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The trolling level here is pretty high for such a small, specific site. Then there are those that try to pretend they are locals living here. Those are pretty funny. That is followed by way too many that may or may not want to come here. There is this one British guy, Lordhaha, that trolls the Hawaiitribune-herald editorials, often expounding at length about the Hawaiian overthrow, lecturing on ice use and addiction, and freely admits he doesn't live here with no plans of ever being here. That is followed by the people convinced they are moving here but don't and fade away. At least on city-data, they sometimes have follow-up stories from people that couldn't make it or they decided it wasn't for them or they hated it or loved it but couldn't figure any way to stay, and some that just go back and forth to the mainland.
Trolling is a form of fishing. Don't take the bait.
"This island Hawaii on this island Earth"
*Japanese tourist on bus through Pahoa, "Is this still America?*
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quote:
Originally posted by KapohocatHawaii does not tax SS, but the Feds (IRS) do in fact tax SS if you are over their limits as noted in my previous post.
What's confusing is what you didn't say. If your only income is from Social Security benefits, you will not be taxed and do not need to file a return.
You can't reach the base amounts for being taxed unless you have additional income from other sources. And for that "eligibility" calculation, you use only half of your SS benefits.
http://www.irs.gov/uac/Are-Your-Social-S...Taxable%3F
You honestly believe that UKJ made up her children? Strange.
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I realize that people don't really understand what's going on with the money and that is why there is confusion. The term "trust fund" connotes a certain "security" or "goodness". It did not start off to be a ponzi scheme, but now that it is- the people reaping the benefits should at least be aware of it, and they might modify their usage accordingly. AS for my kids, or me for that matter- we exist! I have met at least one of you formally, and I'm about to meet another. Take a close look at those stats that say that so many "elderly in Hawaii live in poverty". They seem a bit manipulated to me, although I know that there is a lot of poverty here, and I'm sure some seniors are included.
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You are sure some seniors are included??? Are you kidding me? You and your children are going to be "old" someday.
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Arrgh. Since many of us on this forum are dependent or partially dependent on Social Security, I'm going to take it is an issue of importance here. All together now, Social Security is not a Ponzi scheme! The essence of a Ponzi scheme is fraud. While you can check with Bernie Madoff, I can pretty well assure you he did not reveal his means of financing fund returns to his clients. The fraud is specifically that Ponzi schemers assert that the returns result from productive investments that are being made and, in fact, they are not.
Social Security, on the other hand, produces laboriously detailed reports every year from their actuaries. There is no fraud. Period. "Intergenerational funds transfer" is supposed to be a good descriptive term. Basically money is collected as input from current workers and distributed to retirees as output at certain benefit levels. In the early 80's the input was bumped to account for the boomer bulge and for a time there was more input than output. Now with the boomers retiring in greater numbers output is greater than input. We get out of balance (relative to current benefit levels, or in balance relative to input/output) in 2030-something and benefits, without a fix, reduce to 75% of current levels indefinitely based on estimated population. To change the situation either adjust the input or output. To maintain benefits bump the input by raising the income cap, or reduce the output (benefits) and screw seniors. And it's all laboriously documented every year. Anyone can check where we are with Social Security. Nobody is hiding anything. There is no fraud.
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Not only not fraud, but a promise we paid into our entire working lives. I started paying in the 60s and in self employed years paid even more. We based our retirements on this insurance. You can say it was forced on me by the government, but I know too many who would not have saved a dime otherwise and would be homeless with out their retirement. Ever try to get a job at age 70 outside of Wal Mart?
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known all ready.."I realize that people don't really understand what's going on with the money and that is why there is confusion."...did ya ever consider that it might be U who is confused about money?
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I am someone who is smart and good with numbers, and yes, I was completely and totally confused until reading through the 245 page actuary report from 2012 that is posted on the social security website. The parts that were confusing to me (and I'm sure others!) is that the retired people kept "screaming" about their trust funds, but I knew they didnt exist. So, the clarification for me was when I realized that the trust funds do exist, but only for the older people. This is where it is sort of a fraud. The Government says there are "trust funds" and they are "solvent" through a certain date. BUT! what the govt neglects to tell the younger workers is that - "Your taxes every month are going straight out the other side of the equation to the retirees- and therefore, you are not included in the trust funds!".
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"Your taxes every month are going straight out the other side of the equation to the retirees- and therefore, you are not included in the trust funds!".
You are still confused. The SS trust fund is just a bank account. Every working person is included as a potential recipient of the fund. No one paying into the account according to the rules is excluded. Right now the account is filled more than it needs to be to maintain current benefits to current retirees and it will continue to do so up to about 2034 (2035? we just had a bump in federal income). And SS taxes get collected every payday and they continue to go into the fund. And we add about 100,000 people to the workforce every month, as commonly noted in reports on unemployment statistics. So right now we are net negative relative to input/output, but that's OK. We just need to legislatively decide on what we do regarding input/output as I noted earlier.
The only thing that might get in the way of collecting your Social Security is the "party of stupid" (Jindal, 2013) trying to break the federal government. Current antics such as the suggested "hostage taking" of the debt limit could actually result in at least operationally preventing monthly SS disbursements to Puna retirees if they decide to shoot the hostage.
