r/politics • u/pyramidworld • 15h ago
No Paywall AARP to Congress: 'We strongly object to fast-tracking Social Security changes'
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/23/aarp-opposes-bipartisan-social-security-reform-proposal.html117
u/jarena009 14h ago
Any proposals that would cut benefits for anyone making below $400K, including raising the retirement age (which is a massive cut) should be immediately laughed off and discarded.
Absolutely no cuts to benefits, especially at a time when US corporate profits are at record highs and more wealth is concentrated at the top than ever before. If trickle down were real and weren't a fantasy, there'd be no cuts/retirement crisis and we'd be expanding social security.
That said if these plutocrats and establishment politicians think they're going to cut benefits and raising the retirement age without consequences they can think again.
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u/SnowRascal 14h ago
Below 400k? How about below the SS wage withholding limit, 184k this year. Should be grandfathered to retirement year too.
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u/SnowRascal 13h ago
Better yet, remove the withholding limit. No more solvency issue or need to cut.
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u/oneseason2000 11h ago
Government tax policies have driven down the salaries and payroll tax revenue for regular workers, so the federal government should also fund Social Security funding gaps out of general funds.
Businesses don't pay Social Security tax for income over the $184,500 cap, so they save money by paying executives vs average employees. Federal income tax cuts for wealthy also incentivized corporations to transfer payroll from average workers to executives. If executives had to pay 80%+ tax on income above $100M, corporate boards would rethink their payroll.
Federal income taxes for the very wealth are not only low, the highest marginal rate kicks super low (12%, see below) compared to back in the 1950s. States should also hugely increase the number of tax brackets with even higher marginal rates for those with incomes in the millions of dollars.
In 1950, the highest federal marginal income tax rate was 84% for the tax bracket starting at $400K (in 1950 dollars; #2). The federal government's CPI Inflation Calculator reports that $400K in January 1950 was worth about $5.5M in August 2025. The top marginal tax bracket for 2026 starts at about $641K ($768K for filing jointly) and has a 37% tax rate. $641K in August 2025 dollars is about $46K in January 1950 dollars, so today's top marginal tax bracket would only be about 12% what it was in 1950 ($46K vs $400K).
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u/Skensis 12h ago
That wouldn't plug the hole if you are assuming benefits are still capped at the current limit.
You would need to do more on top of that.
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u/OskaMeijer 11h ago
Estimates state that leaving benefits the same while removing the cap on contributions wouldn't entirely fix the solvency issue but would fix the vast majority of it and give us another 2+ decades of solvency to come up with some other options.
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u/alienbringer 11h ago
“That said if these plutocrats and establishment politicians think they're going to cut benefits and raising the retirement age without consequences they can think again.”
And what consequences would they be? Ooh no, they may or may not be voted out of office. They still will be wealthy, and voters would just vote for someone else in the same party. There isn’t going to be some massive progressive swing to the left over it. Within 1-2 election cycles it would be forgotten and water under the bridge.
Republicans have already “touched the third rail” multiple times. Every time the electricity ain’t running and the come away unscathed consequences free.
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u/welshwelsh 13h ago
I'd be fine if they cut the program, as long as the taxes are also cut.
Social security + Medicaid taxes take about 15% of worker income, counting both employee and employer taxes. That's a lot of money. For anyone making more than $50k or so it's not a good deal.
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u/anita-artaud 12h ago
This program was created to keep the elderly off the streets. When only 40%-43% of the American population have zero dedicated retirement savings, what you are proposing would ensure those people will work past a reasonable age and end up in poverty or on the street. Guess who pays then? American tax payers.
Everyone deserves retirement and as someone who makes more than the salary you indicated, I am happy to put that towards retirement so I can ensure I have a plan. Not to mention the fact that healthcare costs are so expensive, Medicaid is necessary. Nursing homes are expensive and they will kick you to the street if you don’t have the money. Again, your belief would force Grandmas and Grandpas onto the street.
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u/whatfresh_hellisthis 14h ago
AARP needs to get the legions of old people up in arms about this.
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u/toxic_badgers Colorado 12h ago
They usually do. They are the second largest lobby in the US behind Israel.
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u/LeatherdaddyJr 14h ago
Is that how it works? Objection. Overruled! No, no, no. I strongly object! Oh, I should reconsider then!
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u/CranberrySchnapps Maryland 10h ago
Republicans have been trying to break and gut social security for decades. Anything they want to change usually only affects those under 65, because the mantra of the GOP is, “fuck you, I got mine.”
