cdemundo

I hope you are right. However, no matter how many times Trump might say something I don't necessarily trust him. Like all politicians what is said on the campaign trail and what is done if elected are 2 different things. But I sincerely hope that you are right.

Have you checked outside? The possibility exists that youngsters, who pay nothing in taxes, are walking on your lawn. Better get busy protecting your interests, say it loud, you're old and you're proud: "Get off my lawn!!!"

Beach please. No one wants to "protect bureaucratic waste, fraud and abuse". Saying that is the purest bovine waste. People are concerned that their Social Security benefits will be messed with as Trump/Musk doesn't seem to understand or care about their concern.

Even simple automation is not very reliable. I use the self checkout at a local supermarket 5 or 6 times a week. At least once a week it has some kind of error that requires a store employee to intervene with a bypass key. Not as frequently all four of the self checkout machines will have a customer waiting for assistance with a locked up machine, and I will go to a human checkout. I am not posting to complain about the inconvenience, rather I offer an example of relatively simple automation and its lack of reliability. What level of reliability can we expect from advanced technology?

I don't get it, are you envious of poor people in some perverse way? Poor people get a free ride? Very strange although not as rare as one would expect.

I gotta agree there. I live across the street from a lovely little lake with a narrow park land encircling it. People litter indiscriminately in what should be a lovely natural area. The people who visit here are overwhelmingly Thai people as there are no tourist attractions in this area.

Income tax (FIT) and Social Security deductions (FICA) are distinct. The expenses of the discretionary budget are distinct from the the Social Security Trust fund, If you invested in an IRA would you be happy to withdraw only the amount you deposited? Again I am reminded that there is no qualification of any kind required before a person can hold forth on AN.

"There is no doubt there is fraud. One woman..." I'm sorry was that "one woman"?

I just completed this quiz. My Score 30/100 My Time 87 seconds  

Why?

As I said: Disregarding feelings about Musk and about any other posters on AN, So I won't respond to your baffling response.

"Paying out hundreds of billions of USD in fraudulent payments needs to end. " No one would argue against your point. The thing is there doesn't seem to be any evidence of this. The problem with Musk with respect to the electoral third rail is that he doesn't care as he is not an elected official.

Thank you for your pontifications. I would disagree with this one " The easiest thing to do is to restrict or reduce social security benefits for non residents". There are a relatively small number of non-residents receiving benefits: " more than 760,000 people receive Social Security benefits while living abroad" each year out of about 51,772,000 receiving benefits. So you are advocating going after a minority who you probably see as vulnerable rather than looking to actually solve the funding problem. The easiest and most effective would be to remove this limit: "there is a limit on the amount of your earnings that is taxable by Social Security. This amount is known as the “maximum taxable earnings” and changes each year." This limit, essentially a kickback to high income individuals, is unjustifiable and would actually result in a significant addition to the Social Security fund. Your snobbish attitude is so apparent, referring to the " the trailer park and age 50-60 group", one can't really take your opinions seriously.

You've got a point but it seems like nobody else's engineers do as much as his. Again, not to argue but to sincerely ask: How did Tesla leapfrog over all the established carmakers to become competitive in electric cars? Japanese and American car makers should have been old hands at the biz yet Tesla got in there. Musk is certainly a bit of an oddball but he's also got a bit of the Midas Touch.

I'm surprised. I was expecting "I did too! I did too read a book!!".

Disregarding feelings about Musk and about any other posters on AN, I have a deep, sincere, heartfelt attachment to my Social Security Retirement payment. I starting paying into the fund at age 14 and now I expect to get my benefits as promised. Although I know that not everyone who joins in these discussion about US politics collects Social Security benefits (some of the most active are apparently old hens from New Zealand) in my opinion many would do well to put politics aside and focus on what is really important and significant in human life. Money. Don't let anyone muck with the benefit that I funded through payroll deductions for my whole working life. If Jesus, Buddha, and Jerry Garcia were on a committee that was trying to get at my Social Security I would still feel the same way. This is not personal or political. It's about the money.

You reveal your shallowness, not that of Thailand.

A lot of young people who have been attending international schools speak a very high level of English with accents that are indistinguishable from native speakers. Government school students not so much sadly.

Interesting differences depending on who you ask: "According to the WHO, US has the lowest rate of alcohol dependence with only 1.92 per cent. Below are the top countries in the world with the high rate of alcohol use disorder in males: Russia (16.29%) Hungary (15.29%) Lithuania (13.35%) South Korea (13.10%) Latvia (11.54%) Belarus (11.43%) Estonia (11.09%) Niue (10.58%) Colombia (10.33%) Thailand (10.18%)" https://www.abbeycarefoundation.com/alcohol/alcoholism-by-country-statistics/ Russia, Hungary, South Korea and the Baltics seem to be consensus winners. USA? Reports differ widely.

Great addition to the discussion. BRB, some kids are on my lawn.

Note to self: Sad emojis bug this poster. Good to know.

Oh, he was a "successful body builder". That changes everything.

"Guys who go to Pattaya 20 times can't even pronounce the word." And they post a video to prove it. "The average person is an idiot." And half are of course dumber than average. Of course the implication of the Dunning-Kreuger effect is that a person can be an idiot and not know it. In spite of what AN posters might think, it could be you (not me of course). Watch to see how long before somebody takes my final remark literally.

Looking forward to the Village People's Kenndy Center residency. No one knows class like Trump.