the house while Mommy and Daddy text buddies while watching Dr. Phil on flatscreen waiting for the welfare money to be delivered right to the door? That's entitlement, drivers, it's not the Americans who worked all their life contributing to Social Security and want to use their benefits.