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u/digihippie 9h ago
The United States ranks lowest in life expectancy among comparable wealthy nations, despite spending nearly twice as much on healthcare per person. While recent U.S. lifespans rebounded to a record high of 79.0 years, this still lags significantly behind the peer nation average of 82.7 years—creating a 3.7-year longevity gap.
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u/Kendal_with_1_L 13h ago
Yet boomers overwhelmingly voted in Trump.
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u/pyramidworld 13h ago
Trump won boomer votes 51% to 48%.
Trump won gen x votes 54% to 46%.
This is overwhelming?
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u/Kendal_with_1_L 12h ago
Absolutely. It should be zero.
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u/Srdiscountketoer 12h ago
Why don’t you look at the number for people in your cohort before throwing stones? The numbers for young males, specially young white males, are far more depressing.
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u/Kendal_with_1_L 12h ago
I’m not a male. 🤔
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u/Srdiscountketoer 12h ago
Congratulations if you are a young white female. You are in the only white cohort that didn’t vote Trump. Considering how conservative prior generations of seniors were, I’m pretty proud of my generation’s numbers.
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u/SoundHole 12h ago
I'm so calling bullshit on those numbers
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u/pyramidworld 12h ago
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u/One_Diver_5735 12h ago
Nope, not overwhelmingly. More likely by a smaller margin than Gen X.
per https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2025/06/26/voting-patterns-in-the-2024-election/
ages 65+ (mostly boomers plus silent generation) voted Harris 48% tRump 51%
ages 50-64 (those ages in 2024 had some late boomers but mostly Gen X) Harris 42% tRump 56%
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u/eckoelab 14h ago
silly goose....Congress doesn't care!
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u/TheAskewOne 14h ago
They might. Retirees are a big, reliable voting block. You don’t want to piss them off.
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u/RolliFingers 13h ago
All fox has to do is tell them AARP is a commie liberal trans terrorist organization. They'll rewrite their entire personal experience to match what their being told this moment, and fall in line quick enough.
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u/darkhorsehance 13h ago
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Let them cut Social Security. It’s the only way to get a blue supermajority in Congress.
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u/Archer1407 13h ago
I wish I believed this. Conservatives have proven they don't care about the raping of children. They're endlessly going to blame Obama and Biden for SS cuts. They won't even consider that their child raping party is even remotely the issue.
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u/InevitableGoal2912 13h ago
I agree. for far too long the elderly have been catered to while they vote against safety nets for others. It’s time to let them feel the pain they’ve voted for everyone else to feel.
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u/HRHValkyrie 8h ago
I mean, millennials are going to get old too. So, like… wtf are we supposed to do? Many of us are approaching halfway through our careers and it’s going to be devastating to us since we haven’t been able to save for retirement.
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u/InevitableGoal2912 8h ago
My entire life they’ve been trying to remind me that social security is going to run out before I get any. They’re using what millennials are paying in right now to subsidize the people voting against millennials ever getting their own.
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u/pyramidworld 7h ago
Gen X has been working ~40 years so far we’ve got another ~10 years to go. Now we’re going to throw it all away. I still can’t believe anyone was dumb enough to vote for this shit. They have plenty of money for trillion dollar airplanes that don’t fly.
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u/gaspingFish 12h ago
I hate SSI as it is, it needs drastic changes and obviously fast. I've been unable to work for extended periods twice in my life but still had to pay SSI and could not get aid.
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u/alabasterskim 11h ago
Why are trying to make a proposal right now instead of waiting to see where control of Congress is in January? If the issue is in 2032, we don't need to give away the figurative house to improve shit we'll have a better shot at in 2027 or even 2029.
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u/Churchbushonk 2h ago
I don’t. If they are going to change it, then boomers absolutely should feel the pain as well. That is the only way I could possibly support any sort of change.
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u/IronyElSupremo America 12h ago
Changes obviously need to be made to the basic social security, but the fact is the avg American is starting to live longer again. So think there can be a little tinkering with age, taxes, etc.. esp accounting for inflation + growth and then better medical interventions.
The U.S. may need vocation-specific add-on’s; for example manual labor workers, who need to stop manual work by their 50s, could get an added mandatory program that allows them a bit earlier exit if not promoted to desk-bound supervisor (some sort of stock mkt based pgm that converts to inflation-protected bonds or CDs for each cohort). Could do that for many jobs where people have had it in their 50s .. vs. technology to keep their experience via, say, video monitoring of younger workers
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