The Perpetual Social Security Lie

[PATAX]

I recently saw an ad in which it is claimed that President Donald Trump is going to cut Social Security if he is elected. For as long as I can remember, this claim has been made in presidential elections. But guess what? Every single year when clients come in and bring in their 1099 SSA forms, I have never seen one client have their social security cut. Not one. Including the four years when President Trump was in office.

[IRonMaN]

And every year the Democrats are going to take your guns away.  All of this political nonsense is crazy.  Both sides have their political PACs pouring endless amounts of money into elections.  How big of a dent could the country make in homelessness if they just turned all of those dollars wasted on political advertising into building affordable housing?  Instead of elections maybe each candidate should be forced to do something like play Monopoly against the folks that want to run against them.  It would be like the World Series - the best out of 7 games is your new elected president or senator.  If Monopoly is too complicated maybe they could go for a few rounds of rock-paper-scissors to determine a winner.

[TaxGuyBill]

Why would you believe ANY political advertisement?

ALL of them that say something negative about the opponent are intentionally misleading.

In regards to Social Security being cut, "cut" doesn't necessarily mean everybody's benefits would be reduced.  It could mean that only certain taxpayers' benefits would be reduced (for example, high income taxpayers).

[PATAX · Accepted solution]

@TaxGuyBill you may be right concerning your last paragraph, but I guarantee you that is not what the average person thinks when they see ads like this over the years. The average person thinks that their social security check is going to get cut.

[TaxGuyBill]

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@PATAX wrote:

but I guarantee you that is not what the average person thinks when they see ads like this over the years.

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As I said before, why would you believe ANY political advertisement?  ALL of the negative ads are intentionally misleading people.

[IRonMaN]

People will buy anything ------------------------ if they really want to believe it.

[PATAX]

@IRonMaN you sure are right about that Iron Man. There was a guy about a hundred years ago or so that "sold" the Eiffel Tower.

[qbteachmt]

"I have never seen one client have their social security cut"

As they say in Reddit: Tell me you're old without telling me you're old.

You have clients who no longer have the option to "file and suspend." This was outlawed in 2016.

You no longer have the option for a restricted application. Spouses born after January 1, 1954 are no longer eligible to file a restricted application.

Both of these strategies being cut effectively cuts some family's Social Security retirement income by half, for their first few years.

You have clients with full retirement ages out past 65, now.

[IRonMaN]

There you go ruining a perfectly good post by adding facts to the equation.  😜

Ok, as long as we are going with facts, the Democrats did take your guns away in 1994 ------- well, they took away 50 round clips anyway.  But they did give them back a few years later.  Everybody knows you can't defend your home in case a platoon of criminals tries breaking into your home.

[PATAX]

@qbteachmt thanks. that ("strategies) is not what the ads are talking about.

[IRonMaN]

But you said you have never seen a cut and she said it has happened to some folks.  Like Bill said, both sides like to distort facts and PACs like to distort things even more than the candidates themselves.

[PATAX]

@IRonMaN come on now. the ads are talking about elderly people who are already retired who are going to get their checks cut.  

[IRonMaN]

In the come on now department I have heard repeated on several occasions by a presidential and vice presidential candidate that all of the cats and dogs are being eaten by Haitians (since it is happening in Ohio, I hope Jim is keeping close watch on his cats).  Which has the better chance of those statements of actually proven to be true at some point?  Listen to Bill - don’t buy anything that you see on TV that is being held out as fact in a political ad.

[sewcpa]

or for a different spin... I remember a really long time ago that social security was cut for a year to help economy recover. The tax rate was reduced so that the TAX was cut briefly on the folks who were working.

Was that 20 or 25 yrs ago?