UnderpantsWeevil

That's more a consequence of Russian domestic propaganda than French bluster. If you showed a Russian the end result of the Ukraine War four years ago, they'd call you a liar and turn up the dial on TASS to drown you out.

At the same time, this war has been miserable for everyone. "We have to keep shooting until we can trust those evil orks, which we will never do!" isn't a strategy that will do anything but escalate the conflict. Which - hey, if you're the world's second largest weapons exporter staring down a recessionary global economy - might seem pretty good. But its not great for what's left of Ukraine or what's left of Russia or for anyone else in Eastern Europe, long term.

But because it’s not capable of sustaining the elderly, a 401k is a primary method to pay the gap.

Less than half of the US participates in 401ks. It is not the primary method for paying.

This whole discussion is that gap, and is why in this discussion about 401k bringing up social security is moot.

Its very difficult to take seriously the idea that a five year bull market is leaving a gap in private investment. The gap isn't the result of a short-term downturn in a record high equities market, its with the vast disparity between equities gains and working incomes.

The appeal of Social Security, and the reason why it forms the foundation of virtually every retirement plan in the US, has to do with its relative accessibility and guaranteed return. This is in sharp contrast to 401ks (which have outperformed lifetime SS returns thanks to a long term upward market trend) that over half the country isn't eligible to join.

I am not the one who put social security on the chopping block, Elon Musk is.

Elon isn't putting SS on the chopping block, he's just trying to deny people payments through blatantly illegal means. You've bought into the theory that SS simply won't be there, in large part, by the people who are trying to shut it down. Might as well take a bank robber at his word that you should open the door and let him into the vault because the cash box will be empty by the end of the day.

Is there anything that links Arnauld to white supremacy?

Other than his constellation of right-wing news journals, including Le Parisien, and Les Echos newspapers, Radio Classique and magazines Challenges and Sciences et Avenir? The guy was literally sharing a table with the Silicon Valley goons at the Trump inauguration.

Or do you mean that he indirectly helps white supremacist viewpoints take hold?

He's about as indirect as the Adelsons, the Mercers, the Murdochs, or the Cheneys in the US. Dude dumps tons of money into right wing political organizations, media, and activist groups across Europe, particularly with regards to anti-union efforts in and around the fashion industry.

What's annoy af is that it isn't even "because I'm transphobic". Cause JK Rowling played those cards close to the chest for a good 20 years.

It's because every conversation seems to inevitably include some random outburst of FOX News propaganda that's been ping-ponging around in your head since you last turned off the TV. Lets pretend your parent isn't some sex-pest work-a-holic who bought a social media platform specifically for the purpose of shitposting 25/8. I still don't want to hear the Jesse Waters/Tim Poole party line filtered through a haze of Ketamin from anyone, much less someone I used to admire and aspire towards.

I am saying that in a discussion about the risk to the 401k, mentioning social security is irrelevant.

If you've ever had to answer the question (or known someone who has to answer the question) "at what point do I begin to draw down from my 401k/IRA/whatever?", the questions "When am I eligible for SS? When do I receive the maximum SS benefit?" looms large. Social Security is an economic backstop for the elder that prevents a downturn in the market from forcing them to divest from their retirement positions at a disadvantage, precisely because it makes up such a large share of their retirement income.

If you are going to obliterate (or even just privatize) SS entirely, you're eliminating that counter-cyclical cushion. Now there is no baseline of income that elderly people can rely on. There is no guaranteed future income to borrow against, destroying the credit worthiness of the elderly. That's both immediately consequential during a downturn (market goes down, guaranteeing an equivalent drop in retiree spending) and historically consequential (apartments/retirement communities can't admit new elderly residents without assuming high risk of non-payment, credit agencies and mid-term lenders don't want to do business with the elderly, elderly residents are at increased risk of eviction/repo, etc) that make life for elderly people much harder.

that does not cover the growing gap the 401k needs to cover.

When the NASDAQ, led by the MAG7, has seen a historic 150% increase in a mere five years, it is extremely premature to talk about 401ks failing to cover basic needs due to a 15% downturn (off a post-inauguration spike). What kind of growth does a 401k need if the last five years isn't covering it? You're not describing a problem of market volatility, at that point. You're just saying 401ks suck as a vehicle for guaranteeing long term retirement needs.

And that brings us back to alternatives, like Social Security, that both already exist and are pivotal in propping up retirement income when 401ks fail.

He's not even hurting them. They're still up for the year. They're historically up for the last ten years, in the face of enormous economic headwinds.

Trump stepped in, the market surged, and now its floated back down to December 2024 baseline.

And these losers are screaming like stick pigs because Big Line doesn't always go up forever.

Even past that, the market has been on a historic bull run. The NASDAQ is up around 150% over five years. Unprecedented gains, even with the COVID dip.

What kind of whiny bullshit is this about a 15% decline? You're holding equity with a 100+ p/e. You took a bunch of leveraged risk and came out ahead, but you're still not happy because... you're not a trillionaire like Daddy Musk yet? Take your fucking profits and back away from the roulette wheel, you degenerates.

You would have the tax payers pay even more of the burden now

Tax revenues have been decoupled from government spending for nearly a century. You don't need to change the tax rate at all.

But if you really did want to, I'd recommend simply uncapping the SS Tax and collecting on income above $176k. That, alone, gets us back into surplus. It even raises the prospect of boosting COLA to match the real inflated cost of living.

That’s not a permanent solution on top of that!

It's how we've been funding virtually every federal program - from the courts to the Pentagon - since the nation's founding. How much more permanent do you need?

Just needs to remember they have social security is dismissive and not relevant.

Dismissing 40% of retirement income streams as "not relevant" is a great way to get a senior citizen putting a brick through your window.

They are going to have to change something either raise the retirement age or lower the payments

Or just pay directly out of the general fund, which they can do with a simple vote in Congress and which they already do for Medicare/caid.

The fact that social security is not tied to the market is super irrelevant

It is the primary argument both for and against the program. Investors kick and scream about the benefits of compound interest, right up until a big market nosedive and bankruptcy spree. Meanwhile, it's the benchmark for guaranteed basic income that progressives love to reference.

Decoupling income from economic growth isn't irrelevant. It's the program's entire raison d'etre.

Wrapping Mayor Adams in a big cocoon and dangling him from a lightpost would be such a vibe right now

This period of Pax Europa has been an anomaly, to be sure. But Balkanization appears to be coming for them all.

Social security is not enough to live off of.

Nevertheless, it is 40% of retirement income. And none of it comes from the stock market.

projected to be unobtainable for future generations

Projected by advocacy groups trying to abolish social security.