Read more HERE: https://thehill.com/policy/finance/37…
“Centrist Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on Thursday called for a broad bipartisan deal to protect the solvency of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, popular programs that face serious funding issues over the next few decades.
“You’re going to get your financial house in order. We cannot live with this crippling debt,” Manchin, whose pivotal vote both delayed and helped pass big pieces of President Biden’s agenda, told Fortune’s Alan Murray at a CEO conference.
“If we don’t look at the trust funds that are going bankrupt, whether they be Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, highway, all the ones — there are tremendous problems right now,” Manchin said when asked where he sees areas of potential compromise in Washington after the Nov. 8 midterm elections.
Scottie's Playtime 
Yeah, I’m sure manchin has our best interests at heart and he’ll hammer out a good deal. Not!! This shit scares the fuck outta me as I’m so dependent on these programs to live. I have nightmares every night about being homeless and without medical coverage.
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Hello Jeff. I understand I really do. After Ron retired our income dropped to less than half of what it was. I am disabled on Social Security Disability, and Ron is retired on Social Security. That is the main part of our income. That really is not a lot for two people to live on and the last few years it seems to be getting harder and harder to make it stretch far enough. And like you we get our medical coverage from Medicare. The premiums seem to go up about the same amount as the cost of living raise. So each year we lose a little bit. But unlike those other advanced countries that offer universal healthcare for the people we in the US are number 1 as the wealthiest country on earth. Hugs
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Manchin’s one of them, not one of us. Of course he’ll draw every dime of his SS; his retirement and health insurance are sterling-way better than SS and Medicare-thanks to we the people who pay for that while we also pay for what he calls entitlements. Grrr. But, he does keep the US Senate gavel out of Sen. McConnell’s hands.
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Hello Ali. Yes you are correct. The thing that the republicans don’t want to talk about is the cut off for the tax that pays for Social Security. But that has not been increased in for ever. It is really low. So a lot of the wealthy pay a fraction of their income in the system.
The OASDI tax rate for wages in 2022 is 6.2% each for employers and employees. That means an employee earning $147,000 or more would pay a maximum of $9,114 into OASDI.
The federal government sets a limit on how much of your income is subject to the Social Security tax. In 2023, the Social Security tax limit is $160,200 (up from $147,000 in 2022). The maximum amount of Social Security tax an employee will have withheld from their paycheck in 2023 will be $9,932 ($160,200 x 6.2%).
The only thing needed to not only save Social Security but to expand it and increase benefits is to remove the cap, the cut off. But instead, the republicans are insisting on cutting the benefits and raising the age to collect. That might be great for a wealthy congress person who has a staff paid for by the public to do everything for them, but what about the rest of the people. There are people in declining health, people working back breaking jobs. Ron took an early buy out a year early because by the time he got home he couldn’t walk, his health was getting really bad and working 12 hour shifts four times a week was too much. But the wealthy don’t care and they own the republican party and the corporate democrats. Hugs
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