gamb00ler

Maybe your most salient contribution to AN. You should make it the 'About me' quote in your profile.

Yes.... you seem jealous 🤢

The truth is almost all the mice are made in China! It's all a giant conspiracy. GOP gotta outlaw Chinese mice!

Let me guess.... you have a left leaning mouse that insists on bringing you here.

err.... proof reading?

Are you really that dense? Both those programs are NOT part of this budget. Do you have any inkling why not?

LOL.... so you're in agreement that Putin is purposefully attacking Ukrainian civilians but he has a 'better' motivation. That's pretty sick!

There's no need to denigrate those groups by associating them with 47.

Easy peasy .... anyone MAGAn worth their salt knows you can't trust any channel other than Faux.... and of course Faux hasn't bothered to report Trump's retreat

I just now looked at the picture of the ENT you recommended. I saw him for my clogged ear problem and his simple remedy worked flawlessly. We'll definitely go see him soon. Thanks again!

Thanks, Sheryl. We've been using Sriphat clinic for most of our medical appointments.

yes... confirmed as BPPV by excellent ENT in USA where she lived for decades. My wife has tried the maneuvers from YTube but with no real success.

My wife suffers from BPPV (Benign Positional Paroxysmal Vertigo) that is triggered when she tilts her head forward or reverses that motion too quickly. She triggered a severe episode yesterday AM while I was taking the dog for it's morning walk. When I arrived back home she was laying on the floor keeping still to let the vertigo sensation subside as it normally does. She had been tending plants in the garden when the vertigo struck and she tried to make it to a chair but as she was lowering herself into the chair she completely lost her balance and fell to the floor, striking her head. It didn't seem to her that her head hit the floor with that much force. She had mild external swelling at the contact point, a headache and mild nausea (the last two are common after a vertigo episode). This morning the nausea is still there so we are headed to Chiang Mai Ram hospital to check if she has suffered a mild concussion. We would also like to see an ENT to see if they can perform the correct head positioning maneuver to alleviate the BPPV symptoms. Anyone know of an ENT in CM to help with the BPPV?

That's true but with the Chaos Team in charge any hope of proper management of the debt crisis has disappeared.

NO... you don't understand... of course the money is spent... or invested in infrastructure, or education grants, or federally backed student loans... or defense procurements.... all considered useful places for the government to invest funds.. The government has already committed to those above expenditures/investments and to do so they would need to borrow money by selling Treasury bonds. The can either sell those bonds to other purchasers or they can sell them to the SS trust funds. Regardless of the existence of the SS trust funds... that money is going to be borrowed. So there is no flow of money from the government general revenue to the trust funds except to pay the interest on the money they have borrowed in the form of the "special" Treasury bonds bought by the SS trust funds. The government would pay almost exactly the same amount of interest to other lenders if not for the SS trust fund bond purchases. Sure.. it may seem like magical accounting ... but it is not.... it is very normal and straightforward practice. Instead of repaying the special SS bond purchases the US federal government issues payments to the SS benefit collectors from the Treasury and then reduces the balance of what they owe to the SS trust funds.

So... if the employer's obligation to pay the payroll tax magically disappears.... do you think management is going to immediately up everyones cheque? Of course not... so your theory about a potentially higher wage is unfounded in reality. When such a higher wage could be paid.... it ain't gonna be.

NO! You did not understand that article correctly. Read it again... it addresses the gap between the payouts and the replenishment from current contributions. The gap is real but your assumption that the gap is covered from general government revenues is INCORRECT! The gap is covered by a slow contraction of the SS/Medicare trust funds. The SS/Medicare funds initially built up a very large reserve when the demographics of working population were much more tilted towards younger contributors. As the baby boomers started to retire, the outflow of benefits began to exceed the inflow of contributions. As a result the large reserve declined probably starting prior to 2010. But... the reserves are still there but quickly declining. The reserves will be totally spent in about 10 years from now. EVEN THEN current law will not allow general government revenue to cover the shortfall.... this will cause the SS benefits to be reduced by about 20%.

You're correct that employers pay 50%... I stated that in my previous responses in this thread. I was never an employee so I funded 100% of my benefit. But that 50% from the employer is like a forced retirement contribution that matches the employees contribution. It is not a tax that goes into the government's general funds. Both contributions go into the SS/Medicare trust funds which can only be used to fund benefits to the qualified contributors. That's the legal environment under which employment takes place in the USA. None of those funds ever could be available to anyone's children unless given to them by the employer or employee. If you wish to live in a lawless land.... you've come to the right place.

That's not a realistic view at all..... your employment exists in an environment where you and the employer are subject to the laws of the land. One of those laws is that the employer has no option other than to pay the FICA. So.... there is no lost "potential" wage in a land of laws.

I think that may be more than 100% wrong. SS is completely funded by contributions collected from employed people via the FICA taxes and a tad bit more from the tax some people pay on their SS benefits. Those collected funds belong 100% to those who contributed through payroll deductions based upon wages/salaries already paid. Your ignorance is truly stunning.

I think you need to read the details about FICA deductions a few more times. The money you contributed towards SS benefits (and Medicare) was not subjected to Federal income tax. Those funds have never been taxed. The amount of FICA taxes you paid were deducted from your wage/salary income and income tax was levied on the remainder after that deduction. If you were self-employed you paid 100% of the FICA taxes but if you earned a salary/wage you only paid 50% of FICA and your employer paid the other 50%. To make it 100% clear... if you earned $1000/week you paid about 75$ in FICA tax and so did your employer. You paid income tax on only (1000-75) 925$ and all of the $150 went into the SS and Medicare trust funds. I don't think federal income tax was charged on any of the funds that were paid into the SS/Medicare trust funds. When qualified contributors reached retirement age they receive Medicare and retirement benefits. Only the retirement benefits are taxed after some exemption and the marginal tax rate is never higher than 85% of the regular marginal income tax rate.

He knows who he's talking to.

When you pay the FICA taxes that fund SS.... you don't pay tax on what essentially are the premiums that fund your retirement benefits. The money that employed people pay into SS Trust funds was not taxed when earned. All my FICA taxes came from self-employment but I'm sure that employers also don't pay income tax on the 50% of the FICA taxes that they send to the government on behalf of the employees.

Essentially the tax on SS benefits makes the SS program slightly more progressive in that the taxpayers with lower incomes get to keep more of their benefits than those with higher incomes.

He has probably confused ill-informed opinions with "facts" and doesn't realize that non-fiction books generally contain the data supporting the facts.