re: Fed Chair Powell: “economy leaning too hard on the rich”

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I have been paying in to social security my entire life and I had no choice. If I had been able to invest that money elsewhere then I would be a lot better off. I am now relying on that money when I retire. If I suddenly make too much money to claim my benefits I will go off the rails.

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Oh, I’m with you. It would have to be phased in…folks 50 or older have planned on having SS the entire time they’ve saved for retirement.

Show me your ticket first

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I’d be interested to sit in on strategic staffing conversations at law firms, banks, consulting firms, etc. A lot of their entry level work is turning out to be easily done by AI, at least very soon, but those companies also depend on those internal pools of young talent as training grounds for their future leadership.

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We had someone give an AI presentation to put group, and naturally this question came up and this was his answer. Yeah you don't need them today, but you'll need them in the future. And in that future, they have to get experience somewhere somehow.

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I pulled my son out his MBA program and told him I’m only paying for welding school going forward

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What an idiot. Fricking robots know how to weld. Make him get his HVAC degree.

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My nephew graduated from high school in 2024 and is a welder. He makes $23 per hour. He works a lot of overtime and with overtime he will make abot $70k. He said with a couple more years experience he will get paid over $30 per hour.

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A RN with an associates will get $35+ straight out of school, and that job is in demand. Go contract or travel, and almost double that. Get a couple of years of ICU experience, a LOT of doors open.

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Translation: learn to weld, become an electrician, learn plumbing, HVAC, etc.

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Jesus Christ. Idiots are still spouting this bullshite.....

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He works a lot of overtime and with overtime he will make abot $70k. He said with a couple more years experience he will get paid over $30 per hour.

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Neat. Whats his benefit package like? You know, the thing that accounts for about 40-50% of total compensation?




Salary/wages are only half of the equation.

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Be it the debt or social security, we better fricking hope we get a group of politicians who recognize that really unpopular policy is going to have to be passed or were absolutely frickED economically.

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Agreed, but it's not going to happen. The biggest issue is spending being out of control. Period. Thus, the fix needs to be heavily focused on cutting spending. No one wins an election by saying "I'm going to make sure you get fewer benefits and less from those you receive!"

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Taxes have to increase, especially on the wealthy.

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I get that you probably mean income earners, but terminology is important. Taxing wealthy would be a certain path to absolute economic ruin. As to income earners, the top earners are already carrying the lion's share of the tax burden.

Realistically, taxes likely need to be held steady but only if spending is cut enough to create a surplus which is used to pay down the debt.

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Social security can no longer be capped.

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If we're keeping it, then agreed. I would rather see it phased out and replaced with legislation which applies tax breaks to businesses who provide matching funds to 401ks.

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Social security needs to be means tested.

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I get it, but no. Either the people who paid into it still get it or no one gets it. I would, however, agree that anyone who has retired could release their claim on their SS funds if they wanted (my grandfather complained about not being able to do this as he didn't need it).

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We need to cut a shite ton of spending and the DoD can’t be exempt from the cuts.

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Agreed. But it's got to be every department as well as selling off unused property, cutting off a frickton of foreign aid (especially things we don't get some sort of reciprocal return from). Understand what I mean by this: Going off last year's spending, every cent spent by the federal government (regardless of what it was spent on, excepting debt servicing) would need to be cut by about 30% just to balance the budget. This means SNAP, Medicare, the VA, highway funds, pay for every federal employee (including contractors) drawing a paycheck, etc. That's not a partisan thing, it's literally how bad the debt issue is.

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CEO pay should be capped.

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No. The market gets to determine that, when government gets involved it turns to shite. However, there could be some sort of tax incentive for businesses whose pay range (when compensation is broken down to an hourly bases) gets n% cut from its income tax if the lowest paid employee is within y% of the top pay (excluding commissions).

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Wages need to increase…the government can do this by dangling corporate goodies in return for increased payrolls.

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We need to get health care the frick out of private hands…the costs to Americans are incredible and hurts the middle class the most.

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Quite the opposite. The more government has gotten involved with healthcare, the more the expense has grown. The idea that "we just didn't do it right" or "we just haven't done it enough yet" is proven wrong by history. The better option would be tougher but would lower prices: remove Medicare/Medicaid altogether. The open taps of those programs is a large part of what has led to prices being so great that medical insurance is pretty much mandatory (this also goes toward Big Pharma subsidizing drugs for other parts of the world by fricking Americans with far higher prices).

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Now who thinks we’ll have politicians who have the balls to talk plainly to Americans to describe the situation we’re in and the things which need to happen? I’m not holding my breath.

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Same here.

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I pulled my son out his MBA program

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I can't imagine pulling an adult child out of school, unless they have a serious substance use disorder or something.

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Are you under the impression that skilled trade workers don’t receive great benefits?

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If they're union, sure.