With so many people moving to countries, with businesses reducing their workforce, with the advent of AI taking over so many job, the tax base is being reduced.
Surely there will come a day when major changes will be needed.
Means testing? A threshold set, anyone one with more than the threshold will not receive Social Security.
I think I will be okay, not enough net worth to not receive it.
Low income/savings people will/should be okay. Though we never really know the future.
Politicians listen to advisors and it is those people that hold our future in their hands.
Will you be okay if, down the track, social security was greatly curtailed or even removed?
Social security was a safety net, one would hope life would not take a person to a place where it is relied upon so, its best not factored for in advance.
It looks like there already a problem across many western countries where the tax takings are not sufficient to meet the government spending (across all spending, not just welfare). And this has been the case for decades, hence the ever growing national debts.
Surely that means more taxation. If AI is taking jobs then technology needs to be taxed - it is after all doing the work people used to do. If was taxed for the work I did then anything replacing me should also be taxed. So why not tax it?
Everyone should be paying roughly the same percentage in tax - that is only fair. I managed to get to be earning enough to be paying 40% on most of my earnings, plus NI at 10%. By my calculation I was paying about 35% overall. Is everyone doing that - nope - if you are taxed on capital gains then it is lower. If you borrow to obtain your spending money then you pay no tax, just 8% interest in a loan. That needs to be addressed.
Welfare is surely needed but there must also be worries about multi-generation welfare dependence. Are there really no solutions to this?
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Remeber when the idea of a Universal Income was mooted?
That’s gone very quiet.
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It is a highly progressive idea (so truly hated by the right). Guess which country has actually put it in place? Iran.
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Well you live and learn … Iran introduced a partial Universal Income in 2011 …which amounts to 29% of the median salary.
In the UK, at a figure of 30,000 per annum that would be 10K.
Not a niggardley amount. I was surprised to see how much they invest in 20 to 29 years olds staying on for further education too.
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I think we can all note that Iran is a deeply flawed regime. Of course, worse than that. I would never support a theocracy, let alone a brutal, oppressive one. And yet might they do ok things amongst the horror?
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I could be wrong but if memory serves me right, and it might not … Saddam’s Iraq used to send Iraqi’s to foreign universities if the specialized subject they wanted to study was unavailable at home.
There are many examples you could cite …
Conversely, I always have a bit of trouble adjusting to the idea that the US, presumably the most powerful though not necssarily the wealthiest country in the world, leaves it’s citizens to pay for private healthcare.
I suppose it follows though, getting back a bit more on topic, that China … home to the AI robot explosion , will be the first to find out how it affects society at large, and more specifically the economy.
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Wow, lots to consider.
The US has a fixation on the notion that each person must, completely on their own merit - earn, win, succeed. That concept explains their attitude to health care and welfare. Add on the idea that you keep all what you earn, to spend as you wish, then you get their distain for universal health care. Apply, on top, a hefty layer of zero empathy for the plight of others less fortunate and you get America. It works super well for some.
I’ve been there perhaps 20 times or more. All corners. Zero need or desire to go back, It is a dismal place. Which is a pity as there are quite lovely locations and some quite lovely people.
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Well this is a cheerful topic!
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Well, being caught in the benefit trap must be a bit dire
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I wondered where this thread had gone … it’s resurfaced!
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anyone worked it out yet, let us know so we can prepare for it
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Not sure, social security has only appeared in lyrics once to my knowledge
Social Security took care of this lad
We watch in reverence, as Narcissus is turned to a flower
A flower? 
Should have used the bigger flush button 
They were just talking on the telly about pensions really being a “benefit” and how they won’t be able to sustain the triple lock. I have a feeling I will never get mine as I still have years to wait because the government will need to raid the pot. This is all too depressing to be thinking about.
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You are right that this is truly a worry. Of course there is no “pot” as state pensions are paid out from that years welfare budget. Not like private pensions with a pot of investments (which are reducing rapidly right now thanks to dumb Trump and his big gulf adventure).
My own UK state pension will kick in four years from now. It will be very, very helpful - but it would not be sufficient to live on,
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There’ll always be Social Security. The question is at which level.
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yes that is correct ref paying it out of the pot of government funds received each year from taxation, investments and borrowing. I see this as a pie (chart) and pensions are a slice of pie. So long as there is a pie there is a slice for pensions and if they run out of money for ingredients to run everything they borrow some sugar or flour.
But there is a contract with the population who paid national insurance in good faith and have been conned into thinking that is a pension. So the government have been running a scam all these years if they think they can dip into that part of the Treasury pie that is ring-fenced for pension payments.
So long as we have a good credit rating it works does it not? But the government seem to be expecting the international credit bubble to burst - that whole “great reset” predicted for 2030 appears to be on the cards after all the talk of a conspiracy theory.
Recently I am starting to see how that will actually happen and unfortunately I won’t be of state pension age yet in 2030. I do have a work pension that I can take early but my opinion these days is that if you have money spend it and enjoy yourself while you are young enough before it either disappears in the economic mess we are headed for or is grabbed back by the state. It seems that you only end up being targeted if you have been careful enough to save for the future.
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Governments rely on Actuaries for advice as to how much of the pot to dip into.
Probably.
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