So what's the solution kraft t

[idalivered]

doesn't that just use up the additional equity paid in by the higher earning contributors?

[kraft-t]

Not so. In the first place the benefits paid to the upper income levels is not increased proportionally. Thus a low income worker gets a higher benefit per dollar invested than does the upper income taxpayer. Plus there are many that don't live until retirement age so they only receive a benefit for their survivors.

A number of years ago ( when I took retirement benefits) the maximum benefit was $1900 and change. A working spouse could recieve the same maximum benefit. However if took her benefit based on his earning she have got $950 in benefits.

I don't know what todays numbers are but one could find out by calling your local SS office. Unfortunately we don't get that much but we could sure use it..

[kraft-t]

Actually those making $100 k  pay a higher percentage in over all taxes than someone that makes a million. There are people on these pages that pay as much SS taxes as Rush Limbaugh or Coby Bryant. Why because the SS tax maxes out at $100k or slightly above.

And like most brilliant statistions, you figure I can balance the budget by myself.

They do have the option to start drawinf benefits at 62 but it is a reduced benefit and it is subject to further reduction if you have other earned income.

If I was in Madison wisconsin< I would join their effot. Not just teacher but all public employees. I guess you favor government reneging on their contracts. You increase taxes and when the economy grows more people will be working and paying taxes.

If tax cuts were the answer, we should have been having a balanced budget a decade ago.

[cowfarmer]

Heres the bottom line, those in the top margin earned their money it's not yours or the governments to take and spend as they choose for their pet project. So answer my question what should the top rate be. I believe it is way to high. I also believe you are right that the gov shouldn't back out on contracts but that doesnt mean  things can't change in the future. You say some don't live to retirement, but some of the baby boomers will live to be 95 or 100 how we gonna keep paying them. And where in the world has the liberal utopia you live in worked, and also those **bleep** teachers also have a contract to show up and teach not pay students to come and picket with them. So dont whine about contracts, contracts are only as good as the signers and your teacher friends that get full benefits and a nice retirement package and then four months off, are breeching their committment to there contracts and more importatnly there students. My best friend in the world has the same views as you, you aren't from western iowa are you.

[cowfarmer]

From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.

[cowfarmer]

I read that book about 3 years ago, I thought it was good. And I also thought man would this guy hate me. But intersting none the less.

[kraft-t]

The top rate is historically low as compared to the past. The top rate during the Eisenhower presidency was 92 % on the last dollar.

The rate is much lower in the upper 30 percentile for the highest income earners. Plus they don't pay SS taxes after a bit over $113K in income. 

I'll bet thise teachers earn what they make and they do not give up the freedom of speach simply because they are on the public payroll.  Plus, I doubt whether they have to pay students to rally for them. There are all kinds of people that support teachers and labor in this instance. It's only one faction of our political society that wants to keep people down and stifle their standard of living.

[nwobcw]

Cow, the clock punchers may not get a gummint subsidy but their employers may, depending on the occupation.

[nwobcw]

   The problem I see with gummint workers is that they think they should be immune from ups and downs in the economy.   Actually they should be the 1st affected since their pay comes from taxes.  My daughter has been a teacher for 7 years.  She knew going in what the situation is with that occupation.   I also have a brother and sister in law in the education system and a nephew on a school board.  We have some lively discussions.   In a nutshell the sins of the past 30 or so years are home to roost.  Past promises are financially impossible to keep.  There will be gnashing of teeth as more people are eating from a smaller pie.

[Kay/NC]

I was saddened to see on "Morning Joe" today that many school districts in Wisconsin are closed so that staff can travel to demonstrate.  This sor tof behavior, if it drags out, can affect students who must have mandatory hours of instruction to graduate, as only one example.  It definitely impacts the education of all - either it is crucial for kids to attend clases, or it is not. 

The analysis of the situation as I heard it was that the teachers were being told they would have to pay a very minor percentge of their retirement and benefits.  That aggregate percentage was roughly half what public-sector employees nationally pay for these benefits, according to the report.  (I am, of course, tempted to say here that we pay 100% of our Blue Cross/Blue Shield and fund our  own retirement accounts fully....)

If these small concessions are not made, there will be other steps necessary to balance the education budget...which will probably mean loss of positions.  Ironically, at least some of the protestors will find themselves jobless, if their present positioin is upheld, instead of paying a few more dollars a month for their own health and retirement benefits.  The rest will find their workload increased, as the same students are spread over fewer staff.  

There is an interesting commercial playing here in NC now...it is to promote the state's lottery.  Our state is dishonest enough to call it the "Education Lottery."  thsi was the tactic used to get people to vote for it to pass...it was supposed to provide additional funds to schools and colleges...but the routine funds were simply re-routed to other purposes in the general fund...net loss to education when people are too poor to gamble as much as they normally do, like now.   

Thsi commerical shows a school with not a student in it, and the speaker in it talks about the loss of jobs and how these teachers are "neighbors and friends."  The final frame focuses on - of all the more idiotic things - a door with a huge sign that says "Faculty Lounge."  Not one mention of students or quality of education...just jobs and the one part of the school where a student is never allowed to set foor.  I have been a public school teacher, and it makes me want to cry every time I see it, since it is such a poor representation of educators. 

That is the level we have sunk to in this profession, in too much of it.  The national teaching profession organizations are among some of the most politically active and vocally assertive of them all.   I refused to join them when i taught, since I am a right to work believer...and wheni taught in the Commonwealth of VA, I was in a right to  work location.  I do not join a group if i do not ascribe to its platform or philosophy.