Let's say for a moment that is true. ( and we can ignore under payment of benefits, like the social security tax cap being at a hundred some thousand dollars.)
How does that impact the discussion? Do we think we need another problem by not actually paying those benefits?
Secondly, back to the first question, so?
What's our priority?
Right now that priority is not healthy people, able to show up for work, existing reasonably.
I don't really understand what you're trying to say here. I am personally pro-a larger welfare state- I wanted to specifically engage with one wrong thing you said, that the US somehow spends more on the military than social welfare. In fact, this is a common misconception- the United States spends several multiples more on social welfare than its military. In fact, the US spends about as much just on healthcare for the elderly as it does its entire military budget. This is simply a statement of fact, not meant to be an anti-social welfare political statement from me
I didn't actually say that. What I did say is we should have a priority discussion ahead of us, and that maybe we should cut back on the military industrial complex, as one aspect of that discussion.
The other thing I did was walkthrough a little bit about what those priorities might look like. There's several ways to solve this problem.
And we do have a problem when roughly half the labor force makes roughly 30k a year.
How does that impact the discussion? Do we think we need another problem by not actually paying those benefits?
Secondly, back to the first question, so?
What's our priority?
Right now that priority is not healthy people, able to show up for work, existing reasonably.
Does that make the best sense? I don't think so.