Smithfield Farms, a company whose mediocre kielbasa I have eaten from time to time after grilling with lots of chili-garlic sauce, seems ready to sell itself to Shuanghui International. Maybe I'm prejudiced, but I have a feeling that Shuanghui treats its workers pretty much the same way Smithfield treats its hogs. Well, if they're planning to import preprocessed Smithfield products, I guess that might be a step up for the average animal rights index for both Smithfield and Shuanghui, counting humans as the animals we are.
I'm sorry, America, but I just can't do it all. The closest I've ever been to a Wal-Mart was passing out leaflets in one of their parking lots, but still, I can't figure out how to do the animal rights thing. If there were local markets in my area where some vendors claimed that their pigs had been scratched behind the ears on a daily basis and encouraged to wallow in mud and got laid on a regular basis, how do I know they're telling me the truth?
Mind you, I like and respect pigs; but, also, I like pork. Anyway, in keeping with what Obama flacks refer to as the "chained CPI," I already am substituting a lot more pork for beef, meaning my Social Security check must be going a hell of a lot further! And, no, I will not switch further down to chicken.
As the punchline to the old joke about the hillbilly on trial for bestiality put it, "Chickens? Yich!"
Showing posts with label chained CPI. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chained CPI. Show all posts
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Saturday, April 13, 2013
The Cap on FICA Contributions
One December in the earlier 1990s — while I still was getting paper paychecks instead of direct deposits — I looked at my paper paycheck and discovered my net salary was higher than expected. When I received my second December paycheck, my net was even higher. I pulled out some earlier pay stubs, and discovered the difference resulted from reduced FICA contributions. Thanks to a good union, years on the job, and earning enough extra post-graduate credits, I'd gone past the cap on Social Security contributions.
January came around, and my net pay went down again. I remember thinking, back then, that if my pay hadn't gone up in December, I wouldn't have noticed. So why was there a cap on FICA contributions? Frankly, it didn't seem fair. It was a regressive tax.
Right now, the FICA cap is a bit over $114,000. To me, that sounds like a pretty high income for one worker, and I doubt that if those making $120,000 didn't get their December "bonus," nor if those making over $250,000 didn't get their October through December bonuses, they really would have paid much attention. I guess those making seven million would notice because the $434,000 they owed all would come out of their first paychecks of the year, so they'd get only about 150 grand for January, and to which I say, tough shit.
Eliminating the cap would make Social Security solvent, with no "chained CPI" needed. Even if we increased maximum Social Security payments to those who paid more, it would work. A "sliding scale" for the super-rich would make it work even better. If Jaimie Dimon collected five or six grand a month in Social Security payments, it wouldn't make a hell of a lot of difference to the rest of us — nor to Jamie Dimon.
Will somebody please slap Obama upside the head and knock a little sense into him? Michelle?
January came around, and my net pay went down again. I remember thinking, back then, that if my pay hadn't gone up in December, I wouldn't have noticed. So why was there a cap on FICA contributions? Frankly, it didn't seem fair. It was a regressive tax.
Right now, the FICA cap is a bit over $114,000. To me, that sounds like a pretty high income for one worker, and I doubt that if those making $120,000 didn't get their December "bonus," nor if those making over $250,000 didn't get their October through December bonuses, they really would have paid much attention. I guess those making seven million would notice because the $434,000 they owed all would come out of their first paychecks of the year, so they'd get only about 150 grand for January, and to which I say, tough shit.
Eliminating the cap would make Social Security solvent, with no "chained CPI" needed. Even if we increased maximum Social Security payments to those who paid more, it would work. A "sliding scale" for the super-rich would make it work even better. If Jaimie Dimon collected five or six grand a month in Social Security payments, it wouldn't make a hell of a lot of difference to the rest of us — nor to Jamie Dimon.
Will somebody please slap Obama upside the head and knock a little sense into him? Michelle?
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