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Hey everyone, welcome back. So, a new piece of legislation was just introduced that if passed would increase benefits by $1,800 or more for all Social Security beneficiaries, plus on top of that, make the program more solvent and actually increase the cost of living adjustments on an annual basis. In today's video, we are going to be covering everything that you need to know.
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Okay, so a new piece of legislation was just introduced that it passed once again would increase benefits by more than $1,800 on an annual basis for all social security beneficiaries. On top of that, of course, it would also make the program solvent for a longer period of time. And then on top of that, it would also increase the cost of living adjustments that you're receiving on an annual basis even more.
Now, as you've been speaking about on the news, anywhere between 2032 and 2033, if Congress does not act, unfortunately, there's going to be an acrosstheboard benefit cut of right around up to 26%. Anywhere between 19 to 26% is what they're going to have to cut everyone's benefits by. That is because there is not going to be enough money in the trust fund, plus the money uh flowing into the trust fund to be able to pay out everyone 100% of their scheduled benefits. And because of that, they're just going to have to cut everyone's benefits across the board by that amount just to ensure that everyone gets something. And they're going to try to do it that as fairly as possible. But this bill would change that, would make the the trust fund solvent for a longer period of time. And there would also be enough money left around to be able to increase everyone's benefits by right around $1,800 or more on an annual basis.
So, we're going to go ahead and dive into this bill. Who is introducing it? What are his ideas? Let's go ahead and dive into it. This article is from Big Island. Now, they say that US Senator Brian Shatz, he is a Democrat uh in the state of Hawaii, he introduced a piece of legislation to expand social security for seniors and families in Hawaii as well as throughout the entire United States. The safeguarding American families and expanding social security or safe social security act will increase benefits on average by more than $150 per month, ensure the cost of living adjustments adequately, reflect the living expenses of retirees, extend the life of the social security trust fund, and remove the wage cap to make sure all Americans contribute to the fund.
Now, a lot of people receiving Social Security have been complaining over the past few years, and rightfully so, about the cost of living adjustments that they have been receiving, even though they have been as high as 8.7%. At the same time, they're looking at what the actual rate of inflation is. And even though they're receiving these increases via the cost of living adjustment, they're looking at what they're able to buy in the the next years. And they're not able to buy the same things that they were be that they were able to buy before in previous years. And that fact that the reason for that is because even though they are receiving an increase or receiving more each and every year because of the cost of living adjustments, the pace of inflation has actually been higher than what their cost of living adjustment is. So even though they're receiving higher and higher uh cola every single year and their their benefit amounts have been increasing, at that same time the actual rate of inflation has been increasing more. So even though they're receiving more and more uh money each each and every year, the actual pace of inflation is higher, which leaves them further and further behind. So perhaps you're able to fill their entire grocery cart for $100, maybe, you know, let's say 6 years ago. Now, if they want to fill their entire grocery cart, that might cost, you know, close to $200, for example. Uh so, you know, the colas are not keeping up with inflation. Obviously, that is very problematic.
And this bill would seek to change the cost living adjustment over to the CPIE formula on and on average the CPIE typically is a little bit higher and it also on top of that tracks the expenses uh that seniors usually uh you know pay for like health care expenses for example it's weighed much more heavily in the CPIE.
Now, to do all this, to be able to increase benefits by this amount, what they have to do is basically they have to phase out the payroll uh tax cap because right now you're only paying payroll tax into the social security trust fund on the first $184,000 you that you owe. So what that means is basically someone who earns $184,000 per year is going to be paying the exact same amount of tax via the payroll tax into the social security trust fund as someone who earns let's say $100 million per year. That is because someone who who earns $100 million per year is only going to be paying the payroll tax that goes into the social social security trust fund on the first $184,000. anything above that is no longer taxed even though they're even though they they would be paying federal tax, state tax, and other type of taxes. Uh they're only being taxed on the first $184,000 of their income. So, a lot of people are saying that is unfair that we should be lifting that cap in this bill. They would be doing exactly that.
Now, they go on here to say that the number of Hawaii seniors is expected to grow by 2040 to more than 20% of the population, making the need to expand the program even more critical. Specifically, the Save Social Security Act will do the following. First off, it will phase out the payroll tax c tax cap so payroll taxes apply fairly to every dollar of wages earned. Secondly, adjust current benefit calculations to increase average monthly benefits by more than $150 per month. And finally, would update the annual cost of living adjustments to better reflect the real cost seniors face through the use of the consumer price index for the elderly or CPIE for short.
As far as what people are saying, we have the AFL CIO government affairs director in Jodi Calmine saying in the release that quote, "Social Security is the cornerstone of a secure retirement for working families. The save social security act which lifts the tax cap tax cap for high earners is the fairest and most equitable way to extend the solveny of the program while also improving benefits for everyone who has spent years contributing to the economy."
Now, with that said, leave your thoughts and comments below. What do you think about this bill? Is this something that you could get behind? This is something that you like. If this is a bill that you like, I would definitely highly encourage you uh to call your state representatives. Call your state senators in each state. You have two senators. You could call them. Um, you know, talk to whoever you get on the phone. Ask what your state senators think about this bill. If they plan on backing it, do they plan on co-sponsoring it? What do they think about Social Security? What do they think about expanding social security? And most importantly of all, what do they think about expanding or increasing the the or bettering the solveny of the Social Security trust fund? Because again, we're talking about 2032 or 2033. Those are the years in which the trust fund is going to be going insolvent. And what and when it does go insolvent, unfortunately, once again, what that's going to mean is an acrosstheboard benefits cut of right around or up to 26%. This would be absolutely devastating for someone earning $2,000 per month. That would mean a cut of $500 a month, going from receiving $2,000 per month down to $1,500 a month. That would be absolutely devastating for American seniors having this big of a cut take place. it can now happen. Congress needs to act. Call call your representatives. Uh call your senators. Write them. Do whatever is easier for you. Make sure they know the importance of social security, keeping it solvent and even expanding or increasing benefits. Again, leave your thoughts and comments below about that.
Now, you can look at the bill up on the screen here. Again, this is the Safeguarding American Families and Expanding Social Security Act of 2024. right now, believe it or not, it actually does not have any co-sponsors. And again, that's quite surprising. You might think a bill that uh, you know, is is by Democrat may not have any, you know, Republican co-sponsors at least, but you would at least expect maybe to have a few Democrats on board. It's very surprising that a bill of this nature would not have any co-sponsors whatsoever. Of course, there are some other, you know, very popular bills out there by Democrats. The Social Security Expansion Act by Bernie Sanders. There's also the Social Security 2100 act uh by John Larson. Both of those bills would expand Social Security and make it solvent for a longer period of time. So perhaps the reason, you know, a bill like this would not have any co-sponsors is maybe things are just getting watered down and they're not really, you know, centering around this bill by Brian Shatz, you know, he's a relatively, I guess, unnown Democrat in Hawaii. Um but again, you know, leave your thoughts in the comments below. What do you think about this bill? Definitely interested in what you have to think.